News Flash: Domestic Airline Service No Longer Exists
April 7, 2008
But you probably already knew that… Anyway…
Since I’m planning a trip to Australia next year, I’ve been buried in the language of the airlines. I’m getting pretty comfortable with the airport codes between BDL and CNS, flying through some combination of PHL, LAX, SFO, YVR, AUK and SYD. I’ve got all the bases covered since I’m trying to book two first class award seats using Star Alliance - aka *A (get it?) - partners.
My choices seem to be some combination of US Airways, United, Air New Zealand and/or Air Canada. You would think that since you can book *A award seats about 330 days in advance, I’d be in good shape to get a couple of seats since we’re not traveling for, oh gee; another 330 days. Read more
So Much for Airport Security
February 25, 2008
We’ve read the reports about “testers” from the TSA getting certain items through security with no problems. As a matter of fact, TSA has failed numerous tests for a variety of reasons. Look, if somebody wants to get something on a plane, their going to be able to do it with time and money.
Today’s story from Heathrow just continues to prove that we’re not any safer. These nuts just walked out there and climbed out onto a BA jet? What is going on?
What Happens When Less Seats are Available?
December 19, 2007
I fondly remember struggling through my first economics class in 1987 or 88. At the time, economics was a pretty difficult concept for me to grasp even though my dad was an economics major in college. The subject was not in the genes. But over time, I have been able to figure out some of the basics that most Americans - and government officials - can’t seem to handle.
Two of the more simple concepts are the law of supply and the law of demand. When you artifically mess with the laws, you need to expect an artificial change that will be bad for consumers.
Today, the transportation secretary announced that after months of discussions with airlines that service the New York City area, the airlines agreed (were forced) to reduce the number of flights flying in and out of the three major airports surrounding the city.
With less seats available during the peak travel times, what do you think is going to happen to the price of an airline seat out of New York? It’s going up. Let’s see what happens in the future, will my prediction come true?
By limiting the number of airline seats available, the government - as usual - is not dealing with the problem. All they are doing is interrupting the supply and demand curves artificially.
