Interesting Article in Newspaper about Airfare

[SandyinMonterey]

In our local newspaper there was an article titled, 'Gas prices dropping, airfare profits soaring." One statement said, "even though gas prices are dropping, we feel it would be too confusing and unfair to our customers to lower prices one day and then raise them another." Really?!

 

[katallo]

Confusing? I'd call it a welcome surprise!

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Confusing? Really, are we that stupid?
What they're really saying is why not keep gouging people once they're used to it?

 

[kaytieeldr]

In our local newspaper there was an article titled, 'Gas prices dropping, airfare profits soaring." One statement said, "even though gas prices are dropping, we feel it would be too confusing and unfair to our customers to lower prices one day and then raise them another." Really?!

If you mean this Associated Press article 'Fuel costs ease, U.S. airline profits soar"'that appeared in several publications this week, what the reporter actually stated was, " Southwest CEO Gary Kelly said he wanted to avoid raising fares if oil prices, which are volatile, turn higher.

“What I would not want to do to customers is take them through this same volatile ride with fares — lower them one day, raise them the next day,” he said. “I think that that would be absolutely the worst thing that we could do.” "

I don't think either expected unfair to be interpreted as confusing. But the explanation make sense, even though I don't like the higher fares either. I don't begrudge for-profit companies being profitable.

 

[Skywise]

The real reason airline prices aren't dropping to match is because many airlines purchased fuel at a contract rate (EG X gallons at Y dollars per month) to try to save on exploding costs. They're still locked into those contracts, probably through the end of the year so even the airlines can't take advantage of the lower costs for profit (yet).

 

[DebbieB]

The real reason airline prices aren't dropping to match is because many airlines purchased fuel at a contract rate (EG X gallons at Y dollars per month) to try to save on exploding costs. They're still locked into those contracts, probably through the end of the year so even the airlines can't take advantage of the lower costs for profit (yet).

That's what I was going to say. The plane doesn't pull up to the pump and get the current price. Southwest had lower fares for a long time because they had a contract for fuel at a low price. When it expired and the cost went up, their fares went up.