Good bye and Good Riddance?
Thursday, August 05, 2010
I am not sure why anyone has shares in any airline? It has got to be the worst business in existence for making money?
Airlines fly people around on unsustainable fares so they can fill their planes using what cash they can get to pay for the loans that are on their planes! When the debts get too high, they re-organise. In the USA this means going into "Chapter 11 Bankruptcy". This gives the airline the ability to reorganise To my eye, this seems to involve the cancellation of mountains of debt so they can borrow more money!! In other places in the world, they try and get a government bail out.
If either measure fails, then the airlines goes bust. The number of failed airlines in the last twenty years is extraordinary!
Can anyone explain the economics better?
Some airlines go bust because of bad luck or bad situations-but the reality is most go bust because of bad management - a management that takes its eye off the fundamentals. For example:
"This is the worst airline ever! They should not be allowed to offer flights to anyone. I can't express enough how disappointing my trip with them was."
"Flight from Calgary, Alberta, Canada was overbooked by 19 people! There were 19 of us that were not allowed on the plane. The representatives said this happens all the time"
"THIS IS BY FAR THE WORST AIRLINE EVER!!!! Their customer service is non existent. They have 5 customer service telephone numbers and they are all busy. Finally, when my call went through the person couldn't help me. All I needed was to check in online and their online service wasn't working. If I would have known they were this stupid and rude- I would have tried some other airline. "
These comments belong to Mexicana, one of Mexico's airlines.Mexicana only joined the One World alliance in November, 2009 (One World includes American, British, Cathay, Iberia, Qantas).
Skytrax gives them 3 out of 5 stars. The comments above come from Review Center where the airline is rated a mere 1 out of 5!
I am not sure they are the worst airline ever (my worst airline list) but....
It has now has filed for bankruptcy protection in the US and Mexico. The airline blames high labour costs and has made their staff two offers. One of my favourite blogs Cranky Flier has a good analysis of the offers and he says they are both unpalatable offers.
Will Mexicana survive? I think so but I would not fly them! Another reviewer says:
Drive, walk, ride your bike, take the bus, or even hitchhike before booking with this airline.
If you are flying to Mexico be warned: the US Government has downgraded Mexico's airlines from Category 1 safety to Category 2 based on an assessment of day-to-day oversight of carriers by the government.
So flying to Mexico? I say use Air France, Air Tran, Alaska, Continental, LAN, Lufthansa and United.
In the meantime, bets please on Mexicana survival?
Airlines fly people around on unsustainable fares so they can fill their planes using what cash they can get to pay for the loans that are on their planes! When the debts get too high, they re-organise. In the USA this means going into "Chapter 11 Bankruptcy". This gives the airline the ability to reorganise To my eye, this seems to involve the cancellation of mountains of debt so they can borrow more money!! In other places in the world, they try and get a government bail out.
If either measure fails, then the airlines goes bust. The number of failed airlines in the last twenty years is extraordinary!
Some airlines go bust because of bad luck or bad situations-but the reality is most go bust because of bad management - a management that takes its eye off the fundamentals. For example:
"This is the worst airline ever! They should not be allowed to offer flights to anyone. I can't express enough how disappointing my trip with them was."
"Flight from Calgary, Alberta, Canada was overbooked by 19 people! There were 19 of us that were not allowed on the plane. The representatives said this happens all the time"
"THIS IS BY FAR THE WORST AIRLINE EVER!!!! Their customer service is non existent. They have 5 customer service telephone numbers and they are all busy. Finally, when my call went through the person couldn't help me. All I needed was to check in online and their online service wasn't working. If I would have known they were this stupid and rude- I would have tried some other airline. "
These comments belong to Mexicana, one of Mexico's airlines.Mexicana only joined the One World alliance in November, 2009 (One World includes American, British, Cathay, Iberia, Qantas).
Skytrax gives them 3 out of 5 stars. The comments above come from Review Center where the airline is rated a mere 1 out of 5!
I am not sure they are the worst airline ever (my worst airline list) but....
It has now has filed for bankruptcy protection in the US and Mexico. The airline blames high labour costs and has made their staff two offers. One of my favourite blogs Cranky Flier has a good analysis of the offers and he says they are both unpalatable offers.
Will Mexicana survive? I think so but I would not fly them! Another reviewer says:
Drive, walk, ride your bike, take the bus, or even hitchhike before booking with this airline.
If you are flying to Mexico be warned: the US Government has downgraded Mexico's airlines from Category 1 safety to Category 2 based on an assessment of day-to-day oversight of carriers by the government.
So flying to Mexico? I say use Air France, Air Tran, Alaska, Continental, LAN, Lufthansa and United.
In the meantime, bets please on Mexicana survival?
Labels:
Air France,
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American,
bankruptcy,
Cathay Pacific,
Continental,
cranky flier,
economics of flying,
Iberia,
LAN CHILE,
Lufthansa,
mexicana,
Qantas,
United Airlines
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I fly between Mexico and the US about every three months and I ALWAYS fly Mexicana. In my experience they are on time, great service, still offer meals and FREE drinks on board, and I can usually get what i want out of them if I bitch loud enough. I even got a cash refund from an airline once, now that is unheard of. I'm flying United to Mexico on Saturday, have not flown them. I did fly US last time and I was about to slit my wrists it was so terrible. Rude staff.... beyond rude, hostile.
US Air is on my no fly list..they are sadly appalling. -Garnering 1.31 complaints for every 100,000 passengers, they make a lot of mistakes when it comes to ticketing, reservations, and boarding. United are officially not much better but I find them ten times better than US. Delta get more complaints!
Mexicana is on time 81% of the time...USAir 85.3% and United 84% of the time. (http://airconsumer.dot.gov/reports/atcr10.htm)
WoW! I have to say, I'm quite surprised by those reviews of Mexicana! I've flown them every time I've flown to OAX, Mexico (about 10 legs with them, I guess ), and they have been the best flights I have flown. I second Tony's comments. I've found that the staff have been really exceptionally friendly and helpful, the flights are comfy, lots of free amenities, and always on time.
Oh, well. Guess I've just been lucky or something? ;)
--Carie
You have been lucky or they have been getting worse?
here are more reviews from Skytrax and a lot are negative but some are glowing (mostly because they are comparing them to Delta!-LOL)
Yes, maybe it has just gotten worse. The last I flew them was 3 years ago. Hard for me to complain about Delta, though. My mother is a flight attendant, I fly on benefits, and I frequently get upgraded to First Class, when it is not full. Can't beat that! However, I've probably gotten bumped off just as many flights. It's just the nature of it. ;)