A Quick Update on the Airline Apocalypse
May 29th, 2008 | By Jared BlankI thought it might be useful/depressing to pass along a quick overview of the horrible/annoying/depressing things we’ve seen happen since the fuel hike:
Northwest/Delta merger (less service + higher fares = unhappy flyers in Minot)
American’s $15 first bag fee
Everyone else’s $25 second bag fee
US Airways removes snacks from domestic flights
American cuts domestic capacity 12% and decimates San Juan hub
Eos, MAXjet, Aloha, Skybus, Champion and ATA shut down. Mesa, SilverJet and ExpressJet poised to shut down.
jetBlue defers 21 a320s
jetBlue defers launching LAX service
US Airways, after begging for China route, begs to delay Beijing launch
$100 antler fee on Frontier (damn you, Frontier!)
Return of the Saturday Night stay
Airlines attempt to raise fares 16 times.
Ticket changes cost $150.
And there you go…the state of the industry. I’m going to bed.