The alternative is in the hands of the airlines. It was the airline industry that pioneered the idea of customer service. If one of them would get back to their roots, treat customers with respect, provide real service and quit playing games with their fees; many of us would be willing to pay more and pay more often.

Unfortunately in many cases single airlines have an effective monopoly in a given airport (United @ LAX, American @ DFW and Delta @ ATL) When you live in one of those areas what choice do you have. Sadly the airlines know it and use it to their advantage.
.-= LeanLifeCoach´s last blog ..Sometimes More Is Less =-.

We should all enjoy the fact that we can fly places. Soon enough once the price of fuel skyrockets as it starts to run out it will be a luxury only available to the privileged few.

I usually find driving to be more enjoyable, cheaper, and sometimes quicker, for any trip under 6 hours driving time. I second Philip’s comment about rail, I’d go that route in a second if it was efficient.

I’d put the blame elsewhere–on the capital structure of an airline. When air travel is high, airline profits zoom and small carriers enter the market. But when air travel falls, there’s no way for the airlines to restructure. There’s no one to buy their idled planes. It’s not effective to cut unprofitable routes, because those routes feed passengers in to their profitable routes. Throw in unpredictable spikes and drops in fuel prices and I’m surprised anyone even tries to run an airline

Personally, I’d rather someone saved the passenger rail industry.
.-= Philip Brewer´s last blog ..Frugality, Simplicity, and Sustainability =-.