Airlines making profits--and how that effects you and me

Have you seen, this week, how airlines are finally making profits? Wow. How long has that been? I don't know when the last time was I saw where an airline--other than Southwest--made money. Check it out: Delta, United and US Airways all reported profits. American Airlines, sadly, missed out on the little party--can you imagine the heck that's being raised over there, in their boardrooms? I love this quote from Deseret News: "American parent AMR Corp. lost $10.7 million in the second quarter, a huge improvement over the loss of $390 million in the same period last year. Still, the loss stuck out compared with the combined $1 billion in profits reported by US Airways, Delta Air Lines Inc. and United parent UAL Corp." Ouch. Anyway, the way this effects you and me back down here on Main Street is that this came about in two ways: the airlines have cut capacity so there are fewer seats up there, meaning we'll be more crowded on the planes--and those charges for your bags are definitely not going away. Links to associated posts: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-07-14/delta-may-lead-airlines-profit-with-more-fliers-fewer-seats.html http://www.deseretnews.com/mobile/article/700049978/Airline-profits-up-except-for-American.html