The print edition of the today’s Washington Post has a great full page spread of infographics comparing the airline industry of today to the days before deregulation in 1978.
Frequent flyer programs emerging since deregulation generate customer loyalty among hundreds of millions of people, reports Dwuan D. June.
“There are trillions of miles out there — 85 percent of which have never been redeemed,” according to Henry Harteveldt, a travel industry analyst cited in the article.
This statistic demonstrates the potentially large cost that airlines are carrying on their books, if consumers can figure out clever ways to leverage their miles.
According to Harteveldt, the airlines have “done nothing but cut corners for the past 11 years, since 9/11.”
Now that we have this stabilization among the top ranks, I’m hoping we’ll see airlines start to pay more attention to the passenger and invest in the passenger experience. — Henry Harteveldt
Of particular interest to Washington travelers: Reagan National Airport (DCA) handles more daily departures than Dulles (IAD) or Baltimore-Washington International Airport (BWI).