andy

I'm pricing a trip Atlanta to San Diego. Delta is ALOT higher than anyone else..by about $90 per person and I"m looking for 4 tickets. I just read where Delta is not giving their gate agents, flight attendants and ticket agents raises this year. How can DL justify being so much higher than anyone else? I'm beginning to hate Delta and I'm stuck using them out of ATL it seems.

Vic

Me thinks that Andy is a travel agent that is resents Delta's move this week to zero commissions for small travel agents.<BR><BR>Instead of writing this childish post, figure out a business model that works with zero airlines commissions.

notPenny

Yup, Andy's a bitter travel agent.<BR><BR>It was inevitable that the airlines would eventually cut agents out of the loop. Delta was just the first.<BR><BR>Andy, anyone savvy enough to log on to this website has LONG since learned to shop for fares. If there's a big difference in fares among airlines, we're all grown-ups and we know A) how to look elsewhere and B)that such discrepancies disappear pretty quickly, so it's worth waiting 24 hrs. sometimes.

reply

Andy,<BR><BR>Keep expecting the fares to go up. <BR><BR>Yes Delta cut US based travel agencies to zero commission, but, not foreign based agencies. They are still paying them 9%.<BR><BR>Yes Delta did put a freeze on pay increases for LOWER LEVEL employees's, not it's grossly overpaid upper management and not it's over paid CEO. And did not freeze the BONUS's paid to the same.<BR><BR>But you people go right ahead, and keep purchasing those tickets. And while your at it take down any US flags you have hanging and remove anything else showing Patriotism, because, you arent' really American if you support this latest move by DELTA.

Andy

I'm just angry at big business..Enron, Arthur Anderson, Nabisco..all laying off. The fat cats getting richer. I would prefer to fly Delta.They fly nonstop. I would think they would want to fill their planes and match every one elses fares. If I can save 360 by flying American via a connecting city I will. I can wait a few more weeks. No, I'm not a travel agent..just mad at big business.

Cross-eyed

Y'know what? I'm really confused. I hate big business, too -- there's no excuse, no moralty, no justification for the compensation packages for top execs in all these industries that are being run into the ground, with all the employees on board. The utter absence of loyalty downward to the work force -- never mind the screw-the-consumer mentality -- is so unAmerican that one gags. But since the big money has the government and the handcuffed, no one really GETS this.<BR><BR>But on the other hand, how does boycotting Delta make any points whatsoever, since the other airlines have behaved exactly the same way?

Buck

All these posters that are mad at Big Business, its called the Free Enterprize System, I think the system is much better in Russia, China, The Middle East, Western Europe, should I go on? The question is choice, if you don't like it, go another place, we still have choices, The system will shake out the bad wood and get on with business. We could have one national airline run by our gov. let's have the INS run it, they do a real good job don't they. We can all complain and go about our daily lives and look for the honest companies to do business with and there are many out there and if not start one, Buck

meg

cut and paste<BR><BR><BR>Travel agencies are the ONLY (and last) outlit for a consumer to request a price for the cheapest flight and actually get an unbiased price. Airlines DO NOT employ travel agencies (as they own Travelocity, Oribitz and their own web sites) to sell their tickets. They just paid them a commission to sell them, as did all other airlines. Travel agencies don't care what airline you fly with only that you buy the ticket from them (which is why they are in business in the first place).<BR><BR>When the dust has cleared, the agencies that are left will shake themselves off and stop selling airline tickets. ZERO commissions means that there is not one person in this whole country that will work for free. Travel agencies do not want to charge service fees in the first place and they certainly don't want to raise those fees now. Had the airlines not lowered commissions to begin with travel agencies would never have charged a fee. <BR><BR>Eliminate the only non-airline owned ticket outlet and you are left at the mercy of the airlines. <BR><BR>

Vic

Agents currently sell about three quarters of tickets in the US. It's silly to think that Delta's move will eliminate all agents. Delta says it will continue to pay commissions to its big producers. So the worst that will happen is that small agencies that don't get commissions will go out of business.<BR><BR>Some agents are implying that Delta is not patriotic. Well they are just meeting the competition in various countries. The US is usually ahead in consumer favorable experiments. Maybe others will learn from Delta's initiative.<BR><BR>

CCB

There is nothing free about our system of free enterprise (which, Buck, you can't even spell). Nothing shakes out the bad wood -- remember Enron? The alternative to Big Business as it now exists is NOT central European models of communism, you silly, flag-waving absolutist. The alternative is vigilant anti-trust supervision, which we lost long ago. And that includes understanding which industries are appropriate for free-fall market competition -- ASSUMING the freedom of that market is preserved -- and which need to be more closely coordinated, such as utilities like transportation, water, and energy (did you enjoy the deregulation of the power companies in Calif.?). <BR><BR>Do you really want the Microsoft model to apply to air travel? Water? Air? <BR><BR>We just got a new mall in our area touted to provide "hundreds of jobs". Well, hundreds of local jobs and local businesses went under to make way for that mall, and now all the profit heads to the corporate headquarters for Federated Dept. stores. Yeah, that's free enterprise all right: a Gap and a Starbucks and a Wal-Mart for every town in the country -- while Main Street starts to look like a bombed-out Eastern European city.<BR><BR>As for the travel agents and non-airline owned ticket providers? Are you really telling me you never steered clients toward airlines that gave you better deals?

SteveP

I am one of the few people here to use their real email name...<BR><BR>Here are my thoughts....<BR><BR>Much airline travel is unnecessary. When you consider airport delays, flight delays, and ground delays it is often quicker to drive than to fly, even if the distance is 1000 miles. Example...From my house in upstate NY to my cousin's house in Melbourne FL is about 1000 miles. I can get on the road at any time that I wish and be there in 15 - 16 hours, carry up to 3 more people with me and pay about $75.00 in gas. With a plane I'd have to drive 120 miles to Kennedy or 90 to Laguardia, wait two hours, and fly to Orlando. I'd have to get my bags and my rent a car and drive another 2 hours to get to Melbourne. Adding all of this up I see about 11 hours door to door. Driving is quite alot less stressful than airline travel especially if you have children. You can carry alot more, too. You also use your own car, which is probably better than the car that you would rent. So, I truly feel that you will benefit from flying only if you are going really long distances (2000 + miles), or, obviously, overseas.<BR><BR>People have the power to control their own pocketbooks. If all of our debt-ridden society would take a local sightseeing / driving vacation instead of a fly-away resort trip and use the savings to pay their credit cards they would feel alot better. Also that would be a ton less money going to the fatcats. I am shocked when I see people in debt to credit cards, with two or three car payments, and a big mortgage, take the whole family to Disney or a beach resort. How can they relax with this? I certainly can't. People have to resist the pressure to spend and the pressure to fly. There are plent of interesting places with 500 miles of your own home. See them.<BR><BR>I have never seen an industry have so much contempt for its customers as the airline industry. Why do you hate us? We make your living!<BR><BR>Air tickets are the only randomly priced commodity out there. When I buy a bottle of coca-cola it is always priced at $1.09 whether demand is high or low. It seems that air tickets are priced on the 'lets make a deal' system.<BR><BR>

Marginovera

Steve, you have a point, but you are overlooking something, which is that the airlines are pitched to business travel. No business travelers would pile in a car with 2 others for an 11-hr. drive, to begin with. And why should they when their employer will pay huge premium prices because they can, because it's all tax deductible?<BR><BR>As long as the tax system allows business, esp.re: airline travel, to deduct an unlimited amount for the "cost of doing business", there will always be an elaborate pricing system. Moreover, as long as business travellers can spend other people's money like water, the airlines will always treat them a heckuva lot better than they treat you and me. <BR><BR>I've traveled a lot on my own nickel, then I traveled with my spouse on his FreqFlyer Gold Status and the difference in treatment was STUNNING. Go to the head of the line, every time, thanks to taxpayer subsidy of corporate travel perqs.

x

I agree with you, Marginovera. We have got to stop government subsidy of businesses by allowing them to deduct expenses from their taxes. And, since payroll is the biggest business expense, this should be the first one to go. RISE UP PEOPLE OF AMERIKA AND STOP THIS NONSENSE!!!

Marginovera

What on earth are you nattering about, "x"/Buck? Stop taxing payroll or terminate payrolls (that'll show ME if no one has a job, right?)? Oh, are you talking about Soc. Sec., Medicare and Medicaid? You don't want me to have to pay for your health and care in old age? How kind of you, but I insist.<BR><BR>When I was younger, putting a "K" in America meant you were a fascist who was trying to convince others that America was fascist. <BR><BR>Remember: sarcasm doesn't translate. Say what you mean.<BR>

x

Marginovera,<BR>You know, I never thought about medical, medicare, and social security costs deductions businesses are taking! More massive subsidies. Let's eliminate the deductibility of these also. Any others I should be aware about? I going to sit down right now and write letters to Congress and the President.