Spirit and fuel hedging

[Mike man]

I would look at the 9 dollar fare as real frightening, not a sign of good management.

50% is way too far fetched...and I'll agree with you on poor management. Critter may have been drinking the kool-aid for sure.

 

[EMB170Pilot]

How many RAH pilots are getting furloghed?

 

[Beetle007]

. I think we can all agree that with the amount of facts that we have been presented from the higher ups, the fuel prices in the paperwork are prob. not what we are paying.

Fuel hedging doesn't mean you pay less for fuel.

Southwest invests in heating oil. When the price of heating oil goes up they sell their investment in heating oil (just like stock). They never actually see the oil. They just buy and sell contracts for oil.

When southwest goes to the pump they pay the same as everyone else.

Here is a good research paper on fuel hedging:
http://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/research/fimrc/papers/jet_fuel.pdf

 

[hockeypilot44]

How many RAH pilots are getting furloghed?

How many RAH pilots were fired in training?

 

[critterair2]

Haven't drank the coolaid, keeping plan B well alive, just a hunch that we are better off then they want us to believe. When was the last time we were told the truth and they were'nt playing childhood games with us.

 

[RemoveB4Flght]

Usually, really cheap fares like the 9 dollar one are not signs of good managment, but extreme desperation.

I would look at the 9 dollar fare as real frightening, not a sign of good management.

Cheers
Wino

it's not like we have a plane with 144 people paying 9 bucks a piece..

the $9 fares and multitude of other bizzare internet sales are a marketing gimmick that bodes people into navigating our confusing website in the hopes of matching up their travel plans with the particular dates and flights which there are the $9 seats

it's a lot like vegas where people keep coming back, even after getting screwed, hoping that this time they will come out ahead....

meanwhile the same bag and drink fees that were to have sent our bus station pax scrambling a year ago are now being mirrored by the legacies..

strange times we find ourselves in

 

[:-)]

Second, marketing strategies such as idiotic 9 dollar fares are costing 242 possible furloughs.

Pilots are idiots. (yes that includes me)

Marketing strategies are intended to put buts in seats at a profit. $9 fares fill seats that would otherwise remain unsold. Look at it this way, a seat sold for $9 is $9 more than you would make if you closed the door with the seat empty.

AA started "yield management" and they also have fare sales. NK uses the same strategy. So does WN. It's called chasing dollars in a down market and I for one and glad that BB found a way to get $9 more than the next guy.

You should also be happy. Jake Shore would have closed the doors long ago; BB and BB and their screwy marketing have provided the paychecks.

If you haven't noticed, the entire nation is hurting, so why do think that the airlines would be any different.

Maybe you should be supporting the "drill here, drill now" campaign instead of spouting off on the internet.

 

[Wino]

Dont be so sure that the 9 dollars was a net gain. Remember its weight and you got to buy fuel to haul the weight.

Using the old 10 percent rule for tankering fuel (it costs 10 percent of the fuel to carry it) a 200 lb passenger will increase your fuel burn by 20 lbs. call it 4 dollars a gallon for jet fuel at 7 lbs per gallon and it costs 12 dollars in gas to haul that 9 dollar pax.

But I guess they will make it up in volume!

Pull up a flight plan and plug in heavier weights and see what it does to your burn...

Cheers
Wino

 

[kwick]

It probably wasn't a net gain in that context. The $9 fare is a marketing tool.

Rather than spending thousands of dollars on billboards or newspaper ads, the $9 fare draws attention to Spirits service in a particular market.

 

[Mike man]

The kool-aid was being served yesterday in FLL, Paul O was serving and loads of folks were slamming it.

 

[saviboy]

The kool-aid was being served yesterday in FLL, Paul O was serving and loads of folks were slamming it.

what was P.O. serving yesterday?

I heard though the grapevine :135 furloughs at 45 / month. and reduction by 7 planes

 

[Wino]

It probably wasn't a net gain in that context. The $9 fare is a marketing tool.

Rather than spending thousands of dollars on billboards or newspaper ads, the $9 fare draws attention to Spirits service in a particular market.

actually a 9 dollar fare by itself doesn't attact attention to a particular market unless the person was already planning on going there and was looking at flights there. Otherwise how would they know about it unless they had already plugged in a trip to see what it costs. If they were already looking at going there then you just cost yourself money

That sort of marketing has to be COMBINED with expensive billboards and whatnot. And here is the problem, most of the people you cater to are one off flyers. How often are people going on vacation in the caribbean? Once a year? If you are trying to build up a route with those fares, it will be a long time before you see the peeps again.... IF you are trying to introduce them to the Spirit Airlines experience, do u believe your experience is better than your competition? IF it is worse to be a pax on spirit than say USair, or Southwest, or whoever you are competeing with, then you will NEVER get them back at a reasonable fare. You just confirmed them as never agains...


Cheers
Wino

 

[troll565]

Miramar-based Spirit Airlines has been fined $100,000 for paying the Cuban government for permission to use the island's airspace, constituting a violation of the long-standing U.S. embargo against the island.


According to a report by the Office of Foreign Asset Control of the Treasury Department, Spirit Airlines made several money transfers to Cuban government accounts from September 2004 to March 2007 without a valid license for such activity.


The fine imposed on the airline, which has its main hub at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, is the largest such penalty imposed by the agency during the fiscal year that began last October.


Spirit is the second Florida corporation fined this year for violating the embargo, following the $7,500 fine imposed on Fort Lauderdale's BankAtlantic in February.


`NOT PREMEDITATED'
Spirit Airlines told El Nuevo Herald that the violation occurred ''in an unpremeditated manner,'' a company spokeswoman said.


''During the beginning of 2007, Spirit Airlines realized that the permit required by [the Treasury agency] for authorizing flights over Cuba for the use of their airspace had not been renewed,'' said Spirit's spokeswoman, Misty Pinson.


``Spirit Airlines never had the intention of violating any requirements or laws to carry out its international operations.''
Spirit accepted blame. ''Because of this unintentional violation, our company quickly presented itself before the Treasury Department to provide all information regarding this matter, and following the meeting we agreed to pay the fine,'' Pinson said.


Founded in 1980, Spirit Airlines is the nation's largest private airline.


The company offers a wide range of domestic flights and promotional prices that start at $9.
The company also provides service to 22 destinations in the Caribbean, and Central and South America.


It is routine procedure and within the regulations of civil aviation for U.S. carriers to pay other nations for the use of their airspace during international routes, just as the federal government charges carriers for use of U.S. airspace.


Payments of this sort destined for Cuba require a special license from the Treasury Department, as part of the laws of the embargo.

 

[Mike man]

Miramar-based Spirit Airlines has been fined $100,000 for paying the Cuban government...

Spirit management = total and utter incompetence, even more idiotic than other airline management.

 

[ultrarunner]

Miramar-based Spirit Airlines has been fined $100,000 for paying the Cuban government for permission to use the island's airspace, constituting a violation of the long-standing U.S. embargo against the island.

Bummer...should have had AirRouting our Universal do it for 'em.

Those two outfits are a pretty good conduit for getting money to Cuba to use their airspace.

U.S. Embargo...what a crock of $hit!

 

[Mike man]

Bummer...should have had AirRouting our Universal do it for 'em.

That would cost too much money...since we have to do everything in the most crappy, cheap and shoddy way.

 

[KigAir]

Marketing strategies are intended to put buts in seats at a profit. $9 fares fill seats that would otherwise remain unsold. Look at it this way, a seat sold for $9 is $9 more than you would make if you closed the door with the seat empty.

What do the $0 fares achieve?