Someone Please Get NBC's Vieira an Econ 101 Crash Course

Understanding every nuance of economics, especially as it pertains to the airline industry, can be a daunting task.

However, you would think that NBC's "Today" co-host Meredith Vieira - who has elevated herself to the point where she's worth $10 million a year, according to Parade magazine - would have risen to the task at this point in her career.

In an interview with Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) CEO Richard Anderson on the April 15 "Today," Vieira asked a question that showed she didn't quite get it.

"I was just going to ask if you could guarantee your consumers that you would not reduce their service or raise their fares?" Vieira asked.

However, being the CEO of airline doesn't give Anderson the ability to defy the laws of economics and maintain his commitment to the shareholders of Delta and Northwest Airlines (NYSE:NWA). Anderson explained there is more at play than airlines randomly altering their service or raising their airfares.

"Airline tickets, just like other, other services and goods in our economy, have got to reflect the full cost of the commodities to produce the product," Anderson said. "With that said, we still have an incredibly competitive U.S. and global airline business in the United States. Discount carriers have grown 60 percent the last seven years. There's free entry, there's free exit. And pricing in the airline industry will always be based upon competitive market forces."

Vieira made a similar dumb request back in August 2007 asking Northwest CEO Douglas Steenland to guarantee a flight she booked to San Francisco would not be canceled.