Ben:
You forgot to mention the ATC Futures market,
the trading in derivatives, and scandalous market-timing trades. :-)
---JRC---

"Ben Dover" wrote in message =
...
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"Everett M. Greene" wrote in message
...
"Steven P. McNicoll" writes:
"Matthew S. Whiting" wrote

I agree that you need "perfect" competition to yield perfectly =
low
prices, but perfect competition rarely exists in the real world =
as it
requires consumers to have perfect knowledge of all alternate =
products
and their prices.
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Can you imagine this scenario.
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Plane flying from London to New York. Pilot is wondering which New =
York
Center he is going to talk to today. There are two ATC operators with =
their
own bits of airspace and routes into JFK.
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Captain calls up the airline's operation center to find out how the =
bidding
is going along.
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There is a guy at the operations center whose job it to find the best =
most
cost effective route into JFK. The ops guy is trying to bid down the =
price
of a slot. Traffic is light today as the plane was late leaving London
because of an outbound delay the previous day. The airline rescheduled =
the
flight back two hours because the cost of a departure slot was more =
than the
charges for staying at the airport.
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The Ops guy opposite numbers in the ATC centers knows what he is up to =
and
they are playing hard ball. They know that if the plane flies into the
Centers traffic area without a deal being concluded then there will be =
a big
penalty on the airline.
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If this happens the airline will automatically pass the charge on to
passengers as an additional billing on their credit card.
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In the end, the Airline Ops guy gets ****ed off with the New York =
centers
and sends the plane to Toronto where there is less hassle.
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Under the new terms of carriage it is the passengers responsibility =
now to
get themselves to New York from Toronto.
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The new bullet-proof doors to the flight deck come in really useful =
although
the flight attendants give way to Airline Security Operatives (big =
guys
shaven heads with rotweillers) to ensure the passengers leave the =
plane in
good order.
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With no passengers the Airliner is able to position it self at tiny =
cost
back to JFK to pick up the passengers waiting for it as ATC charges =
are
based on the number of passengers carried as a proportion of the =
capacity.
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Of course GA has disappeared due to the excessive user fees. $100 to =
file a
flight plan and $1 a mile or $2 a minute which ever is the higher as a
facility usage charge.
=20
Far fetched, its that ridiculous it could happen.
=20
Ben
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