Since the deregulation of airlines, delays at the nation's increasingl

The biggest issue I see with (A) is the following.

Here is the arguement once again:



Focussing on the yellow, the proposed solution just has to "Combat this problem"

The proposed solution [more allocations to commercial airlines] DOES NOT HAVE REVERSE ALL OF THE 25 % delay.

Even if the solution can alleviate "some" of the delay, the proposed solution is a success.

Now, the issue with (A) is :

(A) by itself DOES NOTHING TO SUGGEST that the proposed solution (increased allocations) WONT work (by a little bit at-least)

Hence i knoced out (A)

Now, cooking and smoking maybe is the cause of the majority of the smell.
But its possible that the removing his pets WILL combat the problem of the smell BY A LITTLE BIT AT-LEAST.

Will it solve MOST OF THE SMELL problem ? No

But removing john's pet could solve SOME of the smell problem

Hi jabhatta2.

Notice that the conclusion is "To combat this problem, more of the takeoff and landing slots at the busiest airports must be allocated to commercial airlines."

If what (A) says is true, then it is not the case that, to combat the problem, more of the takeoff and landing slots at the busiest airports MUST be allocated to commercial airlines. After all, in that case, most of the delays are caused by other things. So, even if takeoff and landing slots are NOT allocated, it is still possible to combat the problem.

Hi MartyTargetTestPrep - Thank you for responding

In order to weaken the effectiveness of the proposed solution , dont you have to proove that allocating more of the takeoff and landing slots to commercial airlines. IS NOT going to be able to reduce the 25 % delay ?

I dont see how the underline is inferable just because the causes of the delay are different.

It's possible that the proposed solution will be effective EVEN THOUGH the cause the problem is something different.

below is an analogy of what i mean

===========



Now, cooking and smoking maybe is the cause of the majority of the smell.
But its possible that the removing his pets WILL combat the problem of the smell BY A LITTLE BIT AT-LEAST.

Will it solve MOST OF THE SMELL problem ? No

But removing john's pet could solve SOME of the smell problem

The point is that your correct option should weaken the plan a LITTLE BIT AT LEAST. Not that the plan should work a little bit at least.

You have to pick the best option. Even if you believe that giving more slots may combat the problem a little bit for which you are assuming that fewer than required slots is at least part of the problem (even if other factors are majorly in play), what other option does a better job of weakening the effectiveness of the plan?
No other option weakens the possibility of the plan succeeding. Option (A) works because if the cause of the problem is something else (say even some of the current available slots are free but storms cause delays) then giving more slots is useless.

You are missing what the conclusion is.

The conclusion is "To combat this problem, more of the takeoff and landing slots at the busiest airports MUST be allocated to commercial airlines."

If there are other causes of delays, and those causes are, as the passage says, "THE MAJOR CAUSES," then it is not the case that solving the problem REQUIRES allocating more of the slots to commercial airlines.

Another way to look at the question is to see that "MUST BE ALLOCATED" implies that the problem will be solved in a significant way through the allocation of the slots to commercial airlines. So, the information that (A) provides, that THE MAJOR CAUSES are other causes, serves to cast doubt on the implications of argument in addition to the stated conclusion.

Hello from the GMAT Club VerbalBot!

Thanks to another GMAT Club member, I have just discovered this valuable topic, yet it had no discussion for over a year. I am now bumping it up - doing my job. I think you may find it valuable (esp those replies with Kudos).

Want to see all other topics I dig out? Follow me (click follow button on profile). You will receive a summary of all topics I bump in your profile area as well as via email.