Steve Cosgrove, Dynamic Travel & Cruises, Southlake,
Texas
If the major airlines keep this kind of thinking up, Southwest
will be considered the upscale airline. I guess if Continental
really wants to make some money, they can charge per piece of
luggage, per piece of carry-on, per soft drink on the flight, rent
the magazines out and change the toilets of the plane to pay
toilets.
It is a real shame no one at any of the major airlines has any
marketing savvy beyond cut, cut, cut.
Nancy Vinson, Vacation Discounters, San Ramon,
Calif.
Since we are a non-ARC agency (by choice), these new policies
are the same old news. Until an airline considers and truly means
that travel agents are their partners, it is just another way of
punishing a once loyal and solid distribution system.
Judy Wolfe, Sea Gate Travel Centre, Huntington Beach,
Calif.
I’ve been around long enough to remember Continental’s Peanut
Fare. Deja vu? But let’s not just focus on Continental. There’s
more than one pig in the trough these days. They all deserve to
roll around in the mud together.
Ellen Ben-Shalom, Albany Travel, Albany,
Calif.
I think it will cost them much more in the end.
Deena Whitesman, New Act Travel, Los
Angeles
I think they are insane. Just because they have run themselves
into a hole by having the dumbest people running their airline, why
should the agents and the American public pay for their
mistakes?
Sheila Hyman, Tanforan Travel, San Bruno,
Calif.
They made a business decision and so did I. We do not sell
Continental.
Stephen Shields, Shields World Travel, Pleasanton,
Calif.
I find it all a race to the bottom. [A recent edition of] the
Wall Street Journal says that US Airways’ nonrefundable
tickets will be fully nonrefundable “like theater tickets,” but
theater tickets do not cost $500 each. And they report airlines are
charging as much as $270 each for bags over the size limit.
In their rush to clean out the pockets of their clients, they
are alienating more and more travelers, and they will eventually, I
think, implode. The concept of service has been totally lost.
I was even more amused this morning when American faxed us a
form saying no more waivers. In 21 years in business, they’ve never
given me a waiver or even the time of day.
Peter Splingaerd, All Travel, Phoenix
Continental announced it would start charging for some amenities
passengers are now getting free. I presume they mean the free soda
and whatever meal they have been serving.
All these policies have the effect of restricting air travel
rather than promoting it. These guys are nuts. The only way I can
understand such irrational behavior is that management sees a brick
wall coming at them. These are acts of desperation, not part of a
plan to promote business and increase revenue.
We are in a severe recession at this moment, and no end is in
sight. The stock market is expected to go lower, further decreasing
the national travel budget. The airlines know this and know that
they cannot pull out. They will have to enter Chapter 11, and after
that fails, they will be dissolved, and their assets will be sold
to new entrepreneurs. United needs to enter Chapter 11 to get
leverage on their unions.
Can you believe that Southwest could possibly be the No. 1
airline in the United States in the near future? I see it
coming.
