Peter Duniho wrote:

Furthermore, if things are so bad as you say, then why are the airlines
seeing such high numbers of customers?

Lack of choice.

In USA we have both huge distances between major urban areas and
no practical alternative to flying (driving or using the bus or
extremely slow and unreliable amtrak are not practical alternatives).
In comparison, in Europe, the train is a practical alternative to
flying, and many have switched actually. Airlines there are
loosing a lot of customers to the railways; but then Europe has
modern trains (non existent in USA) and smaller distances between
large urban area, i.e., door to door time more often than not works
in favor of the railways (and without the hassle airline passengers
are subjected to, and with added bonuses like cell phone and wifi
coverage, etc.).

I am looking forward to the day when I can affort my own fast enough/
long enough range aircraft :-)

--Sylvain