AMERICAblog: Cheapo United Airlines reportedly talking about charging for food on flights abroad
DorothyGale
· 1 year ago
I hate to say it because I always though of them as the airline of last resort but SouthWest really has their #*&$ together. Living on Long Island, I get to fly out of MacArthur to Las Vegas non-stop and it's always less expensive than the big airlines out of Kennedy and Laguardia. They don't charge for baggage and they throw free foodstuff at you on the trip. I also recently found out that they are friends of the Friends of Dorothy.
What kewler thing is there to say than, "I just flew in from Ronkonkoma and boy are my arms tired"?
hawkseye
· 1 year ago
Yes, SWA is pretty good. Some smart executive locked in oil futures for them at $50.00 a barrell which is good until 2012, so I think they are making some kind of profit.
BarrieT
· 1 year ago
I don't know Dorothy, but I am a nodding acquaintance of Fannys.
Moderation
· 1 year ago
Their behavior will never change so long as they continue to get government bailouts. You are absolutely right. The market? Allowing the market to speak by allowing a business to fail? Pshaw. What, do you think some other, more successful company with a better business model will come in to fill the vacuum? What are you, some sort of commie? Welfare for big business is free market capitalism, don'cha know? Like the threat of your business failing EVER leads to increased customer service, increased attention to detail, or increased firing of employees who piss all over the customer base.
BCPipes
· 1 year ago
There's some paid-up lobbyists for ya!
Bush_Bites
· 1 year ago
I was actually wondering about your plans to take the 5 p.m. flight to Denver.
In the old days, that would have been easy and no problem. But, these days, I usually plan my flights to land a half a day or even a day before I need to be there, because I know the odds are good the airlines will screw up so I have to factor a delay into my schedule.
(I also usually try to make sure I'm not taking the last flight of the day or even the second to last, so if my flight gets canceled I have a shot at getting on a later one.)
Sucks, but it's better than missing an appointment.
ShirleyGoodnessanMercy
· 1 year ago
So where can I buy my t-shirt that says "When McCain left one of his 10 houses in a 9-car motorcade to get a capuccino at Starbucks yesterday, was he wearing his $520 shoes? And was his $273,000 a year butler with him?"
Bush_Bites
· 1 year ago
They didn't have Starbucks where he spent five years !!!!
(Or kitchen tables and chairs or nine houses either !!!!!)
Bubbles
· 1 year ago
A noun, a verb, and POW...
brian
· 1 year ago
While the European airlines have had some troubles, some going out of business, they never stopped with their service. I take the flight from Rome to Frankfurt about 20 times a year and always has full meal service, even though the the flight is about 2 hours. Even from Rome to Milan Linate, which is a 1 hour flight, they have a small snack and a drink.
If the European airlines can do it, why can't the American ones do it? Oh I forgot, all the money is going to the CEOs, executive board and stock holders screwing the customer.
Bush_Bites
· 1 year ago
McCain: "We didn't have on-time flights where I spent five years!"
Phylter
· 1 year ago
We were evicted from our hole in the ground...with apologies to Monty Python... It's become farcical...
Four Yorkshiremen Sketch Monty Python Four well-dressed men sitting together at a vacation resort. Michael Palin: Ahh.. Very passable, this, very passable.
Graham Chapman: Nothing like a good glass of Chateau de Chassilier wine, ay Gessiah?
Terry Gilliam: You're right there Obediah.
Eric Idle: Who'd a thought thirty years ago we'd all be sittin' here drinking Chateau de Chassilier wine?
MP: Aye. In them days, we'd a' been glad to have the price of a cup o' tea.
GC: A cup ' COLD tea.
EI: Without milk or sugar.
TG: OR tea!
MP: In a filthy, cracked cup.
EI: We never used to have a cup. We used to have to drink out of a rolled up newspaper.
GC: The best WE could manage was to suck on a piece of damp cloth.
TG: But you know, we were happy in those days, though we were poor.
MP: Aye. BECAUSE we were poor. My old Dad used to say to me, "Money doesn't buy you happiness."
EI: 'E was right. I was happier then and I had NOTHIN'. We used to live in this tiiiny old house, with greaaaaat big holes in the roof.
GC: House? You were lucky to have a HOUSE! We used to live in one room, all hundred and twenty-six of us, no furniture. Half the floor was missing; we were all huddled together in one corner for fear of FALLING!
TG: You were lucky to have a ROOM! *We* used to have to live in a corridor!
MP: Ohhhh we used to DREAM of livin' in a corridor! Woulda' been a palace to us. We used to live in an old water tank on a rubbish tip. We got woken up every morning by having a load of rotting fish dumped all over us! House!? Hmph.
EI: Well when I say "house" it was only a hole in the ground covered by a piece of tarpolin, but it was a house to US.
GC: We were evicted from *our* hole in the ground; we had to go and live in a lake!
TG: You were lucky to have a LAKE! There were a hundred and sixty of us living in a small shoebox in the middle of the road.
MP: Cardboard box?
TG: Aye.
MP: You were lucky. We lived for three months in a brown paper bag in a septic tank. We used to have to get up at six o'clock in the morning, clean the bag, eat a crust of stale bread, go to work down mill for fourteen hours a day week in-week out. When we got home, out Dad would thrash us to sleep with his belt!
GC: Luxury. We used to have to get out of the lake at three o'clock in the morning, clean the lake, eat a handful of hot gravel, go to work at the mill every day for tuppence a month, come home, and Dad would beat us around the head and neck with a broken bottle, if we were LUCKY!
TG: Well we had it tough. We used to have to get up out of the shoebox at twelve o'clock at night, and LICK the road clean with our tongues. We had half a handful of freezing cold gravel, worked twenty-four hours a day at the mill for fourpence every six years, and when we got home, our Dad would slice us in two with a bread knife.
EI: Right. I had to get up in the morning at ten o'clock at night, half an hour before I went to bed, (pause for laughter), eat a lump of cold poison, work twenty-nine hours a day down mill, and pay mill owner for permission to come to work, and when we got home, our Dad would kill us, and dance about on our graves singing "Hallelujah."
MP: But you try and tell the young people today that... and they won't believe ya'.
I make sure my flight gets in about 12 hours before I actually have to be anywhere. I've had so many 8 - 10 hour delays the past few years that its become par for the course.
My girlfriend recently spent about 7 hours on the tarmac at JFK, no food or drinks the entire time. Then once the 5 hour flight actually got started, they announced all the food had spoiled while they were on the tarmac so there would be no food on the flight either. In total, number of hours on the plane? 12. Number of meals provided? 0.
She is Canadian and she has vowed to never fly another American run airline ever again. That's some good customer loyalty right there.
Just 3 days ago on US Airways I got hit up with the $15 checked baggage fee (for the first and only bag checked). What was my reward for paying them another $15 to check my bag? They lost it and couldn't find the bag for two days.
JMOHR
· 1 year ago
But we deregulated the airlines so that true competition could prevail and provide cheaper fares and better service. However, there may have been a reason for tightly regulating airlines in those days of old. You know there had always been concerns about the high costs associated with maintaining aircraft, barriers to entry that impacted full competition, the public good for safety and convenience as well as the fact that running an airline has always required a certain treasure trove of cash to guard against higher fuel prices and other cost bumps.
Deregulation placed all of these considerations aside. Yes, worked well at first by depressing fares. Travel kept increasing, small regional airlines provided feeder and hub service and fares became just dirt cheap. Now we are paying the price. Too many aircraft and too many routes. No cash reserves in the airlines and too many cost cutting measures and extra charges with higher fuel prices. Thank God we smashed those rail routes between regional cities so that they did not compete with subsidized airlines.
katymine
· 1 year ago
I want to know the legal status of having people prisoners on a plane for hours and being denied food and water unless you pay. What if that day you forgot to hit the ATM before your flight?
Phoenix Skyharbor's ATM's are outside security. I have gone out of security to get cash and had to go through security again.
As a person who has only one kidney, it is risky to my health not to have constant source of fluids.
On two of my last flights from Phoenix, the plane sat at the gate for an hour without AC where it was 115 degrees outside.... until someone nearly fainted and having respiratory distress did anyone do anything..... trapped in a full plane, crying babies and elderly people needing emergent medical care.......
hawkseye
· 1 year ago
I had the same experience sitting on the ground in Reno. Flight was supposed to be non-stop from Denver to SFO but too many flights were scheduled and we were sent to Reno to sit for over two hours with no water or bathrooms. Then we didn't get our luggage for over a week.
Yukio
· 1 year ago
Well, let's not forget that the "employee-owners" of United were overheard referring to passengers as "the enemy"... back then one was fired. Today, they's probably get a medal.
How long before they have a deplaning charge for bringing you to your destination alive? Why not institute passenger's unions? Very militant unions with heavily armed security to ensure passengers are treated fairly.
Of course, there is an even better solution. Reregulate the airlines with msddibr, heavy financial penalties for airline failures such as blown schedules, bumping passengers, lost luggage, etc. and also financial limitations on profits, maybe no excessive salaries for management ... government operation (nationalization) of the airlines as essential services to citizens.
hawkseye
· 1 year ago
Agree with much of what you say. Do you know of countries where nationalization has worked well?
vkobaya
· 1 year ago
Dear Hawkeye, Not serious about nationalization. It is a bad idea except as a weapon to wave around to scare the damn corporations into getting into line. I'm a socialist, but mean that in terms of strict regulation and limitations on profits. Government ownership of means of production and ownership of property, smacks of big "C" Communism which is a bit too utopian to really work. Communism, little "c" or socialism, the idea of sharing and not allowing gross differences between classes, that is, moderation of profits is a bit better idea as long as you allow some profit incentive. Greed is a monstrous motivator which is what really drives human beings to excel. But when you allow gross differences to where the upper class is completely out of touch with the reality of the majority of people, then you are allowing abuse. The other way where all people are completely equal, to the Sci Fi vision of everyone being clones is obviously a nightmare, but taking away incentive with no differences simply won't work which is the flaw with utopian ideas.
hawkseye
· 1 year ago
Agree completely with you and I would be a very happy democratic socialist also. It's hard to find middle ground between tight regulations and an incentive based free market, isn't it? After regulation was canned and the free market took over, things were great for awhile, but then the competition got so cutthroat, we were shoved along to the current mess. Wake me up when it's over. :-)
serge
· 1 year ago
I couldn't agree more, John. I had a "great" US Scareways flight a month ago from Heathrow to Philadelphia that was the worst, most uncomfortable intercontinental flight I've ever taken. I guess I can live with now charging me for alcohol (my mother would make me accept, with a slap to the head), but to charge for headphones and then to announce that the in-flight entertainment system was dead?
That old Xantippe would have risen from her grave to challenge that one. Around Nova Scotia I believe they had the thing up and running.
Asterix
· 1 year ago
I figure we'll get a Passengers' BIll of Rights just about when we get Universal Health Care and a balanced budget...
Bush_Bites
· 1 year ago
McCain: "We didn't have a Passengers' Bill of Rights where I spent five years!"
SoLeftImRight
· 1 year ago
There is another piece to this puzzle, however. Not to let the airlines off the hook for one second (they are horrific), but a major investment is required in the aviation technology and infrastructure to modernize the ability of air traffic control, airports, and yes, even the airlines, to deal with increased traffic and "the weather" that is blamed for every delay so they can get off the hook. Among the many other investments required in this country, this should be a huge priority, but of course, the Rethugs have not lifted a finger to do anything about it. This is another area where every year we delay, the problem gets worse, and the solution is pushed out into the future.
And not that this would help you get to Denver, but try Virgin America when possible. They have very good service, and don't even charge for water!
Andyz
· 1 year ago
United airlines = Greyhound.
hawkseye
· 1 year ago
Or a DHL truck delivery of you and your luggage.
BarrieT
· 1 year ago
...but not necessarily to the same place.
jr
· 1 year ago
we're being nickle and dimed to death in this Hoovernomic hell
heartbot
· 1 year ago
As a former flight attendant, I agree with you that increasingly making services optional is a bad way to go about business, just as I agree that long delays and complete cancellations -- all the things that make flying stressful -- are not a good way to do business. One of the users made the issue that United Airlines is the equivalent of Greyhound. To be honest, that user is not far off the mark.
The biggest problem with airlines is that their ticket prices do not cover the full cost of their services. They have remained the same for 20 years, meaning that the number of people flying has gone up, while the airlines' ability to cover their services has gone way down. Not only are they unable to support the cost of fuel and maintenance on older planes, they are unable to pay their employees decent wages (I made $16K my first year as a flight attendant -- try living on that, especially when you eat in airports and hotels half the time.) There is little to no incentive for employees to go out of their way for customers.
The increased number of people who fly due to low ticket prices also means that networks have been expanded and the number of flights an airline offers each day have skyrocketed. However, the staff and fleet size have not been able to grow proportionally, therefore both crew and planes make more flights per day, with less cushion between flights for when things go wrong. 20 years ago, if a flight was late by 20 minutes, it did not influence the next outgoing flight on the same plane. Now, a 20 minute delay often has a ripple effect, making every flight for the rest of the day, and possibly the next day, 20 minutes behind. If airlines could raise ticket prices either to increase their fleet and crew or to reduce the number of people who fly, thereby reducing network size and number of flights a plane makes each day, the problems with delays and cancellations could be remedied. By raising ticket prices enough to cover the cost of meals and beverages (and the cost of fuel to transport ovens, carts, etc.), then paying for meals in-flight would no longer be an issue.
The truth is, the glamor of flying of old only existed because not many people flew. It was a rare occasion for which people dressed up. Men wore suits. Women wore gloves. Children wore their Sunday best. These days, people treat airplanes like the Greyhound Bus -- they show up in their sweats and pajamas, kick off their shoes as soon as they get on board, and leave trash and half-eaten food behind them when they leave the plane. If you want air travel to be a classier, more sophisticated form of travel than the Greyhound, then airlines have to charge luxury -- not mass transit -- prices.
hawkseye
· 1 year ago
Everything you say is true. Most of the airlines have come to have bad business plans and we are left to subsidize them. So, I fly as little as possible and feel sorry for those who must fly.
Bush_Bites
· 1 year ago
Yeah, I remember when flying was pretty special.
Now every drunken yahoo does it.
It's turned into a commodity instead of a luxury.
caphillprof
· 1 year ago
Put the SOBs into small claims court where they belong. I figure problems solved in 90 days.
hawkseye
· 1 year ago
Problem is, as attorneys have explained to me, when you sue a large corporation in small claims and win, they often appeal the decision and then you are out the cost of attorneys, etc, at each successive level.
LanceThruster
· 1 year ago
That's pretty bush league. They at least owe you for the cab ride.
hawkseye
· 1 year ago
Lots of congress people and staffers get mistreated by airlines, too. I think changes are on the way, and I hope they dust off the old regulations. In the meantime, they are just a bunch of asshats.
vkobaya
· 1 year ago
In the meantime, they are just a bunch of asshats.
If you mean Congress, they are a bunch of asshats!!! Do you have any idea how much money the airline corporations donate to politicians campaign coffers?
Indigo
· 1 year ago
But it's still the "friendly skies," right?
barbarajmay
· 1 year ago
Been there, done that. I did an 8 hour flight to Hawaii in January with my very brittle diabetic 82 year old mother. I needed a wheelchair to get her off the plane after Northwest Air ran out of food to sell and didn't even have pretzels. We had eaten before we left, but there was NO NOTICE that those evil bastards had cut out over allowing passengers to eat. I suppose that eating all of the breath mints in my purse wasn't doctor recommended. We should hurry up and offer the greedy rats another huge taxpayer funded bailout so that my mom can fly someplace and get there alive.
Moderation
· 1 year ago
That will be what kills one of these airline companies at this point, and it should never, ever come to this. Someone who absolutely NEEDS food and/or fluid intake at certain intervals, such as a diabetic, hypoglycemic, or some other condition, will have to DIE or be SEVERELY INJURED due to such rank negligence on the part of the airlines before they are hit with a lawsuit that actually hurts their bottom line worse than their bribes to Congress do. That is wrong.
Re-regulate, allow crappy companies to fail, allow competition to spur prices down and customer service up. Welfare allowing members of society who want to be productive but literally cannot because of the lack of a living wage is bad, yet welfare that decreases competition, decreases safety, decreases customer service, and increases prices is good? What a bunch of malarkey. Damn, the modern Republican Party is such a frakkin' JOKE. It is pathetic beyond explanation.
Andrew
· 1 year ago
I don't know if the airlines will be asking for a bailout, but you can rest assured that those that lobby for the auot industry will within a week or two be asking washington for a 50 billion dollar no interest loans to help them re-tool for the next generation of hybrids. Why not go to their share holders and ask for a loan rather than the American tax payer? No doubt Congress will cave on this request as well. No wonder their rating is as low as it is.
Bubbles
· 1 year ago
Well, United, in addition to being a day and a half late with my luggage, utterly destroyed one piece. I can't imagine what it went through.
I have friends that swear that they will never fly United ever again. I fly from the far east back and forth all the time. I'd have to say on one of my better flights was on United, they bumped me up to Economy Plus and that made a world of difference. Last week I flew Singapore, which is arguably the best Airline, but I'm 6'2" and quite wide build and the chair they give you is quite uncomfortable for someone my size. That said, the service is pretty good and if I could ever get to Business class it would be orgasmic.
Bubbles
· 1 year ago
I've experienced the same thing at Ohare with American (they are all the same). My flight was late and I missed my connection. Legally, according the the Montreal Protocals, they are supposed to give you overnight lodging. The gate attendent told me to go to the front service desk to talk to the supervisor. I and about 20 people went there and there was absolutely no one there - not even police - at only 10:30 at night - just a courtesy phone and the lady at the other end had nothing but contempt for us.
About half the passangers were foriegners who were stranded for 24 hours including two ladies from Copenhagen. What happens when the criminal and flim flam element get wind that their are volnerables stranded at Ohare every freaking night?
The airlines reflect the country they are from, and ours is a shit hole.
TimK
· 1 year ago
The fundamental problem is not the airlines. The fundamental problem is that the U.S. has a severely unbalanced transportation system, where if you don't want to go all that far the car is (in most places) your only choice, and if you do want to go far flying is your only choice.
If we had sense enough to use rail for intermediate distances, our air travel system would not be the seriously overburdened, congested mess that it is, and the airlines would probably be able to make some reasonable money and provide decent service.
Moderation
· 1 year ago
Not only should trains be more prevalent, a solid infrastructure of public transportation for short distances is absolutely necessary, and egregiously underrepresented in this country. All those learned "futurists", including the freakin' folks at DISNEY, for crying out loud, predicted that we'd see precisely that by now due to the pressures of increased population causing an increase in demand to ease traffic congestion. We haven't seen those predictions come to fruition, pandering to big oil, the auto industry, and the airline industry, and the horrific effects of deregulation on competition in those industries. We are now paying for that lack of foresight, and refusing to listen to the many warnings we were given decades ago. :/
TomJoad
· 1 year ago
I'm crossing them off my list if they do it. I've had enough of the cheap bullshit. Airlines that want my business better offer sevices. I'm not looking for the absolute lowest fare, but a reasonable one with the expected amenities, i.e. reasonable amount of baggage included in price, meals & drinks included in price, etc.
We need a travellers bill of rights. They kill it when it comes up, but it is NEEDED. The problem IS the airlines, and there have been quite a few articles also on their ridiculous payment rates for use of airports...that is bolloxing up the works.
jerrymcguire
· 1 year ago
Ok..I hear ya on the food! Here one for you...you'll love this one!
I'm a sports agent that represents professional baseball players thats just starting out in the business, I've put my entire life savings and 401k into this dream of mine. I recently met up with one of my players in Vegas who is in the minor leagues for a weekend series. He received a nice endorsement opportunity but was unable to take home some of the items so I had put my laptop, his iPhone and even a few of his baseball gloves which were expensive..$500.00 plus. Some fricken idiot went through my bag either in Las Vegas when I checked in or in SFO, all the items were stolen even the nice waffle bath robe that the hotel gave me! I reported this immediately in SFO and they assured me that they would replace those items as I threatened to call the police and file theft charges.
I just received my refund which was a measley $600!!! What a fricken joke!!!! And trying to get a hold of someone in United is like trying to walk through the front door of the White House...all I get are those dumb ass foreighners who can barely speak english and don't know shit. I've already told them to take my 1k status and shove it up their ass and mile miles and shove that as well.
The sad part is I used to work with them and would never have done this...I've already filed theft charges with both Las Vegas PD and SFOPD but again it shows that they promise shit they can't deliver!
I pay outrageous fares to have less leg room than any other airline, pay for my food and drinks and now this? What a bunch of crap!!!!
All Comments
What kewler thing is there to say than, "I just flew in from Ronkonkoma and boy are my arms tired"?
In the old days, that would have been easy and no problem. But, these days, I usually plan my flights to land a half a day or even a day before I need to be there, because I know the odds are good the airlines will screw up so I have to factor a delay into my schedule.
(I also usually try to make sure I'm not taking the last flight of the day or even the second to last, so if my flight gets canceled I have a shot at getting on a later one.)
Sucks, but it's better than missing an appointment.
(Or kitchen tables and chairs or nine houses either !!!!!)
If the European airlines can do it, why can't the American ones do it? Oh I forgot, all the money is going to the CEOs, executive board and stock holders screwing the customer.
Four Yorkshiremen Sketch
Monty Python
Four well-dressed men sitting together at a vacation resort.
Michael Palin: Ahh.. Very passable, this, very passable.
Graham Chapman: Nothing like a good glass of Chateau de Chassilier wine, ay Gessiah?
Terry Gilliam: You're right there Obediah.
Eric Idle: Who'd a thought thirty years ago we'd all be sittin' here drinking Chateau de Chassilier wine?
MP: Aye. In them days, we'd a' been glad to have the price of a cup o' tea.
GC: A cup ' COLD tea.
EI: Without milk or sugar.
TG: OR tea!
MP: In a filthy, cracked cup.
EI: We never used to have a cup. We used to have to drink out of a rolled up newspaper.
GC: The best WE could manage was to suck on a piece of damp cloth.
TG: But you know, we were happy in those days, though we were poor.
MP: Aye. BECAUSE we were poor. My old Dad used to say to me, "Money doesn't buy you happiness."
EI: 'E was right. I was happier then and I had NOTHIN'. We used to live in this tiiiny old house, with greaaaaat big holes in the roof.
GC: House? You were lucky to have a HOUSE! We used to live in one room, all hundred and twenty-six of us, no furniture. Half the floor was missing; we were all huddled together in one corner for fear of FALLING!
TG: You were lucky to have a ROOM! *We* used to have to live in a corridor!
MP: Ohhhh we used to DREAM of livin' in a corridor! Woulda' been a palace to us. We used to live in an old water tank on a rubbish tip. We got woken up every morning by having a load of rotting fish dumped all over us! House!? Hmph.
EI: Well when I say "house" it was only a hole in the ground covered by a piece of tarpolin, but it was a house to US.
GC: We were evicted from *our* hole in the ground; we had to go and live in a lake!
TG: You were lucky to have a LAKE! There were a hundred and sixty of us living in a small shoebox in the middle of the road.
MP: Cardboard box?
TG: Aye.
MP: You were lucky. We lived for three months in a brown paper bag in a septic tank. We used to have to get up at six o'clock in the morning, clean the bag, eat a crust of stale bread, go to work down mill for fourteen hours a day week in-week out. When we got home, out Dad would thrash us to sleep with his belt!
GC: Luxury. We used to have to get out of the lake at three o'clock in the morning, clean the lake, eat a handful of hot gravel, go to work at the mill every day for tuppence a month, come home, and Dad would beat us around the head and neck with a broken bottle, if we were LUCKY!
TG: Well we had it tough. We used to have to get up out of the shoebox at twelve o'clock at night, and LICK the road clean with our tongues. We had half a handful of freezing cold gravel, worked twenty-four hours a day at the mill for fourpence every six years, and when we got home, our Dad would slice us in two with a bread knife.
EI: Right. I had to get up in the morning at ten o'clock at night, half an hour before I went to bed, (pause for laughter), eat a lump of cold poison, work twenty-nine hours a day down mill, and pay mill owner for permission to come to work, and when we got home, our Dad would kill us, and dance about on our graves singing "Hallelujah."
MP: But you try and tell the young people today that... and they won't believe ya'.
ALL: Nope, nope..
http://www.davidpbrown.co.uk/jokes/monty-python...
My girlfriend recently spent about 7 hours on the tarmac at JFK, no food or drinks the entire time. Then once the 5 hour flight actually got started, they announced all the food had spoiled while they were on the tarmac so there would be no food on the flight either. In total, number of hours on the plane? 12. Number of meals provided? 0.
She is Canadian and she has vowed to never fly another American run airline ever again. That's some good customer loyalty right there.
Just 3 days ago on US Airways I got hit up with the $15 checked baggage fee (for the first and only bag checked). What was my reward for paying them another $15 to check my bag? They lost it and couldn't find the bag for two days.
Deregulation placed all of these considerations aside. Yes, worked well at first by depressing fares. Travel kept increasing, small regional airlines provided feeder and hub service and fares became just dirt cheap. Now we are paying the price. Too many aircraft and too many routes. No cash reserves in the airlines and too many cost cutting measures and extra charges with higher fuel prices. Thank God we smashed those rail routes between regional cities so that they did not compete with subsidized airlines.
Phoenix Skyharbor's ATM's are outside security. I have gone out of security to get cash and had to go through security again.
As a person who has only one kidney, it is risky to my health not to have constant source of fluids.
On two of my last flights from Phoenix, the plane sat at the gate for an hour without AC where it was 115 degrees outside.... until someone nearly fainted and having respiratory distress did anyone do anything..... trapped in a full plane, crying babies and elderly people needing emergent medical care.......
http://www.elliott.org/blog/i-could-hear-the-tw...
Of course, there is an even better solution. Reregulate the airlines with msddibr, heavy financial penalties for airline failures such as blown schedules, bumping passengers, lost luggage, etc. and also financial limitations on profits, maybe no excessive salaries for management ... government operation (nationalization) of the airlines as essential services to citizens.
Do you know of countries where nationalization has worked well?
Not serious about nationalization. It is a bad idea except as a weapon to wave around to scare the damn corporations into getting into line. I'm a socialist, but mean that in terms of strict regulation and limitations on profits. Government ownership of means of production and ownership of property, smacks of big "C" Communism which is a bit too utopian to really work. Communism, little "c" or socialism, the idea of sharing and not allowing gross differences between classes, that is, moderation of profits is a bit better idea as long as you allow some profit incentive. Greed is a monstrous motivator which is what really drives human beings to excel. But when you allow gross differences to where the upper class is completely out of touch with the reality of the majority of people, then you are allowing abuse. The other way where all people are completely equal, to the Sci Fi vision of everyone being clones is obviously a nightmare, but taking away incentive with no differences simply won't work which is the flaw with utopian ideas.
It's hard to find middle ground between tight regulations and an incentive based free market, isn't it?
After regulation was canned and the free market took over, things were great for awhile, but then the competition got so cutthroat, we were shoved along to the current mess.
Wake me up when it's over. :-)
That old Xantippe would have risen from her grave to challenge that one. Around Nova Scotia I believe they had the thing up and running.
And not that this would help you get to Denver, but try Virgin America when possible. They have very good service, and don't even charge for water!
The biggest problem with airlines is that their ticket prices do not cover the full cost of their services. They have remained the same for 20 years, meaning that the number of people flying has gone up, while the airlines' ability to cover their services has gone way down. Not only are they unable to support the cost of fuel and maintenance on older planes, they are unable to pay their employees decent wages (I made $16K my first year as a flight attendant -- try living on that, especially when you eat in airports and hotels half the time.) There is little to no incentive for employees to go out of their way for customers.
The increased number of people who fly due to low ticket prices also means that networks have been expanded and the number of flights an airline offers each day have skyrocketed. However, the staff and fleet size have not been able to grow proportionally, therefore both crew and planes make more flights per day, with less cushion between flights for when things go wrong. 20 years ago, if a flight was late by 20 minutes, it did not influence the next outgoing flight on the same plane. Now, a 20 minute delay often has a ripple effect, making every flight for the rest of the day, and possibly the next day, 20 minutes behind. If airlines could raise ticket prices either to increase their fleet and crew or to reduce the number of people who fly, thereby reducing network size and number of flights a plane makes each day, the problems with delays and cancellations could be remedied. By raising ticket prices enough to cover the cost of meals and beverages (and the cost of fuel to transport ovens, carts, etc.), then paying for meals in-flight would no longer be an issue.
The truth is, the glamor of flying of old only existed because not many people flew. It was a rare occasion for which people dressed up. Men wore suits. Women wore gloves. Children wore their Sunday best. These days, people treat airplanes like the Greyhound Bus -- they show up in their sweats and pajamas, kick off their shoes as soon as they get on board, and leave trash and half-eaten food behind them when they leave the plane. If you want air travel to be a classier, more sophisticated form of travel than the Greyhound, then airlines have to charge luxury -- not mass transit -- prices.
Now every drunken yahoo does it.
It's turned into a commodity instead of a luxury.
If you mean Congress, they are a bunch of asshats!!! Do you have any idea how much money the airline corporations donate to politicians campaign coffers?
Re-regulate, allow crappy companies to fail, allow competition to spur prices down and customer service up. Welfare allowing members of society who want to be productive but literally cannot because of the lack of a living wage is bad, yet welfare that decreases competition, decreases safety, decreases customer service, and increases prices is good? What a bunch of malarkey. Damn, the modern Republican Party is such a frakkin' JOKE. It is pathetic beyond explanation.
I have friends that swear that they will never fly United ever again. I fly from the far east back and forth all the time. I'd have to say on one of my better flights was on United, they bumped me up to Economy Plus and that made a world of difference. Last week I flew Singapore, which is arguably the best Airline, but I'm 6'2" and quite wide build and the chair they give you is quite uncomfortable for someone my size. That said, the service is pretty good and if I could ever get to Business class it would be orgasmic.
About half the passangers were foriegners who were stranded for 24 hours including two ladies from Copenhagen. What happens when the criminal and flim flam element get wind that their are volnerables stranded at Ohare every freaking night?
The airlines reflect the country they are from, and ours is a shit hole.
If we had sense enough to use rail for intermediate distances, our air travel system would not be the seriously overburdened, congested mess that it is, and the airlines would probably be able to make some reasonable money and provide decent service.
We need a travellers bill of rights. They kill it when it comes up, but it is NEEDED.
The problem IS the airlines, and there have been quite a few articles also on their ridiculous payment rates for use of airports...that is bolloxing up the works.
I'm a sports agent that represents professional baseball players thats just starting out in the business, I've put my entire life savings and 401k into this dream of mine. I recently met up with one of my players in Vegas who is in the minor leagues for a weekend series. He received a nice endorsement opportunity but was unable to take home some of the items so I had put my laptop, his iPhone and even a few of his baseball gloves which were expensive..$500.00 plus. Some fricken idiot went through my bag either in Las Vegas when I checked in or in SFO, all the items were stolen even the nice waffle bath robe that the hotel gave me! I reported this immediately in SFO and they assured me that they would replace those items as I threatened to call the police and file theft charges.
I just received my refund which was a measley $600!!! What a fricken joke!!!! And trying to get a hold of someone in United is like trying to walk through the front door of the White House...all I get are those dumb ass foreighners who can barely speak english and don't know shit. I've already told them to take my 1k status and shove it up their ass and mile miles and shove that as well.
The sad part is I used to work with them and would never have done this...I've already filed theft charges with both Las Vegas PD and SFOPD but again it shows that they promise shit they can't deliver!
I pay outrageous fares to have less leg room than any other airline, pay for my food and drinks and now this? What a bunch of crap!!!!