Fuel prices may be a proximate cause of airline financial problems, but insanely inefficient reservation systems and insulting fee structures are structural problems that less expensive fuel won't fix. I just spent over an hour and a half trying to make a simple change to an existing flight reservation. A full hour was spent on hold, with periodic updates from the reservation agent, who said the change was being "processed." The call was finally disconnected by a recorded message telling me to hang up and try again. Huh? An hour and a half just change a few bits in a computer, and it could not be done!
The cost of the flight doubled, and there was no change in the locations, just a change in the time. So the airline strategy is to treat customers with contempt and bad service--at the same time. It's baffling, and one can only conclude that airline executives never have to deal with their own reservation systems.