I guess I'm not sure what the point is here exactly. They spent money to lobby. OK. The insurance companies have spent tons of money on lobbies. Many large corporations do. The airlines are no exception.
Don't misunderstand me - I know that you are pointing out that they are fighting Kate Hanni, and they are doing so while at the same time (some) are loosing money. And don't get me wrong, I don't think that people should have to sit on a plane for hours. What happened to Kate was inexcusable. Even what happened with Continental just a couple weeks ago shouldn't have happened, although that was due to Northwest not wanting to help a competitor. Still should not have happened. But then again, I never set foot in the boardroom, so the higher ups never gave a rip what I thought.
My point is that you have not uncovered some smoking gun that nobody knew about. It may not be right, but welcome to life.
Also, when you say that the current CEO's need to take note after Frank Lorenzo's deal, I think you are a bit off base. He didn't spend his time lobbying (he may have some, but not the majority of it, and it certainly was not his undoing.)
Lorenzo's deal was things like tearing down one airline to build another. He sold Eastern's reservations system and A300 jets to Continental REAL cheap, then leased them both right back to Eastern for a major premium. The planes never even got new paint. And that's just the start.
I don't believe that any current airline CEO has any reason to be shaking in their boots. I'm not saying that I agree with all they do, but none have gone as far out there as Lorenzo.
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