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Did you get one? I didn't - yet, but I've read about it everywhere. It's an "open letter" from a coalistion of airlines asking passengers to contact Congress to... oh, no they didn't! Did they ask for government regulation?
According to the airlines, speculators are to blame for high oil prices, and should be squelched. --Capitalism Magazine
The article in Capitalism Magazine - and this discussion in Slate dives deeper into the economics of what the airlines are complaining about - and no one is buying, Consumerist reprints the entire letter in full and hands it to their commenters. There is a nod to speculation as a problem, but many of the comments are exactly as sympathetic as you might think.
The airlines need my help? I'll refer them to my customer service line - they've been trained to handle these sorts of annoying complaints. Maybe some gas vouchers or a free fill-up at a future date (subject to terms and blackout dates) would help and get them out of my hair...
Treat me respectfully, don't keep me hostage on the plane, etc., and then raise your fares. I can deal with higher prices, but I can't deal with being treated like I'm your property once I buy a ticket or board a plane.
Travel advocate Chris Elliot is predictably impatient with the whole thing. He takes the letter apart on Tripso
Translation: We’re asking the government and you, the taxpayer, to help us. But we pray to God that no one sees the extreme irony of an industry that has resisted any kind of government regulation and has taken its customers for granted, asking for help.
Upgrade also takes a shot at the letter and provides a link to the Economist's take on the pitch.
"Our country is facing a possible sharp economic downturn because of skyrocketing oil and fuel prices…"
It’s a smidge more complicated than that, guys. War in Iraq and Afghanistan, mortgage meltdown and uptick in foreclosures, trade deficits, currency devaluation, bloated consumer debt, runaway derivatives markets… But anyway…
Timothy Noah, also on Slate, is similarly suspicious and annoyed that the airlines are asking him for help.
Do me a favor, United, AirTran, and all the others. Stop whining about "disclosure" and "transparency" until you're ready to cough up a little yourself. In the meantime, Delegate Norton, I can't help noticing that you sit on the House aviation subcommittee. Think about introducing a bill sometime to end the airlines' ticket-pricing games.
From No Budget Travel, come this response:
So we are to believe it’s not your flabby, outdated business models, your exorbitant executive benefits, your slow sacrifice of everything resembling service, your unmotivated, underpaid, overworked ground staff, crews and pilots, your failure to make capital investments, your mismanagement of resources, your lack of foresight, or your unwillingness to raise prices that has lead to this industry crisis in the face of higher fuel costs? Nor that crumbling flight-control infrastructure, overburdened hubs or even exorbitant airport charges are having a negative influence? Rather that your problems lie, in fact, in traders’ offices far away from the tarmac you’re jetting from every single day?
I'm with Upgrade on this issue - things are a bit more complicated than traders playing the markets. And I'm troubled too, because wow, I don't know much about how economics works and I fear that it's easy to sway uneducated and incurious fliers with a credible sounding email full of rhetoric that obfuscates the facts.
As services decline and rates go up, travelers - and those working for the airlines - are increasingly frustrated. The airlines has consistently balked against any kind of regulation - Passenger's Bill of Rights, anyone? This call for government action smells like a thinly disguised bail out, like a business subsidy which American consumers have been called to back in a plea that is difficult to understand and doesn't hold up to scrutiny.
It's an election year and there are lots of folks standing on the corner with clipboards gathering your signature. This is a lot like that. You know what? I don't sign those things unless I've done my homework and read the full initiative, which I do actually bother to do. I go home and read up. This one matters - we love to travel and sure, I'd like cheaper flights. But my homework hasn't turned up convincing evidence that I should support this. I haven't seen bus lines calling for an end to oil speculation.
