In condemning the "big six" airline alliances, TWA chairman Gerald
Gitner said the airline industry is turning into "a strange and
illogical landscape." Nine out of 10 travel agents participating in
my imaginary survey replied, "No duh." The tenth remarked that if
surrealist painter Salvador Dali were to return from the great
beyond and survey that "landscape," even he'd think it was weird.
The airlines should sell SatoTravel, the chairman of the House
aviation subcommittee said in a letter to the Air Transport
Association, because SatoTravel is now "competing directly with
agencies for commercial accounts." Maybe I'm overly sensitive, but
this makes me feel bad about buying my Timberland boots at the
Timberland store instead of at Macy's.