Energy is not optional commodity like corn or orange juice. If those commodities skyrocket or become unavailable, I could substitute, live, survive and go to work, earn a living and pay taxes that keeps America humming.

I can’t substitute anything to heat my house and make my car go. It time for our gov’t to take the greedy profit motive out of energy. But I dream…

The corn as a commodity does hold up. I think that you are thinking of that summer tim pleasure of corn on the cob. The comment was referring to corn by the bushel that is used for food but is also an ingredient in a wide range of industrial products, notable to the travel industry…ethanol. This coren is typically bought by the train car load rather than by the ear.

I disagree with the idea that simply making the cost of travel more expensive will act to make travel less of a commodity. In the years since deregulation, the airlines have fallen all over themselves in their efforts to make air travel as much like the ‘bus’ as possible. What ever perk or ammenity that airline A eliminated was also eliminated by airlines B thru F. Add to this the efforts of the TSA to protect us from sippy cups and other threats and we have a large percentage of the population that only flies when or because they have to. It wasn’t always like this.

While ‘fixed income’ is usually associated with people that are retired, in reality nearly all of us are on a fixed income. Very few people have the opportunity or time to make a few hundred bucks this month. Neither do I have a viable option to get to work other than drive. Every dollar that goes into the tank will have to come out of my pocket and leisure travel will be one of the first extras sacrificed.

It’s not about pricing poor people out of flying. It’s about making sure that your children can still enjoy the outside air without getting instantaneous asthma. It’s about cleaning up the mess you make, and not leaving that mess for your children. It’s about living responsibly.

America is a beautiful and relatively empty country. Not a lot of people live here. That’s why the effects of pollution are not that obvious. However, in Europa, India and China people live closer to each other, and notice more that smog develops. And that is stinks, and makes them cough.

Going green means ending that. Going green means that we make sure that we clean up the mess we create during our lives. It morally right.

Going green does not mean that industries will collapse. Going green also does not mean that nobody can travel anymore. Going green just means cleaning up the crap that industry makes, and the dirt that comes out of cars, planes and other forms of transportation.

Does that cost money? Yes. But just like it cost effort to clean your room when you were a little kid, boy are you happy now, your parents taught you some discipline when you were young, so now you are a reasonable person who can live independently. The same needs to happen with the mess we make while living.

Apologies to C.E. for polluting your blog with my green rant.

But – in opposition to the writer’s #5 – when it comes to flying… price is always a factor knowing its just a trip and my destination is what counts in the end. I dont think people are going to choose airlines based on service – atleast not the bulk of the travelers out there. I think airlines will use service in the end to hook customer… adding to their already “lower” prices. Too bad for them… good for us!

That being said… airlines need to find a better way to connect to communities and their clients… like… for example.. Southwest… who has allowed their flight attendants to use humor to connect with their clients. Hire funny, intelligent, whitty people… people who will connect with clients on a personal level. Its ingeneous really! A no-brainer!

TRIPSO spends so much time complaining about the legacy airlines … but uses opportunity to criticize those airlines like Southwest that provide excellent (yet defeatured service).

That being said, I think the reality of higher oil prices is that it could make the divide between rich and poor that much more pronounced. For example, a wealthy person can afford to run a gas-guzzling SUV and heat a huge home despite the price. But what about the person with a small house and a sedan?

Everyone should have to cut back. Not just those who can afford to.

No one can tell the difference between corn from Farmer Joe’s farm and corn from Farmer Jane’s farm. As a result, Farmer Joe’s and Jane’s corn costs the same. This held true when corn prices were low, as well as now, when corn prices are high.

The same will be true with commercial flights. The product that the average consumer is purchasing from airlines is “carriage from point A to point B”. Does that consumer really care if it’s Delta or United carrying them? No, because air travel is a commodity. Consumer is going to arrive at point B either way, so he shops based on price alone.

This would be true even if prices were higher. Higher prices aren’t going to change the fact that a trip from LGA to LAX is pretty much the same product, wither you fly on DAL or UAL. You might get a marginally better snack or a marginally smilier agent on one vs. the other, but how much are you willing to pay for that when you can bring your own food on board?

To decomoditize the industry, a player would have to offer a significantly differentiated product. You wouldn’t tell me that a “steak” is a commodity item. No one would confuse a steak from Denny’s with a steak from Morton’s. But once you’re crammed inside a tin can like sardines, could you really tell me what airline you are on without looking a the rude flight attendant’s name tag?