I’m no economist, and certainly no expert on the inner workings of a major airline corporation, but this Christmas I’m wondering why the industry in general never stepped in to help. I do know that Delta, American, and United, for example, are operating around 90% full at this time of year, and that, on average, they have a few open seats per flight, if not more. Why not give a few folks a free ride home? The seats are empty, and an aircraft operating at 90% capacity is making a clear profit.
What could it hurt?
In the worst possible scenario, a good deed of that magnitude – especially in this culture – would forever be free advertising in an industry that could use some free advertising.
At first, I wondered if there might be an industry-wide shortage of flights, but a quick look at recent data related to ASM vs PSM (“available seat miles” vs “passenger seat miles”) changed my mind. According to The Bureau of Transportation Statistics, in September of 2022, domestic airlines operated somewhere in the neighborhood of 80% capacity. That translates to roughly 17 open seats per flight. Delta, American, and United have roughly 4000 planes in their collective fleets, so if, say, 20 percent of those are in operation domestically and headed in the right direction, that translates to 800 open seats. Cut that in half to account for my ignorance, effects of the blizzard, and holiday demand, and assume only one flight per day in further concession, and you have 400 daily opportunities to get somebody home, and again, make some killer headlines.
What did they do instead? They promised to put a cap on airfares, or, to put it more accurately, took a temporary break from price gouging. In the middle of a crisis, with thousands of people stranded, that’s the best they can do, and some media outlets are reporting that they didn’t even do that.
“…a traveler tweeted on Tuesday, ‘This should be illegal… I was on a canceled @SouthwestAir flight so I am trying to rebook something so I can go home this year (literally… no southwest flights until Jan) and flights today are TWO THOUSAND DOLLARS ONE WAY?!?!?’ She shared a screenshot of ticket prices from various airlines in excess of $2,000 for a one-way flight between San Diego and Orlando.”
But that’s what we expect from an industry where the key decision makers get little face time with the people they serve, even (especially) during a crisis. Goals, profits, growth, competition, etc. run the show here. If you’re stuck in an airport because a massive blizzard has shut down a competitor, that’s your problem.
I know, this sounds like pie-in-the-sky blogger BS, but imagine if Delta’s CEO, for example, walked into the Southwest terminal at Raleigh Durham airport, grabbed five families, and ushered them onto a flight home, compliments of Delta Airlines. Even if he notified the media in advance and was purely motivated by the opportunity for free marketing, it would be a Christmas deed of Dickens proportions, one that would rip through the industry like Santa Clause on a Christmas Eve crack bender. It might even bring a little hope that this place doesn’t revolve around the almighty dollar, that humanity is worth a bit more care and concern than it usually gets from corporate America.
Why is that such an outrageous thing to consider? How did we get here?
I do feel sorry for Bob Jordan, Southwest’s CEO. From what I can tell, his company was dealt an unlucky hand: the blizzard exploited a weakness in Southwest’s route structure that didn’t affect other airlines nearly as much. This didn’t happen because Southwest is a poor Airline, and it seems that they are doing everything they can to get people home, including repositioning empty aircraft – a huge financial hit. Beyond that, we’ll see what Southwest decides to do in the realm of reparations. If they don’t take care of the people who were affected, warned Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, they’ll be held accountable.
I once had a client who constantly asked for the moon and payed as little as he could get away with. He told me regularly that he was thankful for the job I was doing, but kind words and a low hourly paycheck were all I ever got, so I walked away.
That’s not something we can do with the airline industry. We need them and they know it. They’re not going to care any more than the government forces them to. We might as well get over it, enjoy our $.003 bag of peanuts, two inches of legroom, and not be so surprised when, from time to time, we get stranded for a few days while huge airliners with 5 empty seats taxi all day past our screaming children.
Photo by Ashim D’Silva on Unsplash
