Dennis, "lower the fares and costs" sounds great but putting it into action may be difficult. How about this for a starter. "All pilots will fly monthly hours equal to SW for the same pay as SW pilots" My prediction? Pilots will balk. Flying more hours will interfere with their full time jobs elsewhere. Equipment changes? drop all the Boeings and MDs and lease A319/320/321 Airbus' Will that save money? Lower costs for parts inventories, maintenence costs, training costs..probably save some loot. Adjust schedules? I'm not sure if Dennis means reduce hub operations and provide more direct flights. More direct flights with emb145s or fly airbuses half empty? Negotiate Lower Fuel Costs? Good luck! Negotiate lower landing fees? I suspect landing fees will be raised to pay the escalating costs for overreactions for security. Same with lower rents at airports. Move to cheaper airports such as Palmdale vice LAX? Good idea..then you can change your equipment to a Lear 35 and you still won't fill the seats. Negotiate Labor Costs? The goal should be to increase productivity and SW seems to have a handle on it. How about flight attendents assisting gate agents during their two-three hour layovers instead of reading the Soap Opera Digest? Pilots working a full monthly flight schedule? Contract out all baggage handlers...etc Lots of possibilities but I predict none will be adopted as there is a growing trend among airline employees in general that they are "entitled" to their pay and whether the company makes a profit is of no concern to them. Just a few thoughts.... Greg -----Original Message----- From: The Airline List [mailto:AIRLINE@LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU]On Behalf Of Dennis W Zeuch Sent: Thursday, July 18, 2002 7:47 PM To: AIRLINE@LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU Subject: Re: SF Gate: Delta loses $186 million in the quarter; Northwest loses $93 mil... Delta ( and several other carriers) are providing a product/service at almost the same level as Southwest/JetBlue but they keep pretending they are offering much more....service? no Food? no Comfort ? no. Cut the crap, lower the fares and costs, adjust your schedules and equipment etc and not just beat on the lowest paid employees to ""Gvie back and save the company stuff"" Dennis