Oh, How I hate to Come Back ...

[flyfisherman]

Packin' the bags ... flight out of Juneau this afternoon to Anchorage, then on to LasVegas to catch a red eye back to the East Coast and Myrtle Beach.

Cannot begin to describe how I have enjoyed this trip.

Later.



Fly

[flyfisherman]

Long plane ride getting back. Missed my connection in Anchorage so had to wait for the next available ride. The time factor going took 18 hours (fly time and waiting for the next flight) - 27 hours coming back ... sleeping on a plane is hard to do! Harder yet, trying to nap in the waiting area for the next flight. In Anchorage, folks sleeping on the floor everywhere! The young folks seem to have a better handle on it ... they travel with back packs with a sleeping pad rolled and attached to the pack!

[wavery]

Something has changed in the airline industry and they seem to be trying to teach the flying public a "New Norm".

My feeling is, they are doing to the flying public what the oil companies did to the driving public back in the '70s. In the '70s the oil companies contrived a gas shortage to shock the public into excepting the pain of higher gas prices over the the inconvenience of doing without. My feeling is, the airline companies are using that same philosophy today.

They seem to be creating a very undesirable atmosphere for the flying public that is way out of proportion to reality. The only upside that I could possibly see is for the airline industry to say, "The only way that this can be fixed is with higher fares".

The airline companies, however, cannot make that statement or indeed suggest it. I feel that they have realized that the only way that this will work, without a major public boycott, is for the public to demand that the airlines raise prices to fix the problem.

Now, having said that, I don't think that the higher prices will come in the form of higher published fares, I think it may come in the form of higher taxes because the airlines are convincing people that this is a problem that the government must get involved with, in order to reach a solution. The only way that the government can do that is through taxation.