No wonder USAir is trying to buy Delta

(Warning: rant ahead.)

Has there ever been an airline run by a larger bunch of knuckleheads than Delta?

I'm pricing tickets to fly my family to Russia over the summer. Their honest-to-goodness per-passenger rates (rounded, after looking at Travelocity, Orbitz, and Delta) are:

• Atlanta-Moscow direct: $2000
• Atlanta-JFK-Moscow: $1100
• JFK-Atlanta-Moscow: $1000

What idiot prices a one-stop trip from JFK through Atlanta to Moscow lower than the nonstop from Atlanta to Moscow? What, are Delta's corporate headquarters in New York, and they want to reward themselves with low prices?

I seem to recall that Delta asked many of its skilled workers (pilots, mechanics) to take a pay cut so they could stay afloat. "Higher fuel prices" are taking the blame for the troubles of American airlines. That is, blame the oil companies.

They might do a lot better if they gave that money back to the pilots and mechanics and fired the bonehead accountants who come up with these price schemes.

(We now return you to your regularly scheduled Cantànima.)