empty seats for all!

I realize that my post yesterday has nothing to back it up. Nonetheless, it's how I feel about the situation. The father/son relationship isn't the only reason why the president will finish this war (or at least, not give up on it), but it's the differentiating factor between him and other men who could be in his situation.

A quote from an article a few weeks ago caught my eye and I did not discuss it at the time. Now I cannot find the original article I read, but I found a suitable replacement here that has the same quote. A former Delta Airlines executive is challenging the airline that she should be allowed to keep her severance privilege of free first-class flights for her and her family. Currently, Delta is in the middle of Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings. The great quote is that she argues that Delta will "incur few or no actual costs or expenses … because there are generally empty seats on the debtor's aircraft."

Wow, with that kind of thinking, no wonder they're flush with cash. Wait, they're not. It doesn't take an extensive formal education in economics, finance, or how to run a business to see some obvious deficiencies with her thinking. That is, unless she was planning to only take mid-week red eye flights. If there are "generally" empty seats on Delta's flights, then perhaps it should operate fewer flights. Or consider lowering their prices. Or dynamic pricing where they lower prices as the date of the flight gets nearer (but raise them again in the last two weeks). What were the exact terms of her agreement? If she was on a flight and someone was willing to pay real money for the seat she was in, then would she get bumped? If not, there's a serious lost opportunity cost. Even her mere presence in a seat on an airplane, even if no one else wanted it, not even for 50 bucks, costs the airline. There is the minor incremental increase in fuel consumption from the added weight. There are the meals and appetizers and alcoholic beverages that are all free in first-class. There is the tracking process of having to account for a passenger in the database who is not treated like the others. How is this "few or no actual costs"? Are these imaginary costs with imaginary money?

Maybe she'll win and get to keep her flights for her and her family. If she does, I hope the airline loses her luggage. And by lose, I really mean take to sell all the valuables from to cover the "few or no actual costs" from her flight.