Who's really to blame?

Here's a debate worth following. As we all know, oil prices are up. Airlines have been trying to make up for revenue lost in high fuel prices by adding fuel surcharges, baggage check fees and most recently, by charging for in-flight meals on international flights. They've also flown slower and got rid of many items on the plane, in order to conserve fuel. As inconveniences continue to stack up at the consumers' expense, at what point will the airlines decide they've done enough? Recently oil prices dropped back down quite a bit, but the airlines didn't respond to that. Fees and surcharges are still high. Clearly the airlines must do something to make up for lost revenues, but must the consumer have to bear that much of the burden?

In Geocentric's Episode 4 podcast, we talked about the decision by Delta and others to sell ad space on e-tickets to make up for lost revenue. Our view is that seeing an ad (which can be turned off by the way) is a lot less painful than paying $50 to check bags. We gave kudos to Delta for that decision. What else could airlines do that would be less painful for consumers? Or are their current methods necessary and sufficient?


Airports and flights are becoming more and more frustrating. The big question is who's to blame? I present to you comments from two very opposing sides of the issue. The first is a letter signed by 12 airline executives sent to airline customers by email. They say blame should be placed on oil speculators who have driven the price of oil up and that they are just doing what is necessary. They further suggest that we, the consumers should push congress to act on the matter and stop the oil speculators. Click HERE to read the actual letter to understand their stance.

Next is a formal (but very sarcastic) rebuttal from Kimberley Strassel who writes for the Wall Street Journal. She blasts (and I mean blasts) the airlines for blaming oil speculators for the terrible service she and other customers receive at airports and on flights. I'll leave it at that because you really have to read the actual letter by clicking HERE.

So after reading both sides, who's right? Who's to blame for this mess? I'll say that when I recently traveled to Europe, I had a good experience with Continental and Czech Air, but Air France was only mediocre (not bad though). We also had no problems with TSA or extra hidden fees. Having said that, I have read airline horror stories and even witnessed a family forced to fly on separate flights while in Newark. So the problems are there, but I ask again, who's to blame?