[Eric in the Ozarks]

Truck lines and the railroads are demanding 13-20 percent fuel surcharges and getting them. Guess I don't understand why airlines don't raise their fares.

[mn-bush-man]

It's called over-capacity. There needs to be a purging of extra seats. Reorganization is just going to prolong the problem, IMO.

[magellan]

"Guess I don't understand why airlines don't raise their fares."

Bingo!

You sell your product for less than it costs to provide it, and you lose money. Delta has efficient airplanes, they have already obtained labor concessions, and they have plenty of passengers (just flew them Sunday, the planes were 100% full).

It is just Delta and the other players are charging a fare that is below their costs. Fuel is more expensive. It costs more to drive our cars. Why should it not cost more to fly?

[elfman2]

I suspect they are raising prices. But they were probably holding out some in order to force their wobbling competitors into bankruptcy first.

And as I recall, Delta was hemorrhaging when oil was below $30 per barrel. I think that all Airlines were losing money this time last year except SW and another discounter or two, but Delta was in worse shape than others. I forget the numbers, but Southwest had an extraordinarily small ratio of employees per plane compared to the others, something like 40% less.

[Wurlitzer]

"Truck lines and the railroads are demanding 13-20 percent fuel surcharges and getting them. Guess I don't understand why airlines don't raise their fares."

Fares need to reflect the true cost of providing the service. Airlines need to look at their fare structure as it relates to actual mileage on each leg. Many times I can fly to LA from NY for less than Buffalo to Albany or Buffalo to Chicago. I took a trip to England a few years (5) back and the price for 2 people was less than a walk up ticket Buffalo-Chicago. That makes no sense whatsoever regardless of how far in advance I made my reservation.

As I now refuse to fly for any trips that I can drive in under 10 hours I guess I don't have a dog in this fight.