Lufthansa is being one of the sponsors for DLD and given how many interesting, well travelled people will be arriving, they thought of asking the question

So our question to you is:
In view of modern rail travel concepts, what innovative ideas and …

They have to stop blaming us for their problems. Someone else came along and did it cheaper and more efficiently? Too bad. You were stuck with dated systems? Sorry. We won’t pay extra to keep that in place. But we will pay for good service. We will become dedicated brand evangelists if given just a smidge more attention. (JetBlue gave us TVs. That’s all it took. TVs and blue potato chips.)

Suppose you had a “brand name,” slightly higher-priced airline. Suppose it were 25% more per round trip for a great in-flight experience. If it were my company, I would want to ensure my employees were fresh for a major meeting at which big money could be on the line. Again, market forces: the companies that treat their employees best will get the best employees and will prosper.

Jeff’s right - deregulation’s not the problem - the airlines’ inability to take advantage of the social tools that would bring about greater efficiencies is what’s dragging them down.

As long as we continue to be stuck in a decrepit air traffic system that relies on 1930-era technology instead of satellite navigation, the industry is basically unfixable. Of course the program to fix the situation http://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/ato/service_units/enroute/surveillance_broadcast/ is years behind schedule, and on a 20 year time scale, which makes it pretty much useless.

What is wrong with drastically reducing F2F meetings? If half the sales drones stayed in the office and used video conferencing, there would be seats available. WIth the billions of savings, you could easily buy all the Cisco telepresence gear you need. http://futurist.typepad.com/my_weblog/2006/10/ciscos_hd_video.html

I would just be happy if Delta could just give me my seat assignments all the way through when I first check in so that I could read a book while connecting in the Atlanta airport instead of having to keep an eagle eye out for the harried and overworked Delta employee to dash from the last departure to my gate right before the plane starts boarding.

I understand why airlines overbook and I understand why they jam us in like cattle I understand why they park on the apron so that we can’t get off the airplane. What I don’t understand is why they cannot give seat assignments all the way through for connecting flights. In what possible way does that squeeze a few more bucks out?

“I’m invested in Continental. I’m very happy their miles don’t expire. But I’ve never been able to use them.”

Someone mentioned http://www.flyertalk.com, which is the place for you to visit and start looking for tips on how to use your “Nonepass” miles.

What I did with my CO miles about a month ago was transfer them to Amtrak 1:1, then to Choice Privileges 1:5, then to Southwest RR credits 2500:1. 16 RR credits is a round trip; 100 in a year gets you a Companion Pass (free travel for a named Companion for 12 months). To do this, you need to have the Amtrak CC and either the Choice Visa or stay once in a while at Choice hotels (Comfort Inn, etc.).

And the Amtrak to Choice rate is now only 1:3 (because of guys like me, I might add). But still a passable deal and a way to launder CO Nonepass into at least SOMETHING.

“As an aside, for those folks who think that ‘low cost’ airlines like Southwest are the driver here, do a quick price comparison. SW etc. aren’t cheaper than the traditional airlines…I don’t understand where the notion that they are comes from.”
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The “notion” (which isn’t merely a notion) that low cost carriers are the economic benchmark comes from industry-wide experience.

The ticket prices didn’t start out being even. Low cost airlines, such as Southwest, used their advantages over time to get market penetration. Those advantages included lower labor costs, smaller (thus cheaper to operate) aircraft, careful targeting of vulnerable routes often avoiding the major airports, and no-frills, point to point travel that avoided the cost of a hub and spoke network. This all added up to a much smaller cost per available seat mile (CASM) which gave the LLCs a decisive competitive advantage. Targeted use of cut rate, $49 type fares allowed them to gain market share almost anywhere they chose.

The traditional mainline carriers, on the other hand, had high labor costs, larger “legacy” aircraft, and the expensive hub and spoke system, while relying heavily on non-discounted full business fares to offset any losses in coach. These larger carriers simply had to adjust, especially when the bottom fell out of the business market after the dot.com collapse. 9/11 also had a terrible impact on large carriers who lost billions annually for a number of years, forcing them to reorganize themselves radically.

The first thing they did was rid themselves of low density routes, which placed more emphasis on getting the most out of their high volume routes. They aggressively renegotiated labor contracts, using Chapter 11 courts to escape their ruinous contracts. Most downsized their large aircraft fleets, replacing one third to one half with very low cost regional jets, while modernizing with more efficient widebodies where possible. And they switched their business models from reliance on the disappearing, full fare business travel to the far larger discount travel market.

With all that, the larger carriers must get the maximum utilization, i.e., load factor, out of each flight, just to break even. Half full aircraft just won’t cut it. Thus, we see record high load factor percentages well into the 90s, where loadfactors in the 70s had been the historical norms, and all the frills and comfort has gone the way of the dodo. And, yes, they count on the fact that frequent flyer miles are seldom redeemed.

The larger carriers are only now beginning to make a profit again, barely. Yet, already the unions are clamouring for higher wages. Business travel might be picking up again, but it is unlikely to ever reach the level of the bygone, halcyon days. Companies are too smart for that now and many larger corporations leverage their travel by negotiating for lower corporate fares. Even the federal government gets into the act with its GSA lowest-bidder, City Pairs ticket program, a billion+ dollar a year program that is mandatory for most government agencies and is mostly flown at a loss to the carriers. The GSA fares are so cheap now, even Southwest declined to bid on any of the thousands of routes this year. It saves taxpayer dollars, but it helps the airlines not at all.

Deregulation opened the door for those low cost carriers, just as it was intended to do. That opened the market to the great unwashed, most of whom will put up with a little discomfort to go see Grandma for Thanksgiving or her birthday. The loss of traditional, full fare business travel was the last nail in the coffin for the old way of doing things. Frequently flying bloggers might have a forum, but they don’t have sufficient numbers to drive industry trends.

Sorry about that.