Hapless United Airlines loses millions hedging fuel
Anyone following the story of the American airline industry over the past year knows that Southwest Airlines has held an ace in the hole with their successful fuel hedging operations that have saved the company millions of dollars. When United finally decided to hop on the hedging bandwagon, they managed to lose hundreds of millions.
According to the Airline Biz Blog, United Airlines managed to lose more than $500 million as they dipped their toes into the fuel hedging arena. United’s executives have managed to make the dramatic drop in oil prices a negative rather than a positive for the beleaguered airline.
These days, United Airlines just can’t win. If it isn’t the problem of an inadvertent publication of an old bankruptcy notice driving their stock down precipitously, it is the specter of losing money on falling jet fuel prices.
Perhaps the “high cost of jet fuel” mentioned by United Airlines as the justification their hike in the second-checked-bag fee has been self-inflicted.
You may also be interested in these articles
Comments
3 Responses to “Hapless United Airlines loses millions hedging fuel”
Please share your thoughts...
I’m really happy to see that. United was the airline that left me in Denver with my connecting United flight cancelled for “lack of pilots” and my baggage locked up. Baggage Claim told me they didn’t know when I could get it. My wife & I were handed a simple dop kit with a toothbrush and shampoo and a ta-ta for now. I wanted them to arrange a rental car and they told me that there we no rental cars in Denver available which was BS.
I told them I would be back after dinner and my baggage was going to be there or else I was going to make their life a living hell. The baggage miraculously showed up. They could not have given a happy poop whether I got my bags, had a place to stay or anything. I’ll never fly them again. I hope they go broke right before the execs go to..well you know.
Now, You wanna know how I really feel about United Airlines?
Take a look at their Contract of Carriage and find the phrase where they need to do anything at all for your situation, which more than likely was caused by a weather delay somewhere in their system. That you got anything at all is more than they were required to do.
That phrase, “That you got anything at all is more than they were required to do.”
Since when is customer service a “requirement”?
Customer service should be a complimentary service to the customer, not a required service. Once it becomes a required service, the service provider will only provide up to the maximum allowed by the requirement. And if the service provider is making up it’s own requirements, then you can be sure that the bare minimum will be the requirement.
Perhaps this is the real reason that the airlines are suffering…
Ed
web/gadget guru