Their problems were that they got caught in the headlights by fuel prices that went up a lot faster than they could adjust to quickly. True, both were in the process of getting their labor costs down – something that American, Continental, and United have already done. When jet-A went to over $2 a gallon, the immediate need was to conserve cash while labor and other cost reductions were achieved.
Lots of “experts” go into diatribes about how these legacy carriers have unsupportable cost structures and route systems, dating from the days of regulation in the 1970s. Sounds great, but it is more nonsense. It’s missed by these grand prognosticators – most of whom have never worked within the airline industry – that if oil had stayed right where it was at the beginning of last year, as most of us expected, these filings would not have taken place.