Delta AND NWA file for chapter11

The other end of the story:I looked into going Amsterdam-Birmingham (England that is) last year. KLM charged 170 Euro plus taxes for a 40 minute trip, and that was the cheap rate (the regular rate for that trip is something like 250 Euro).Taking Continental from Amsterdam to Newark would set me back about 500, Northwest to Seattle about 700.At the same time someone booking Newark-Amsterdam on Continental would indeed only pay about 200, but that price is valid only if the trip originates at Newark...A few years ago I looked up rates Amsterdam-Alicante (that's southern Spain, a 2hr 30min trip). Cheapest I could get was 750 Guilders, rougly $350 at the time. And that was on a low cost airline!For that you can travel cross continent in the US with money to spare.US air travel is incredibly cheap compared to European rates. Things here are getting better but government protection of routes and environmental regulations limiting landing slots to something idiotic has led to monopoly situations for so long it'll take a generation before the market is normalised.