I have a couple of friends who are pilots, one out of Houston and the other based out of Philadelphia, and both of them have mentioned how much leaner things are. During the dotcom boom, they always had first class and business class sold out, nearly every flight. Didn't matter if they were flying to New York or New Mexico - the fancy seats were taken.
Now, not so much. One even mentioned that the jump seat fees on airlines have gone up to 25 bucks - that used to be a sacred thing, the free jumpseat. New economy, new rules, I suspect. - Ray --- In [email protected], "Nate Allen" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Here is an article from 2003 that touches on the subject: > http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3073562/ > It's impossible to talk about cutting airline costs without mentioning Bob > Crandall, the firebrand former chief of American Airlines. And so, let us > revive the olive story. Most notorious among Crandall's legendary > cost-cutting was his idea to remove an olive from each salad served to > passengers. A tiny garnish would never be missed, the reasoning went, and > savings amounted to at least $40,000 a year. > > Oh, for the industry's salad days. With two major U.S. carriers in > bankruptcy and an expected $8 billion in losses from last year, it's safe to > say we're way beyond olives. > >
