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The desk clerk, whose name-plate identified him as G. O. Horner, was a thin, elderly man with protuberant eyes that gave him an expression of intense interest and curiosity. The expression was false. After thirty years in the business, people meant no more to him than individual bees do to a beekeeper. Their differences were lost in a welter of sta
... See moreMargaret Millar • Beast in View
But Delta delivered for its employees. Delta people got jobs for life; the company had not laid off a soul in 34 years. There had been no BOHICA, no concessions, no b-scales. Delta paid its people exceptionally well, not only by the standards of the low-wage southern United States but by airline industry standards as well. On the initiative of the
... See moreThomas Petzinger Jr. • Hard Landing: The Epic Contest for Power and Profits That Plunged the Airlines into Chaos
Capital Airlines, struggling to turn a profit using the CAB’s standard airfare rate, proposed creating a new class of service on its New York–Chicago flights, “air coach.” Rather than flying 40-seat planes and charging 6 cents per passenger-mile, Capital asked for permission to put 60 seats on its planes and charge passengers 4 cents per mile. The
... See moreScott Keyes • Take More Vacations: How to Search Better, Book Cheaper, and Travel the World
To make a reservation someone—a passenger or a travel agent—had to phone People Express directly, which proved a maddening experience; the relentless busy signal at People Express accounted for the first acquaintance of many people with the redial button on their telephones. By 1984 some 6,000 potential passengers a day failed to connect by phone.
... See moreThomas Petzinger Jr. • Hard Landing: The Epic Contest for Power and Profits That Plunged the Airlines into Chaos
Our flight is also always very crowded. This is because air fares are now assigned by a machine called the Random Air Fare Generator, which is programmed to ensure that on any given flight (1) no two people will pay the same fare, and (2) everybody else will pay less than you. People are flying across the country for less than you paid for your six
... See moreDave Barry • Dave Barry's Greatest Hits
haul routes—at least not enough to account for their 70 percent discounts. The majors were offering low fares against People Express because they had computers that enabled them to offer rock-bottom prices to discretionary passengers and still keep as many seats as necessary in store for higher-paying passengers. That was the cross-subsidy that was
... See moreThomas Petzinger Jr. • Hard Landing: The Epic Contest for Power and Profits That Plunged the Airlines into Chaos
Folkert Gorter
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Don Burr did not realize that he was whistling “Dixie.” The majors were not, as a matter of fact, using their transcontinental routes to subsidize their short-haul