Airlines like Delta and Aegean only give lip service to customers who keep them flying high with profits. 

click to enlarge

My column last week was a deep reflection (that's a lie, I never think too deeply) as I bitched about how airlines gouge their customers. This happens on all airlines, I suppose, particularly in peak times like Christmas, Mother's Day or Thanksgiving.

I think Columbus Day is the only holiday that doesn't spur gouging, since it's more and more apparent that Americans are ditching their love affair with Mr. Smallpox. Gouging is also a greedy outcome of annual events like the Rose Bowl game that I attended on Jan. 2 of this year.

Most Ute fans drove to Los Angeles facing all kinds of travails from blizzards, heavy traffic and poor radio reception. I can avow that Interstate 15 to Los Angeles must rank as one of the Top 10 beef jerky routes in the whole U.S.A.

The cows that supplied those jerky bags must have needed a lot of water and alfalfa—good thing Utah has plenty of both, right? Wink, wink. There must be a couple thousand cows chopped and diced along the way into those top-to-bottom gas station shelf displays of sticky teriyaki or black-pepper-flavored beef jerky.

Long-haul truckers and Ute football fans don't often consider that to be a problem. I also believe that if airlines provided beef jerky instead of two crackers and 12 peanuts, they'd have no seat shortages and thus no need to price gouge when opportunities arise.

The Utes lost, of course, in their Rose Bowl game. However, their loss provided wins for smart bookies and Delta Airlines. I well imagine that somewhere, a Delta honcho was rooting for the Utes to earn a Rose Bowl trip knowing that the price of a round-trip ticket to Los Angeles would rise exponentially.

And, as with last week's column, that's especially galling since Salt Lake City International Airport is a prized hub for Delta Airlines. Our local governments and the Utah Jazz love Delta. Tourists and ball teams come to Utah in order to pay top dollar for the same cocktails they consumed back home, dropping big bucks into the Utah economy, and Delta gets airline concourses bought and paid for by booze taxes (and all the rest).

Everyone wins except Utah residents who, no matter where they fly from Salt Lake City, most often pay higher prices than do residents of other Western cities.

Go ahead and try it yourself. Just go to Expedia or some other travel site and play around. You'll see. Last week, I played with a bunch of domestic flights to other Delta city hubs like Atlanta and Minneapolis, then also to non-Delta hub cities like Chicago. Delta was always the highest-priced airline, even though they don't always allot a full 12 peanuts. It doesn't seem right.

Today, I did it again, pricing flights from Salt Lake City to Athens, Greece. You may know that City Weekly annually hosts a trip to Greece, each September. This year, nearly 100 of you will come along with me on two different 11- and 12-day trips (if you want to join or get on our mailing list, just reach me via john@cityweekly.net).

If I were buying now, Delta's lowest price fare to Athens (via Paris) is over $200 more than United Airlines (via Chicago). It's $600 higher via Atlanta (a Delta hub) and JFK in New York (a Delta hub). I'm starting to think this Delta hub stuff is one giant George Santos operation.

On the bright side, at least currently, Delta is not booking the same flight that I took last year via Paris. Last year, Delta was booking two connections to Athens through Air France; one had a 65-minute layover, the other was around 4 hours. There were also longer layover options.

However, nearly 20 others and myself chose the short layover. Every one of us missed that connection on at least four different days. It cost everyone except me up to 12 hours of travel time. Two parties lost not hours, but days. I was routed to Aegean Air instead of Air France, the consequence of which was that my baggage never made it.

I was in Greece with no luggage until Day 8 when Aegean Air and Charles de Gaulle airport employees put down their cigarettes and got off their asses and found my bag. I then had to pay tons extra to get it to where I was staying in Nafplion.

Delta blamed Air France. Air France blamed Aegean Air. Aegean blamed the Paris airport—where my airpods clearly showed what concourse my bag was sleeping in. My angst lies with Aegean for being so nonchalant ("You can pick up your bag when you go back through Paris"—I wasn't even returning via Paris!) and with Delta for booking a "legal" flight that they knew arrived on time only 30% of the time, as I sadly learned too late.

Indeed, all of the those affected on that route knew before they left Salt Lake that they would not make their Paris connection. I departed Salt Lake about 80 minutes late. I was shot before I got off the ground.

I believe, lured by short overall travel time to Athens, that Delta was locking up customers who would have flown another airline—after all, they did manage to connect everyone (except me) on later Air France flights. Why not just book them on those flights in the first place? Because we are all just airline sheeple.

When President Reagan deregulated the airlines, it effectively reduced competition, and the remaining airlines reaped billions. Consumers pay through the nose with no consideration for comfort or football fandom. Not even a thought about beef jerky.

Send comments to john@cityweekly.net