I have warned of the hidden dangers of airlines and cheap oil before. The biggest being a loss of focus and discipline at airlines by both management and labor. Those dangers are still out there and I expect we’ll see them come into play sooner rather than later, but let’s be positive for a minute. Lower oil prices ultimately translate into lower transportation costs for many of the things we buy from tomatoes to televisions, and of course cheap oil flows right through to the bottom line of airlines.
Here’s another little benefit – airlines start doing things they wouldn’t do before like add several new flights at LAX or placing an Airbus on the DFW to Boise route. And while it doesn’t get much attention, I’m finding a lot of relatively favorable fares out there at the moment to places I want to travel to.
With cheap oil and a lot of cheap money floating around, I’m afraid things may get frothy at some point. The fact that someone is advertising “house flipping” seminars locally here in Atlanta confirms my fears. In the meantime, I think I’ll book this $139 fare to LAX.
-MJ, January 22, 2016
