[James M.]

With the airline industry in a tailspin, why don't they offer better service and more comfort to entice people to pay more for a smaller number of more comfortable seats? Or why don't they just stop no-frills, bargain-basement prices and substitute reasonable prices people can afford?

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[Ramiro C.]

A couple of years ago, Louis Rukeiser asked on his TV program almost the same question from an airline CEO. The reply was that airlines compete on convenience and price. Basically, consumers will buy the cheapest tickets that will get them where they want to go when they want to go.

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[Gatorboy]

Economics. If what you suggest would bring in more money, they would do it in a heartbeat. But it won't. Ask any MBA...

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[Bryant]

I think they don't change because they don't have to and the government keeps bailing them out. After the way I treated by United airlines on a business trip last year, I was thankful that I do not have to travel very often. I wish the government would stop giving these guys money and let them go belly up. I will just drive or stay home.

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[Exton]

Assuming the people running the airlines know what they are doing, the reason they provide lower quality service for low prices, rather than higher quality service for high prices, is because they make more money doing that. You might be willing to put out more money so that you can have better service, but the case may be that the airlines are operating just below the point where many customers would stop being willing to pay for the service that they recieve, which is generally the best way to operate. There are two posibilities that come to my mind for being able to offer better services for reasonable prices: either the cost of operating has to go down, the best way of which would be much cheaper jet fuel, or the airlines would have to be regulated by the government. Government regulation is used to make normally profit driven industries operate at a less profitable level for the benefit of the tax payer and the economy. Airlines used to be a regulated industry, but their deregulation was one of the outcomes of 'Reaganomics,' the rather misguided economic strategy embraced by Ronald Reagan and likeminded leaders.

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[DanielPfalmer]

With the cost of airline tickets most people are not willing to pay the extra price. I'm not. I will complain if the service is blatantly bad but I don't want to pay more than I absolutely have to. I am a poor college student though and that is biasing me. After college when I have more money I probably wont mind as much. If you want more comfort why don't you go to first class? I would fly in the cargo section if they would let me and it would save me some money.

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