Legacy airlines should have smashed their unions long ago

Richard Steiner wrote:
Unfortunately, they're nowhere near as destructive (at least in the
short run) to the airlines as fuel prices have been...

Actually they are...

Unions's high demands drained the coffres of airlines over the years to a
point where they so so weak that they cannot hedge their fuel purchases.

Because succesful airlines such as Southwest and Jetblue are healthy enough to
have hedged a lot of fuel, they are more or less immune from the huge price
rises in recent weeks. Airlines such as Delta have no hedging left and bear
the full brunt of those increases.

Unfortunatly, due to the fickle nature of the american traveller, those
airlines that don't have hedging anymore cannot raise their fares to match
increase in costs otherwise they'd lose too much business.

So they keep their fares low, losing lots of money in the short term, but
keeping passengers, in the hopes that when Southwest/Jetblue's hedges run out
they will raise their rates big time, at which point the legacy carriers can
follow suit and stop bleeding money like mad.

Note that it isn't only the unions who weakened kegacy carriers, management
also did by deciding on inefficient schedules for marketing reasons.

Richard Steiner wrote:
Unfortunately, they're nowhere near as destructive (at least in the
short run) to the airlines as fuel prices have been...

Actually they are...

Unions's high demands drained the coffres of airlines over the years to a
point where they so so weak that they cannot hedge their fuel purchases.

Because succesful airlines such as Southwest and Jetblue are healthy enough to
have hedged a lot of fuel, they are more or less immune from the huge price
rises in recent weeks. Airlines such as Delta have no hedging left and bear
the full brunt of those increases.

Unfortunatly, due to the fickle nature of the american traveller, those
airlines that don't have hedging anymore cannot raise their fares to match
increase in costs otherwise they'd lose too much business.

So they keep their fares low, losing lots of money in the short term, but
keeping passengers, in the hopes that when Southwest/Jetblue's hedges run out
they will raise their rates big time, at which point the legacy carriers can
follow suit and stop bleeding money like mad.

Note that it isn't only the unions who weakened kegacy carriers, management
also did by deciding on inefficient schedules for marketing reasons.

"nobody" wrote in message
...

Note that it isn't only the unions who weakened kegacy carriers,
management
also did by deciding on inefficient schedules for marketing reasons.

Subconscious typo there, JF?

Brian Wickham wrote in message . ..

Anyway, it was deregulation that destroyed the airlines. Airlines
never made a profit without monopolies on routes granted by
governments. Now that it's cutthroat we have exactly what the
airlines asked for, but what will we have when only one line is left
standing? Amtrak with wings. (And don't think the foreign airlines
are in any better condition.)

Brian


Deregulation would have forced a rationally run industry to cut labor
costs. Unfortunately, the airline unions refused to face reality. So
their companies paid, and soon thousands of greedy unionized workers
will have NO JOBS at all, rather than jobs at lower wages.

Does that sound like a union triumph to you?

Brian Wickham wrote in message . ..

Anyway, it was deregulation that destroyed the airlines. Airlines
never made a profit without monopolies on routes granted by
governments. Now that it's cutthroat we have exactly what the
airlines asked for, but what will we have when only one line is left
standing? Amtrak with wings. (And don't think the foreign airlines
are in any better condition.)

Brian


Deregulation would have forced a rationally run industry to cut labor
costs. Unfortunately, the airline unions refused to face reality. So
their companies paid, and soon thousands of greedy unionized workers
will have NO JOBS at all, rather than jobs at lower wages.

Does that sound like a union triumph to you?

"anon" wrote in message
m...
Salim al-Hukmatyr wrote:
This expectation by militant unions of prosperity no matter what has
doomed the major carriers.

They destroyed steel and cars. Now they are destroying an industry --
domestic flights, at least -- that didn't even have foreign
competition.

Are you aware of the contributions that unions have made to this country?

Unions exist to benefit union officials and to hell with the union members
and the companies that supply the money to pay all of them. KM
--
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"anon" wrote in message
m...
Salim al-Hukmatyr wrote:
This expectation by militant unions of prosperity no matter what has
doomed the major carriers.

They destroyed steel and cars. Now they are destroying an industry --
domestic flights, at least -- that didn't even have foreign
competition.

Are you aware of the contributions that unions have made to this country?

Unions exist to benefit union officials and to hell with the union members
and the companies that supply the money to pay all of them. KM
--
(-:alohacyberian:-) At my website there are 3000 live cameras or
visit NASA, play games, read jokes, send greeting cards & connect
to CNN news, NBA, the White House, Academy Awards or learn all
about Hawaii, Israel and mo http://keith.martin.home.att.net/

"Baldur" wrote in message
news:Q8U1L6L238283.6367592593@anonymous...
In article
(Salim al-Hukmatyr) wrote:
Unions are a scourge, a bane, and a plague.

Airbus wiped out McDonnel-Douglas and seems to be well on its
way to wiping out Boeing.

Airbus is very strongly unionized.

Try again.

But the EU doesn't seem to have the "My way or the highway!"
that the USA has had over the last three years, and many
customers simply won't buy American any more.


Boeing also has union workers; the major difference is that Airbus is
subsidized by government handouts, Boeing isn't. When Boeing gets government
money, it must provide something in return - Airbus isn't hampered by such
restrictions to it's government welfare. KM
--
(-:alohacyberian:-) At my website there are 3000 live cameras or
visit NASA, play games, read jokes, send greeting cards & connect
to CNN news, NBA, the White House, Academy Awards or learn all
about Hawaii, Israel and mo http://keith.martin.home.att.net/

"Bert Hyman" wrote in message
...
In Dave Smith
wrote:
Salim al-Hukmatyr wrote:

Unions are a scourge, a bane, and a plague.

And look what they did to Enron.
Oops. Sorry, that was crooked business practices.

While I don't agree with the original poster, I have to ask you if you
think that unions aren't businesses, and aren't involved in practices just
as crooked as anything Enron ever dreamed of.


I love how reactionaries shriek about Enron as though it's a typical
corporation, but, totally ignore the tens of thousands of corporations that
are on the up and up. KM
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(-:alohacyberian:-) At my website there are 3000 live cameras or
visit NASA, play games, read jokes, send greeting cards & connect
to CNN news, NBA, the White House, Academy Awards or learn all
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"Dave Smith" wrote in message
...
Bert Hyman wrote:

Unions are a scourge, a bane, and a plague.

And look what they did to Enron.
Oops. Sorry, that was crooked business practices.

While I don't agree with the original poster, I have to ask you if you
think that unions aren't businesses, and aren't involved in practices just
as crooked as anything Enron ever dreamed of.

Do you mean to ask if they are all just as crooked as Enron? I suppose that
there may be some that are a little crooked. All members of unions are
eligible to run for executive positions, but too many are apathetic and
they
get stuck with executives who may pull shady deals. Ronald Reagan comes to
mind, since he shafted the SAG when he was their president.


LOL! Interesting dichotomy to first insist that unions are democratic and
then claim a leader "shafted" them! Ya, gotta love it! The members couldn't
be shafted without their consent. KM
--
(-:alohacyberian:-) At my website there are 3000 live cameras or
visit NASA, play games, read jokes, send greeting cards & connect
to CNN news, NBA, the White House, Academy Awards or learn all
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