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(c) Elliott Publishing.

Pitchin' Passengers
Cheap Charlie · May 7, 2001

Right after I published the last Cheap Charlie column commenting on the cramped conditions in British Airways 747 tourist class/coach (World Traveller) seats, the airline made a big announcement that they were adding more legroom - in business class.

Gads! The minute that someone adds room in business class, it seems to mean even less space in tourist class. With British Airways, I'm sure they won't take any more space from their coach seats - there isn't any to take. With the summer coming up, it sure would be swell if some of the other "major airlines" besides American Airlines added a bit of space for those of us in the back of the plane.

Even when they sit in first class, they still have to deal with delays. A front page Wall Street Journal article covering the TWA/American merger brought a smile to my face. I could identify with Donald Carty, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of American Airlines.

American Airlines flew the bigwigs to a special reception that was going to be held at the TWA maintenance facility in Kansas City. Theoretically, the plane would touch down, then taxi to stop where a red carpet was rolled out to welcome the American Airline delegation. Kansas City's mayor would be there to welcome the American CEO and thank him for "saving" TWA and its Kansas City business.

Everything was timed to perfection to hit the evening 6 p.m. newscasts.

According to the Wall Street Journal, "The American's wide-body 777 was on the ground at 6:02 p.m. But the tug needed to tow the plane to the hangar broke down. More than an hour passed before a replacement could be found and the plane could be maneuvered into line with the red carpet that awaited it."

Of course, the K.C. mayor had to leave for another engagement and we all know that newscasts never wait.

"We've been on the ground an hour and a half," Carty fumed, "It's nuts."

How many times have we all muttered the same thing as your connections are lined up to fly away. At least I assume Carty had his own plane to take him home.

Of course, this is only the beginning of the problems American will face while incorporating TWA into their fold. The Wall Street Journal detailed a series of other potential snafus from different cockpit configurations to different galley cart sizes.

Get ready for the inevitable bumps along the TWA/American merger road.

Airlines have forgotten how to make money - except Southwest and Continental. It is interesting that the major airlines that seem to make the biggest efforts at customer service or providing affordable airfares are the ones making money. The rest of the majors just don't get it.

Low-price-leader, one-class-service Southwest Airlines made a whopping $121 million this past quarter while better-customer-service, bigger-overhead-bins Continental made a record $73 million. They were rewarded by being proactive in the world of airline management.

The rest of the pack stuck with business as usual - losing millions and hundreds-of-millions of dollars.

The worst airline in America, United, lost the most - more than $300 million. (And they want to buy US Airways … heaven help us.) USAirways and Northwest both came in with about $170 million losses. Delta managed to produce red ink in the amount of $133 million after seeming to have a handle on how to make money for a while. And American Airlines reported a lost of only $43 million.

The interesting background is that all airlines losing money blamed weather, labor and fuel costs. The airlines making money obviously deal with different weather maps and fuel costs.

I think a simple answer like, "bad management," covers most of these situations. Good management produces millions of dollars of profit at Continental and Southwest - with all of the same economic and labor "turbulence."

'Nuff said.


Charlie Leocha is the Boston-based author of Travel Rights: Know the Rules of the Road and the Air Before You Go. Cheap Charlie appears every Monday on this site. E-mail him at leocha@aol.com or access his Web site.