Check arrived!

My check from JetBlue arrived. I will deposit it and when it clears, write out a check for the same amount to my local animal shelter. (FYI - animal shelters are hurting these days. More pets are coming in as people run into tough economic times and, of course, donations are down.)

Click on the images of the check and the accompanying letter if you are curious.

What's next for this blog? Not sure.

I am going to back off JetBlue. Even though I am not whole (the judge ordered payment less than my out-of-pocket for the replacement ticket), me and JetBlue are square. The court spoke and JetBlue made good on its obligation. (If only JetBlue had seen their way to do this five months ago, without the blog and the lawsuit.)

But the airline industry still needs fixing if something like this can happen. Airlines should not be able to get away selling product they can't deliver without some kind of recourse. The Contracts of Carriage let them off the hook for most things. We agree to a devil's bargain, which is, we agree to their draconian terms and then cross our fingers. Congress and the FAA are the enablers.

But, as I have stated on this blog, we are not blameless. If we expect to pay $300 to fly across the country and back, we'll never win because the airlines will never make money. Airlines are businesses (although, since deregulation, they have been pretty lousy businesses.) They should be able to make money.

I proposed on this blog that Congress re-regulate the airlines as if they were a public utility, like electricity. The airlines are guaranteed a steady, if modest profit and we are guaranteed that some sort of civility will be restored to air travel. Sure it will cost more to fly, but we get what we pay for. As I said in the post below, take a train. Or just stay home.

So, as time permits, I'll comment on interesting airline industry goings-on. Or maybe I'll do that over on my main blog at www.billbakerblog.com.

We'll see.