What did catch my eye, is Cantarutti saying “The entire industry has moved towards these “a la carte fees,” which is clearly flawed and very US-Centric view of a global business- one which Delta likes to see itself as a big player in. While he may have intended his comments for domestic consumption, US carriers do not traditionally in my opinion do well with originating market traffic from international destinations- instead relying on 80 US O/D traffic to make up the bulk of their business.

Why? In my view there are many interesting differences between US and other world carriers. While BA is giving in to the US a la carte LCC model in a bid to stay alive, others still offer varying levels of service for a fixed price.

Setting aside our largest LCCs like Ryanair, Air AsiaX, and EasyJet, in Europe and Asia many carriers still offer the full service price, even in the economy cabin. Airlines like SWISS, Virgin, Lufthansa, JAL, Singapore, and Thai still offer high levels of service for a single price. Admittedly, some of those names have suffered terrible losses lately, but those are less about operational cabin-service items and more about the network and structural issues.

As a hard core “wing warrior” with over 500K under my belt this year, I would take a variety of European airlines vs. US carrier trans-atlantically any day. I hope that this a la carte experience does not spread further into the industry on this side of the pond, but I have my doubts.

Our home airport is TRI, a small regional facility. Since the merger of Northwest and Delta we have lost all flights to Memphis and Detroit (the former Northwest hubs) and will be losing all service to Cincinnati in a few months. That leaves our airport only with direct flights to Atlanta, Charlotte, and whatever Florida destinations Allegiant is serving in any given week. That’s great customer service! Thanks, Delta!

Instead, last-minute fares are the highest. Why? Not because of “perishability”; because the airline knows that most people flying last-minute are businesspeople who will pay whatever it takes to go when they need to go.

Meanwhile, the objection to refunding/changing advance-purchase fares is explained as though that early-purchaser had deprived another potential passenger of that seat until the last minute, with the late “return” of the seat to inventory meaning it goes unsold. Again,a crock; the only flights I’ve flown in the last ten years that were 100% full were on Southwest, which has no change fees and all fares are fully applicable to future travel; every flight on a legacy carrier had anywhere from 20 to 50% of the seats empty, meaning nobody who really wanted on that flight was kept from traveling, other than by the rapacious pricing levied on last-minute travelers.

I’m not suggesting airline fares be regulated – I’m just saying they should be honest with their pricing strategies, which are: We charge as much for the seat (and for everything else that’s not bolted down) as we think we can get away with. Interviewers who allow industry figures to spout such nonsense as “These rules are important because the product we sell is a perishable one, meaning that once a flight has taken off we can no longer sell those specific seats to that destination.” At least he was moderately more honest when he said “The amount of risk the passenger is comfortable with in the unfortunate event that their plans change needs to be considered when they purchase various fare types” – translated slightly, he means “You can get a cheap fare if you’re absolutely certain nothing, including acts of God, Mother Nature, or anything else beyond your control will cause you to need to change your plans; otherwise, you should pay through the nose for the refundable type, because otherwise we’re going to screw you with so much in change fees and fare differentials you’ll wish you’d never heard of advance purchase.”

Even if it was true that the “entire industry” has moved to a la carte fees (isn’t Southwest in this industry?) … how is matching the inane (in my opinion) approach of continually reaching into your passengers wallets for every little thing classified as being competitive … why not try to have a competitive advantage? Isn’t that what competition is about … what makes you different (and hopefully better) from the competition … not how much you can match the other players in your industry???

And, airlines might make me feel a little better (however slight) if they would, at a minimum, refund the baggage fees if they do not deliver your baggage in good condition and on the same plane as you. In a recent occurrence of a baggage problem, I had to beg Delta with numerous e-mails just to get a voucher for a discount toward a future flight (which I may never use since I am still not happy with Delta) … it should not be that way!!