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Are the airlines the new Tony Soprano of the VI??
Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2008 4:05 pm
by Gromit
Spotted this gem on Barnako's site (see link below).
Looks like the airlines are trying to extort (for lack of a better term) money from the VI to guarantee that they'll get paid in order for them not to drop air service.
A$$holes!! Seriously??? My tax dollars bailed these bastards out after 9/11.
Am I the only one who is pissed off at reading this?
http://barnako.typepad.com/news_of_st_j ... ffere.html
Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2008 4:42 pm
by dehman
Agreed, they just use any event to cover up for poor management. The bottom line is that air travel should have cost a little bit more than it has for many years. Since they decided to engage in "air wars" instead of focusing on the bottom line they have gone bankrupt, consistently loose $, and provide horrible service or any combo of the above!! They now feel compelled to sock it to us all at once because you can't tell me that even though gas is way up the whole fare has to be doubled-let alone the B.S. extra charges for everything but a barf bag!!!
Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2008 5:02 pm
by CariBert
Hmmmmm, let's see, Airlines are requesting 1.5 million dollars from it's destinations, God only knows how many are paying up, and they are still losing milliions of dollars every quarter? I think the airlines need new managemnet....maybe Herb Kellaher will come back and help them out. Southwest still seem to be making a profit doing what all the other airlines are doing......hmmmmm.
-Bert
Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2008 5:13 pm
by dehman
He is the man-and they seem to have fun with it. Now if we can only get LUV to go to STT . My guess is they would if they thought they could make $.
Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2008 6:36 pm
by CariBert
LOL... 
I'm with you dehman!
-Bert
Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2008 7:47 pm
by pipanale
dehman wrote:He is the man-and they seem to have fun with it. Now if we can only get LUV to go to STT . My guess is they would if they thought they could make $.
Only if they could find a way there that doesn't fly them over too much water.
SWA does not do long over-water flights. Then...they'd need rafts and none of their planes have them (or so I think). Part of the "any plane for any route" philosophy
Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2008 11:08 pm
by philbetm
BE VERY QUIET ABOUT THOSE "BARF-BAGS" DEHMAN!
THEY WILL START MAKING US BRING THOSE LITTLE ZIP TOP QUART BAGS FOR THAT TOO!!
SHERRY FROM SC
Re: Are the airlines the new Tony Soprano of the VI??
Posted: Thu Aug 28, 2008 8:34 am
by tjwgrr
Gromit wrote:Looks like the airlines are trying to extort (for lack of a better term) money from the VI to guarantee that they'll get paid in order for them not to drop air service.
A$$holes!! Seriously??? My tax dollars bailed these bastards out after 9/11
This is much more common than you realize across the U.S., especially in smaller under-served markets. Airports will offer financial revenue guarantees to airlines in order to secure service- it's an insurance policy for airlines. The city (or territory) doesn't simply give the airlines the money, it's a revenue guarantee. For example- JetBlue wants a $1.5 million revenue guarantee. Then say JetBlue made $1.2 million on the JFK-STT route, the VI would make up the 300K difference.
Posted: Thu Aug 28, 2008 10:55 am
by Gromit
I guess I view the VI a bit differently than airports on the mainland. Because one could conceivably drive to get to another larger airport - and while inconvenient -- it is certainly possible.
Folks in the islands would have to take BOAT. It's not like they have any other options or can drive to another airport.
Essentially they are held hostage by the airlines with deals like this. That's the difference IMHO.