They say, you can't build the church for Easter Sunday. And once the problem airlines have, they only have so many planes, so when the man picks up, prices go up.

Absolutely. So interesting. Ben, we're going to talk this week to our good friend, Jay Sorensen, who is the leading expert on ancillary revenue and loyalty programs. We thought it would be a good time to talk to Jay about all the pressures on airline fees and all the profits coming out of loyalty programs. There really are some big changes going on at full service airlines, which are increasingly managing their businesses, it seems, to drive loyalty program memberships. Some interesting news items this week. First, congratulations to you, Ben and JetBlue for bringing back JetBlue Executive Marty St. George as president. Joanna Garrity took over as CEO on Monday, and Marty will be back by the end of the month. After leaving JetBlue, he's been working with Latam in South America. I love Marty, not just because he's a fellow Bostonian, but also because he's a super smart marketing guy and a savvy airline strategist. Seems like a great move for JetBlue. And speaking of love, since it's Valentine's Day and all, Ted Christie isn't loving Wall Street analysts and others chirping about possible bankruptcy in spirit airlines future. The spirit CEO says the ultra low cost airline will have the liquidity to pursue it stand alone plans should the JetBlue Spirit merger plan failed to overturn a federal judge's ruling on appeal. He also said it was quote, ridiculous quote for the government to claim the court ruling was a victory for consumers. Instead, the court ruling preserves the airline oligopoly that hurts consumers. Christie said spirits plan to return to profitability will be to focus on stronger markets like Fort Lauderdale and eliminate underperforming cities. That coupled with growing demand for domestic travel should get spirit back to positive operating cash flow by the second quarter and beyond, he said. Spirit reported a net loss for the fourth quarter that just ended of 184 million, which was less than Wall Street expected. That was the good news. The bad news was that the average passenger fare fell a staggering 25% in the fourth quarter to $48.24 and non ticket revenue. All those fees fell 6.6% to $66.60 per passenger. For the full year, spirit had losses of $447 million. In the past four years, I added this up. Spirit has had a total of net losses of $1.9 billion.

Amazing. First, I'm very excited to work with Marty again. I agree. He's great. And he and Joanna will make a super team. On Spirit is funny saying they're now going to focus on underperforming roots. Isn't that what airlines always do?

Yes. All of a sudden,

hey, maybe we need to stop doing things that lose money. Yes. And Ben, some interesting news out of Washington this week. First FAA administrator Mike Whitaker testified before a House committee last week and said that the FAA is midway through its review of Boeing manufacturing, but he already knows that changes must be made and how the government oversees the aircraft manufacturer. The FAA in the past let Boeing move to a lot more self inspection, a self reporting system. It obviously has not worked. Whitaker said the FAA has two dozen inspectors inside Boeing's Renton Washington factory right now where the 737 is made and a half dozen or so in Wichita, Kansas at spirit arrow systems, the supplier of the 737 fuselage. Whitaker said the FAA will keep some inspectors in factories after the audit of safety procedures is done, though he doesn't yet know how many. On the other side of the Capitol, the Senate Commerce Committee approved the FAA reauthorization with some interesting changes from the House version. The House voted to raise the mandatory airline pilot retirement age to 67 from 65. Mike Whitaker, by the way, had told the House that he thinks that shouldn't be done without appropriate safety study. The Senate Commerce Committee voted 14 to 13 to reject raising the retirement age to 67. One other change the Senate did approve a proposal from Texas Senator Ted Cruz to require special treatment for political VIPs like Ted Cruz at TSA checkpoints. The measure would require a security escort to whisk lawmakers, federal judges, cabinet members, and some of their family and staff through expedited screening outside of the public view. TSA would have to provide this, but it could arrange for airport police to do the escorting. Airports complain that this would take officers away from important regular duties. Cruz claims this is necessary because lawmakers, judges, and cabinet members face death threats, not because it was embarrassed when seen at the airport going to Cancun when Texas was in crisis with the deadly winter freeze and power grid failure. Maybe Ted Cruz just needs clear membership, and what do you think? We could give it to him for Valentine's Day.