[Rhodes22-list] Flying - "Treated Like Freight"

[Brad Haslett]

This is too damn funny because it makes so much sense.  Care to bet how long
it takes before the first lawsuit is filed?  We used to give "penny a pound"
rides to farmers one day a year in conjunction with the local Soil
Conservation office so farmers could look over their fields from the air.
They had to weigh themselves and then pay the price (way before PC).  When I
get home I'll tell the story about getting even with the President of the
local school board who didn't want to let me back in after two suspensions
and an expulsion (my boss and I blackmailed two school board members).  We
arraigned it so that he ended up on my airplane and boy did he get a ride!
Brad

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Airlines May Start Treating Passengers `Like Freight' (Update1)

By Michael Janofsky
  [image: Enlarge
Image/Details]<http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=photos&sid=aNsp.l2CJ1jk>

June 3 (Bloomberg) -- Imagine two scales at the airline ticket counter, one
for your bags and one for you. The price of a ticket depends upon the weight
of both.

That may not be so far-fetched.

``You listen to the airline CEOs, and nothing is beyond their imagination,''
said David Castelveter<http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=David+Castelveter&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1>,
a spokesman for the Air Transport Association <http://www.airlines.org/>, a
Washington, D.C.-based trade group. ``They have already begun to think
exotically. Nothing is not under the microscope.'' He declined to discuss
what any individual airline might be contemplating, including charging
passengers based on weight.

With fuel <http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?ticker=JETINYPR%3AIND> costs
almost tripling since 2000, now accounting for as much as 40 percent of
operating expenses at some carriers, according to the ATA,
airlines<http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?ticker=BWAIRL%3AIND>are
cutting costs and raising revenue in ways that once were unthinkable.
U.S.
Airways Group Inc. <http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?ticker=LCC%3AUS> has
eliminated snacks. Delta Air Lines
Inc.<http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?ticker=DAL%3AUS>is charging
$25 for telephone reservations. AMR
Corp. <http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?ticker=AMR%3AUS>'s American
Airlines last month became the first U.S. company to charge $15 for one
checked bag.

Even a cold drink may be harder to come by aloft.

Singapore Airlines Ltd., whose
shares<http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?ticker=SIA%3ASP>have fallen
8.9 percent this year, is ``trying to eliminate unnecessary
quantities of extra water'' to save weight, Chief Executive Officer Chew
Choon Seng<http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Chew+Choon+Seng&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1>said
in an interview.

``When you hear some people talking about putting showers on their planes,
that strikes me as counterintuitive,'' he said.

Logical Step

After U.S. airlines reported combined first-quarter losses of $1.7 billion
and crude oil jumped to a record $133.17 a barrel on May 21, almost double
from a year earlier, fares based on a passenger's weight may be a logical
step, said Robert
Mann<http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Robert+Mann&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1>,
head of R.W. Mann & Co., an aviation consultant based in Port Washington,
New York.

``If you look at the air-freight business, that's the way they've always
done it,'' he said. ``We're getting treated like air freight when we travel
by airlines, anyway.''

``Laughter aside, the airlines are just in a desperate situation,'' said David
Swierenga<http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=David+Swierenga&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1>,
president of consulting firm Aeroecon in Round Rock, Texas, who dismissed
weight-based ticket sales and steep price increases as unrealistic.

Since December, eight companies have ceased flying, largely because of fuel
costs -- MaxJet Airways
Inc.<http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?ticker=MAXJ%3ALN>,
Big Sky Transportation
Co.<http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?ticker=BSA%3AUS>,
Aloha Airlines Inc. <http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?ticker=ALOHA%3AUS>,
ATA Airlines, Skybus Airlines Inc., Eos Airlines, Silverjet
Plc<http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?ticker=SIL%3ALN>.
and the charter- flight operator Champion Air. Air Midwest, a division of Mesa
Air Group Inc. <http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?ticker=MESA%3AUS>, is
ceasing operations this month.

$6.1 Billion Loss

Airlines may report combined losses of $6.1 billion this year, the worst
since 2003, the International Air Transport
Association<http://www.iata.org/index.htm>said yesterday in Istanbul.
Swierenga said the only meaningful way for them
to reach profitability is to idle a portion of their fleets, which would
allow them to reduce costs associated with fuel and labor.

``The solution lies in capacity cuts,'' he said.

That's already begun. Ryanair Holdings
Plc<http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?ticker=RYA%3AID>,
whose shares have dropped 38 percent this year, will ground 20 aircraft this
winter, equivalent to about 10 percent of total capacity, Chief Financial
Officer Howard Millar<http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Howard+Millar&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1>said
today. American said on May 21 up to 45 planes, most of them aging
Boeing
Co. <http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?ticker=BA%3AUS> MD-80s, would be
dropped from its 655-jet fleet along with as many as 40 aircraft from its
305-plane Eagle regional unit.

``Most other airlines will have similar cuts as well,'' said Jim
Corridore<http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Jim+Corridore&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1>,
an analyst for Standard & Poor's in New York.

Measures Taken

Airlines have also taken shorter-term steps even if they have stopped short
of weighing passengers.

Japan Airlines Corp.
<http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?ticker=9205%3AJP>is using
crockery in first-class and business-class cabins that is 20
percent lighter than the service items they replaced.

Southwest Airlines Co.
<http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?ticker=LUV%3AUS>is flying slower
-- by 72 seconds, for example, on Houston-Los Angeles
flights, which now take 3 hours 14 minutes. That saves 8.7 gallons of fuel
for each of the airline's four daily nonstops on the 1,387-mile route, 34.8
gallons a day overall, said Marilee
McInnis<http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Marilee+McInnis&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1>,
a company spokeswoman.

Southwest comes closest to charging for weight, asking passengers to buy a
second seat if their girth prevents the armrest from lowering.

Power Change

American Airlines has switched from using on-board power units that draw
down jet fuel while planes are parked at gates to electrical generators on
the ground, said Steve
Lott<http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Steve+Lott&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1>,
a spokesman for the International Air Transport Association.

Deutsche Lufthansa AG <http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?ticker=LHA%3AGR>,
Europe's second-largest airline, is one of several that has begun washing
planes more frequently, said Lott, pointing out that dirt on a fuselage
increases wind resistance.

Cathay Pacific Airways
Ltd.<http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?ticker=293%3AHK>,
Hong Kong's largest carrier, is ordering money-saving changes that
passengers won't notice, said managing director Tony
Tyler<http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Tony+Tyler&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1>,
who declined to cite them.

``Customers notice quickly if you start to take away service elements,'' he
said. ``We operate in a very competitive market and can't afford to let the
competition get a march on us.''

One airline that is unlikely to start weighing its customers is Dubai-based
Emirates, the largest carrier in the Gulf region.

``That is something that when I was a check-in agent in the early 70s I used
to do and it was the most horrific experience, trying to get people to stand
on scales,'' said Tim
Clark<http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Tim+Clark&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1>,
the airline president. ``It's not something that we would do.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Michael
Janofsky<http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Michael+Janofsky&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1>in
Los Angeles at
mjanofsky at bloomberg.net
*Last Updated: June 3, 2008 11:55 EDT*