So Lufthansa turns a profit, while US Airlines face bankruptcy?

What am I missing here? :shrug:

to yank out nipple rings has had a deleterious effect on the bottom line.

yank out prince alberts... viagra no more, that's all I can say...

:scared:

for Lufthansa has always been a lot higher there; here, the airlines are just getting used to it. :shrug:

Ronald Reagan's deregulation of the airline industry also eliminated many of the government subsidies. Since then, US airlines have been operating on a very thin profit, which gets eaten up very quickly when fuel prices soar.

Airlines in Europe are considered key transportation infrastructure, so most nations subsidize them much as they do trains.

Imagine that, key transportation infrastructure. :wow:

Their flights are mostly International which on some routes not a lot of competition
so fares are stable.
Unlike the US where there is stiff competition on most routes, and the airlines are trying to compete with Southwest when they are 2 different airlines, and really dont need to

Most US airlines are top heavy also, with 40-50 VP's, they are concerned about 'market share'
instead of profit and yield which they should be.


:hi:

Our airlines flourished during the golden age of regulation..

back from Munich in May and enjoyed two movies dinner and breakfast and free drinks with less seats and wonderful service and they still made money. Our airline industry must be doing somethings really wrong.

Not no mo. Lufthansa is my airline now. :hi:

Other top management also are reported to have "received 2006 compensation packages valued at about $100 million over the course of several years."

They raped the companies.

The legislation provides an immediate $5 billion in cash assistance to the airlines, together with $3 billion in emergency spending directed by President Bush, as part of the $40 billion appropriated by Congress last week in response to the terrorist attack. In addition, the bill provides another $10 billion in guaranteed loans.

The bailout bill also makes the federal government the insurer of the airline industry for the next 180 days, after which private insurance companies are expected to offer renewed coverage at higher rates. But an amendment that would have guaranteed health insurance for laid-off airline workers for the next year was defeated in the House by a vote of 279-174.

This means that some of the largest corporations in America will have the federal government guaranteeing payment of their bills, while over 100,000 airline workers already laid off, and hundreds of thousands more in travel-related occupations—travel agents, hotel and restaurant workers, car rental employees, etc.—will have to fend for themselves.

:eyes:

It seems every day there's always a story about how some jackass CEO gets a multi-million dollar severance package while their company suffers.

I expect that a single American Airlines executive gets paid several dozen times what the equivalent Luftansa executive gets.

In the US, it is expected that most employers subsidize health care policies. In Germany, the government handles that. So there is less overhead for a business there.

In Germany, I think the employer pays half the cost for health care, the other half the employee. And I think it's the same for the pension fund.

healthcare. If you work more than 18 hours, they have to kick in 50%, and the employee kicks in 50%. The healthcare is GOVT. REGULATED.

Unless you are unemployed, then the govt. picks up the tab.

Sorry about that.

to run their businesses like pyramid schemes and Mafia rackets—they have to actually operate on sound business principles and practices, not make their profits by fleecing, cheating and bailing out just before the company's driven into the ground.

:thumbsup:

(unless Berlasconi is involved)

makes it a little easier

All employers are required to chip in 50% of the employees healthcare portion once that employee works over 18 hours. The employee pays the other 50%. The main difference is that our healthcare costs are controlled by the government through regulations, AND the employee is not tied to one specific healthcare provider, he/she is free to choose from a wide variety of providers, OR go into a private healthcare system (which is not so regulated).

The CEO thing, yeah, that is true.

and cost control then. Good for Southwest, they can take over the rest of the bozos! Or at least give them a boilerplate on how to run an efficient and customer-service oriented company. :hi:

Southwest is the McDonalds of airlines.

the other OP posted as such. :hi: and wouldn't that be like comparing apples and bratwurst? :toast:

One of the reasons that Southwest is so profitable is that it was basically a fuel hedge fund that operated an airline. It's not a sustainable strategy and might end up biting them in the end (figuratively).

Flying SWA sucks. I've racked up a lot of flight miles bought by clients who naturally look for the lowest price so when I get a ticket on SWA I cringe. To compare their service to Lufthansa, Japan Air, Air France, Singapore Air, British Airways or even TACA is an insult to real airlines.

of flying my last transatlantic trip with Virgin. Wow, talk about service! I was blown away, it was even better than Lufthansa. Virgin's seatback entertainment system is the best I've encountered (at least on the transatlantic route). Comfy seats with padding, the plane was spotless, compared to the shit seats on USAir, and their disgusting excuses for bathrooms.

I've also heard that Singapore Air, and a few others are even better. Can't judge, never flown to Asia, yet. :hi:

Ever watch Airline?

:scared:

I'd rather walk/drive.:)

are reaping the benefits of that, at least until their oil contracts dry up.

to Barcelona in September. It's great to have some reassurance that they won't be going belly-up before then.

the service was excellent and they have the best truffles evah.

Europe to Asia, Africa, Middle East.