Choosing an Airline in These Troubled Times

By Don Nadeau, on January 26, 2009, in Airfares

With airlines as large and famous as Swissair going out of business in recent years due to lack of cash, with most likely more to come, be cautious when choosing an airline.

Nearly all are doing poorly, but be especially aware of those doing more poorly than others.

Has an airline’s stock price fallen far more steeply than others? This is easily checked on a site like Yahoo Finance. If the stock is worth nearly nothing, you have the opinion of the those who move a lot of money into and out of a stock.

Is an airline privately held, where you can’t check it’s finances? You may wish to avoid it.

Does an airline normally do badly even in better times, in contrast to an airline like Southwest that has lost money during just a couple of quarters during the last 35 years?

If you’re booking ahead, you need to go beyond price when making a wise choice.