Yes Henry, There Is A Santa Claus

[Henry]

As many of you who are on the forum know, last summer I did a pre-buy on 1,000 gallons of fuel oil for my home at a cost of $4,600.00.  Those of you that didn't due a pre-buy made a much wiser choice than I did, however, in the mail yesterday, Maryann and I received the following letter from S B Collins, who we did the pre-buy with:

This is like a $600 gift - At this time, don't know of any other fuel oil dealer that has done this.

[Loctavious]

The Energy COOP has also written to tell us that though we signed a contract that bound us to the listed price, they're now goign to reduce the amoutn we need to pay.  We're on a budget plan - meaning you pay a set figure every month - even in the summer and this lessens the winter time increase in usage.  They've taken off something like .60 per gallon.  we're locked in at somewhere in the low$3.00 range.  It makes sense.  Now we just need to see the Airlines do the same by mid-year.  Fuel costs are what really hit the airlines hard last year, subsequently they raised fairs and started charging for everything from baggage, to aisle seats to curbside check-in.  Now that fuel costs are down, we can expect them to keep their rates the same for a while - to recoup lost revenue.  BUT, sooner or later their rates will need to reflect the change in fuel costs - UNLESS they intend on using the ecnomic downturn as the next rationalization.

[mirjo]

BUT, how long before we're paying ~$5 at the pump again or more??

That is more worrisome...the airlines are always raising/lowering fares, adding/subtracting perks, going bankrupt, starting a new company, charging for things that should be included in the ticket price. It's never made any sense at all. Don't ever expect it will.

[Loctavious]

Actually the Airlines had a pretty good run of stability there from the late 80's to 2001.  All those price wars were based on 'territorial pissings' ( excuse the vernacular) not on the aftermath of a major terrorist attack.  Airlines lost huge amounts of money gettign the public to feel safe enough to fly again not to mention conforming to new government regualtion - new 'smart' x-ray amachiens that can see chemical and organic compounds as well, revamped terminal & security checkpoints to conform with above -mentioned new regualtions, and let's not forget, just to break even on the cost of one flight, the plane must be at least 60-75% full - think of all the time that elapsed trying to increase customer comfort where planes were takign of with less than 10%.

9/11 hit the older arilines the worst as they had the most overhead ( multiple hubs in mulitple cities).  US airways, United, Delta all file dfor Ch 11 at least once and have been close to again since.  The trouble the airlines are in goes way deeper and reflects this 'new world' we live in since 9/11. 

Fuel Costs?  Let's not get going on that as it's more of a geopolitical isssue spanning back 60+ years ago that's still hainting us today.  Renewable energies, liek wind turbines and the like, are our ONLY true answer out of this.  If we wait until we're out of fossil fuels ( they're estimated to become limited in 40-50years) than we're talking about a way worse situation to do it in.  no doubt about it, these are some of the worse times in recent history, and are sure to get worse before better - read this morning that 660 state jobs are on the chopping block - that can't be a measure of things getting better.

[CJB]

The airlines are currently in the same position that Henry is, without the gift from Santa.  They purchased fuel contracts at the inflated fuel prices and many are stuck paying these high prices until contract renegotiation time, reported on VPR as early summer.  Will airline fees decrease once the fuel payments go down?  Probably not.