Reply #7: You are right on all counts. [View All]

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

Now, years after deregulation, airlines can compete only on fares, so they keep them as low as possible. An airline's fixed costs are very high: airplanes are expensive to purchase/lease and maintain. Fuel has become much more expensive, and even though airlines hedge, they can't really control this cost. There are airport fees to pay. Pilots and flight attendants must be trained (there are required FAA training standards that must be met). The only variable cost is that of labor -- one of the reasons for the deterioration in customer service is that staffing is kept as lean as possible.

So maybe when you go to a ticket counter or a gate for assistance there's nobody there because the employees have to cover multiple stations. Maybe when your airplane arrives you have to wait to deplane because there's nobody to marshal it to the gate or operate the jetway - for the same reasons. To compete on fare prices airlines have had to cut back in the few areas they can: amenities, employee numbers and employee wages.

Your cheap ticket was purchased for you by the employees of the airline.