Has anyone heard a squeak out of ECA? The cool breeze from Dublin drifted eastwards on the wind over EU and slipped gently southwards even into warmer climes. Others saw the signs and followed suit. Is it that a cold arctic blast is about to descend and sweep southwards across the cosy plains of southern regions? ECA's silence might be jolted into action. Even the strong nationals are feeling the effect of the cool winds and the crews there will have very different career futures to their predecessors. Their in-house unions will be of reduced effectiveness under the threat from share holders who see what is possible from competitors. I think ECA and its constituent parts will find themselves running up a down-escalator and slowly running out of steam and not ascending, but drifting downwards. I doubt the crew shortage (pilots/cabin staff/engineers) will be severe enough to reverse the trend of the past 15 years. Ever since privatisation of the majors the writing has been on the wall, but too many a blind eye was buried in the sand. A juicy backside was presented to management and it was duly shafted.
If you think this is fantasy, then think on the edges. How long ago, and who was it that introduced baggage charges? How many others followed when pax numbers did not fall? How long ago and who was it that introduced check-in charges, and credit card charges, and administration charges, and weight limits with exorbitant excess baggage charges, and print your own boarding passes and …and….and. Now even the likes of KLM and other ex-majors have followed suit; more gently, but still in the same manner. We now think the the norm to pay for baggage, check-in/admin, print our own boarding cards etc. We now expect the ticket price to be way less than before. It won't be long before the free bar disappears on the majors. All tat has happened and conditioned the pax way of thinking in only 10 years. So please don't think the T's & C's are not going to suffer the same fate. Eventually the market forces may have an effect, but not for a very long time.