End of an era on the northeast shuttles

An article in yesterday's Wall Street Journal says that Delta will no
longer run extra sections on the BOS-LGA-DCA shuttles starting this
Tuesday. If the plane fills up, you'll have to wait for the next one.
US Airways apparently stopped running extra sections a while ago.

Delta says "We just can't afford to do it anymore," even though the
shuttle is one of the few routes where fares are as high as ever. A
BOS-LGA roundtrip at peak hours is $483. A round trip on the Acela
train is $220, and on the bus is $30 on the Chinese buses or $60 on
Bonanza.

Back in the good olde days Eastern occasionally ran an extra section for
a single passenger, with suitable press releases all around.
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I can't who this would be very profitable. Might be if they have enough
passanagers to fill up another plane.
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wrote in message
oups.com...
I can't who this would be very profitable. Might be if they have enough
passanagers to fill up another plane.

The original Eastern Air Shuttle, when it first started in the 1960's, made
a big deal out of the backup airplanes. They used Constellations initially,
and, because the airplanes were old and depreciated, they could afford
backup planes. They followed the Connies with Electras and continued the
process. Fares were high enough to support it. However, today, with slots
at DCA and LGA, and high fuel costs, they can't afford to operate anything
that can't stand alone profitably.

Jeff

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