When you see a headline like the one on this Associated Press story about Delta Airlines, it almost makes you wonder why they don’t just put these behemoths out of their misery?

Las Vegas seems to have made the transition to the new low-cost carriers like Southwest, which means we will barely be touched even if the Delta pilots strike. Nine out of 10 planes over at McCarran seem to be from Southwest.

If these legacy carriers (so called because they are still carrying traditional union contracts and other obligations from the era when airlines were a regulated monopoly), are to remake themselves into airlines like Southwest, though, it is going to be a long and painful process.

And most of the pain will be felt by the airlines’ employees. Most businesses could not contemplate a future of any kind when they admit they are losing millions of dollars every day.