[Ghoulish Delight]

And panic isn't a good enough reason? Every airline is at the panic point. At this point "preventing someone else from taking the advantage" I'm sure looks like excellent business, even if it means the end result is status-quo. I can't imagine any airline exec looking at an obvious way of lowering ticket prices without thinking, "If we don't, someone will."

Honestly, they're doing a terrible job of spinning this. Or, rather, consumers and media are doing a better job of spinning it. The way I'm looking at it, and the way they should be pushing it, is, "Don't pay for services you don't use."