I saw some truly incredible comments on this British aviation site in a piece on U.S. airline woes.

Yes, there’s plenty to be “woeful” about — but what do you think about this suggestion from Ray Neidl, a Calyon Securities airline analyst? Here’s what he said:

“The best thing that could happen to the industry is to have one or two of the major airlines fail.” — Ray Neidl, airline analyst

He went on to say, that failure would result in the liquidation of the busted airline’s seat inventory, and that would enable the “survivors” to raise ticket prices to “economic levels”.

My first thought? What a crock.

My second thought? Keep reading…

US Airways pilots took out an ad in the Philadelphia Inquirer that pretty much says it all from their point of view:

“US Airways management has begun pressuring your Captain to reduce fuel levels for your flight to save money.” — advertisement

8 senior pilots with US Airways have filed a complaint with the FAA saying the carrier is “making them fly with less fuel than they feel is safe”.

The FAA requires that pilots carry 45 minutes worth of “extra” fuel above what’s required for a normal flight (in case of delays or weather problems) but these 8 pilots asked for another 10 minutes or so, and then claimed their airline retaliated against them by forcing them to take “fuel conservation training.”

The pilots say, that’s intimidation. Keep reading.

Yes, you read that right: no more free cokes or other non-alcoholic drinks on US Airways. New charge: $2.

And if you do want alcohol, that jumps from $5 to $7 a drink.

Plus, US Airways is joining American and United in instituting a $15 one-way fee to check a first bag, beginning July 9.

It gets worse: later this year, the carrier plans to remove “up to 8 percent of domestic available seat miles”, and these capacity cuts will mean the loss of 1,700 jobs, including “300 pilots, 400 flight attendants, 800 airport employees and 200 staff and management.”

According to this report from MarketWatch, US Airways “estimates its fuel bill this year will be $1.9 billion higher than it was in 2007, about twice what some industry analysts had expected”.

Oh, how the dominoes are falling.

First, longtime hold-out American Airlines decides to join the other airlines by instituting a $25 charge for checking a second bag.

Now comes word that US Airways is upping its “change fee” on non-refundable tickets — bringing it to a whopping $150!

Well, maybe it’s not all that “whopping” — after all, United already charges $150.

I saw this one coming: US Airways has announced that, beginning May 7, it will start charging $5 minimum per flight (not roundtrip) for the privilege of sitting in aisle or window seats in the first several rows.

You know, the seats we all want. See more on the airline’s FAQ page.

For members of US Airways’ “Dividend Miles Preferred” program, this is free. But, for a lot of us out there, it means paying for the seat you want, or sitting in the back, or getting squashed in the dreaded middle seat. For the airline, it’s $ub$tantial $um$ of Ca$h.

This evening in the 8:00pm EST domestic airfare distribution, US Airways matched the increase initiated earlier in the day by Delta Air Lines on over 6,000 city pairs. This leaves American, Continental, Northwest, and United yet to match of the six remaining legacy airlines.

A quick check of route overlap between US Airways and Southwest Airlines shows the $10 increase in a smattering of common routes with the bulk of overlap city pairs showing no increase. Tip-Toeing around lower cost airlines has been a constant theme in most of the “successful” increases this year…

The nationwide sale is one in a line of Southwest Airlines airfare sales that have hit the market of late. This latest Southwest Airlines Nationwide sale offers airfare for $49+ to $99+ one-way to cities all over the country, and it’s good for travel on Tuesdays and Wednesdays between February 19th and June 25th.

Well, other major airlines don’t seem to be wasting any time in matching Southwest. Some competition is stirring, and this can mean great savings and a variety of options for travelers. Keep reading for a breakdown of all the action…