sfb wrote:

The seller of the futures isn't extending credit. The buyer has a
contractual obligation to pay. Oil is a commodity that somebody will buy
so the exposure is limited to the difference between the future price
and the spot market price. If the airline goes broke and closes the
doors, it sells the futures contract for cash.

Since there is an exposure, this requires the seller to know that the
purchaser has the ability to buy the commodity. After all, if the
contract was for $30 per barrel and the price of oil dropped to $20,
then the seller would be getting $10 less per barrel then they would
have receive had a more stable entity had purchased the option.

Do you think they just sell options to anyone with the cash to cover the
cost of the option or do you think they look at the person's/company's
ability to actually covre the purchase of the commodity? IF it was only
an issue of cash to pay for the option cost, then why wasn't this done
by the other carriers?