Comments on: American Airlines Cancels 1,000 Flights. Again.

By: sam

sam — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 10:17:01 +0000

Then there's Jon Stewart's line:

If a passenger blows up an airplane, it's a failure of the war on terror; if the plane blows up by itself, that's the market self-correcting.

By: Davebo

Davebo — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 22:36:38 +0000

Having dealt with my fair share of FAA principal maintenance inspectors I can tell you that they are indeed rather rigid.

The news of Southwest skirting the rules and the FAA looking the other way has no doubt added to their rigidity (Remember, the FAA is reactive, not proactive, see SSID program after the Hawaiian airlines 737 with a sunroof incident.

But in the end, the airline writes it's maintenance program and the FAA just approves it. AD's generally allow a reasonable amount of time for compliance and the airlines get input if they feel an AD will unreasonably affect operations.

In the end, this is probably 95% on American.

By: Tlaloc

Tlaloc — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 22:10:47 +0000

The vaunted power an efficency of private enterprise!

Oh. Wait.

By: Triumph

Triumph — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 21:29:43 +0000

When I do travel now I realize that the airlines are becoming as out of touch with their clients as the MSM.

Amen. The main problem is the liberal Flight Attendant's and Pilot's Unions unreasonably ratchet up the costs and puts in place all of these perks that make it impossible for the airlines to make money.

By: mike

mike — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 21:08:45 +0000

the airlines have no incentive to reform - a virtual monopoly with the gov't there to bail them out financially - meanwhile, the execs continue making their bloated salaries and bonuses. flying is now a necessary evil.

By: yetanotherjohn

yetanotherjohn — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 19:45:19 +0000

It's stories like this that make me so glad I rarely have to travel for business these days. A few years ago I was traveling at a rate of over 100,000 actual miles per year(not bonus miles added on to actual miles). When I do travel now I realize that the airlines are becoming as out of touch with their clients as the MSM. Unfortunately, the barriers to entry for competition is a lot greater than just starting a blog.