An Open Letter To All Airline Customers.

[Teacher Mark 53]

Last week, crude oil hit an all-time high of $146, and the skyrocketing cost of fuel is impacting our customers, our employees, the communities we serve, and the economy as a whole. United, and the majority of other major U.S. airlines, are asking our most loyal customers to join us in pushing for legislation to add more transparency and disclosure in the oil markets. Please see the attached open letter from the leaders of the U.S. airline industry.

Airline logos

An Open letter to All Airline Customers:

Our country is facing a possible sharp economic downturn because of skyrocketing oil and fuel prices, but by pulling together, we can all do something to help now.

For airlines, ultra-expensive fuel means thousands of lost jobs and severe reductions in air service to both large and small communities. To the broader economy, oil prices mean slower activity and widespread economic pain. This pain can be alleviated, and that is why we are taking the extraordinary step of writing this joint letter to our customers. Since high oil prices are partly a response to normal market forces, the nation needs to focus on increased energy supplies and conservation. However, there is another side to this story because normal market forces are being dangerously amplified by poorly regulated market speculation.

Twenty years ago, 21 percent of oil contracts were purchased by speculators who trade oil on paper with no intention of ever taking delivery. Today, oil speculators purchase 66 percent of all oil futures contracts, and that reflects just the transactions that are known. Speculators buy up large amounts of oil and then sell it to each other again and again. A barrel of oil may trade 20-plus times before it is delivered and used; the price goes up with each trade and consumers pick up the final tab. Some market experts estimate that current prices reflect as much as $30 to $60 per barrel in unnecessary speculative costs.

Over seventy years ago, Congress established regulations to control excessive, largely unchecked market speculation and manipulation. However, over the past two decades, these regulatory limits have been weakened or removed. We believe that restoring and enforcing these limits, along with several other modest measures, will provide more disclosure, transparency and sound market oversight. Together, these reforms will help cool the over-heated oil market and permit the economy to prosper.

The nation needs to pull together to reform the oil markets and solve this growing problem.

We need your help. Get more information and contact Congress by visiting www.StopOilSpeculationNow.com.

Robert Fornaro

Chairman,

President and CEO

AirTran Airways

Bill Ayer

Chairman,

President and CEO

Alaska Airlines, Inc.

Gerard J. Arpey

Chairman,

President and CEO

American Airlines, Inc.

Lawrence W. Kellner

Chairman and CEO

Continental Airlines, Inc.

Richard Anderson

CEO

Delta Air Lines, Inc.

Mark B. Dunkerley

President and CEO

Hawaiian Airlines, Inc.

Dave Barger

CEO

JetBlue Airways

Corporation

Timothy E. Hoeksema

Chairman,

President and CEO

Midwest Airlines

Douglas M. Steenland

President and CEO

Northwest Airlines, Inc.

Gary Kelly

Chairman and CEO

Southwest Airlines Co.

Glenn F. Tilton

Chairman,

President and CEO

United Airlines, Inc.

Douglas Parker

Chairman and CEO

US Airways Group, Inc.

[Aubrey 10]

Yup, I got it and promptly deleted it.

[S and S 12]

I got it and remember the title, but I didn't read it until your post. I have heard that oil speculators are one of the big causes of rising oil prices. I believe I heard that on the news.

I got the email from United Airlines in which I have frequent flyer miles. Is this where you got your email from?

Edited July 11, 2008 by S and S

[Teacher Mark 53]

I got it and remember the title, but I didn't read it until your post. I have heard that oil speculators are one of the big causes of rising oil prices. I believe I heard that on the news.

I got the email from United Airlines in which I have frequent flyer miles. Is this where you got your email from?

Yes. I sent it to my representatives. They have some valid points in it. People need to get active or shut the he*& uo about the prices.

[Brad and Vika 129]

Deleted it without reading it.

[eric&gen 0]

I cant remember i never read spam mail only if its coming from a person or company I'm dealing with.

[Dr. Obvious 49]

I noticed yesterday that NWA has a link on its front page to a site trying to eliminate or strongly regulate speculation. FREE MARKET GO!!

[Teacher Mark 53]

I noticed yesterday that NWA has a link on its front page to a site trying to eliminate or strongly regulate speculation. FREE MARKET GO!!

We'll see how great the free market is when the price for everything has doubled due to high transportation costs.

[Niels Bohr 72]

FREE MARKET? The US is not a Free-Market! ECON 101. It's semi-free!

[Teacher Mark 53]

FREE MARKET? The US is not a Free-Market! ECON 101. It's semi-free!

I skipped that class.

[Steve Y Jessica 1]

Very true, For a large part, the price of gas is due to people trading on speculation. It has nothing to do with how much OPEC or the gas companies are saying they need to charge.

This in turn increases the cost of everything.

[LaGreenEyes 0]

This is something we need to all pay attention to. I'm in the aviation business and it not only affects my business but many others though in a more indirect way. Upwards of Ten thousand people are going to be losing their jobs before the end of the year in the aviation industry alone as a direct result of oil prices. It's a domino effect...less flights means less people in the terminals eating at the restaurants which have to order less food from the suppliers who will have less warehouse and driver personnel which will have less deliveries to go get from the factories that make or grow the supplies which means less workers in those businesses which means less money to spend at .......insert business here....and the cycle goes on....