One of the most interesting--and underreported--aspects of Chuck Thompson's book "Smile When You're Lying" was his discussion of Peak Oil and its potential effect on the travel industry. And whether or not you believe the theory that we will soon tap the world's petroleum reserves and begin a long, disastrous decline into a carbon-free future, you can't deny that the price of oil has dramatically increased over the past year.
Some folks think that's because of rampant speculation (of the financial kind) on global oil futures markets. And the heads of a dozen airlines have just written "an open letter to all airline customers" addressing what they see as the reason for the high prices that are devastating their industry.
They're calling for tighter government regulation on the markets to keep these investors--who we'll remind you are simply playing by the established rules--from hurting them. (Nevermind that Southwest itself plays the oil markets to lock in lower fuel prices!)
Thing is, there's only so much the US government regulators can do, as oil is a global commodity traded on global markets. And though the airlines are trying to blame "scary" things like sovereign wealth funds and speculators for their trouble, Chris Elliott is calling them out for hypocrisy. Here's his "translation" of the open letter:
We've been speculating about air fares [through yield management] ever since the government has allowed us to do it. Gee, we hope you don't see the irony in our request. You know, it's OK for us to change an airfare every 10 seconds, but it's not OK for someone to do the same thing with fuel.
What's truly scary about all this is what these airlines are going to do when we finally do start running out of oil. Think fares are already too high at $140 a barrel? Wait till we hit $200 a barrel!
Related Stories:
· Stop Oil Speculation Now [Official Site]
· "An Open Letter to All Airline Customers" [PDF]
· A Translation of the Airlines' Open Letter [Tripso]
· Oil Prices coverage [Jaunted]
[Photo: Clinton Steeds]
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by pbb
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