AIRLINE TRAVEL Fewer planes mean full seats and fewer options

Airlines are enjoying record-breaking passenger loads.
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
Patrick Wascovich recently learned a hard lesson about the record-breaking passenger loads that have packed the nation's airplanes this summer.
After deciding to return home to the Fort Worth, Texas, area from Denver a few days earlier than planned, Wascovich arrived at the airport at dawn, hoping to fly "standby" and nab an empty seat.
He waited at the airport for more than 24 hours, as flight after flight took off packed to the maximum. Many flights had more scheduled passengers than seats, forcing some travelers to be "bumped" to the next departure time -- making it even less likely that a seat would be available for him. A traveling companion was so frustrated that she broke down and wept several times while they waited, he said.
"It was the trip from hell," said Wascovich, a Cedar Hill, Texas, resident who works in the communications department of University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. "It would have been faster and much less of a hassle to rent a car and drive."
The good old days
Wascovich isn't alone. While the major airlines have crowed about their heavy passenger loads during the past few months, the crowded cabins have left some passengers nostalgic for the near-empty airplanes that flew in the months after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.
Boarding times were faster and easier, and consumers who prefer aisle or window seats rarely had a problem obtaining their favorite spot.
With a multitude of empty seats, it was easy for passengers like Wascovich to change their travel plans and fly on different flights as "standby" passengers, a long-standing industry practice that allows fliers to board earlier flights as long as seats are available.
And the number of passengers who were denied boarding because of oversold flights dropped dramatically.
"That was the upside, for the traveler -- there was plenty of room, extra seats, you could stretch out," said David Stempler, president of the Air Travelers Association. "But clearly that hasn't been the case this summer."
Cutting flights
The packed airplanes are largely due to the large airlines cutting back on flights as they work to reduce their losses.
At American Airlines, the world's largest carrier, available flights were down 7 percent this summer compared with last year, and its fleet has 57 fewer airplanes than it did a year ago.
The industry as a whole has parked more than 600 aircraft since Sept. 11.
The cutbacks, combined with heavier-than-expected summer travel demand, meant airlines have packed passengers onto fewer planes. In July, flights averaged 82 percent full across the industry, according to the Air Transport Association -- the most crowded airliners have been since the industry group began recording passenger loads in 1970.
In June, planes were 80 percent full on average, according to the association.
The trimmed flight schedules and full airplanes have been great news for airlines -- they push down costs and make it more likely a flight will be profitable.
But for passengers, the packed airplanes haven't been as positive.