Putting Air Travel Complaints in Context

Jim Davis wrote in

m:

Everyone has trouble with one airline or another. My inferior
airline is US Air. It's a disaster whenever I fly with them.
United has been so-so, but not high on my list.

My experience with United was a cross-country flight to the east
coast. I was taking my infant son to stay with the grandparents
while I was on an extended business trip.

Mid-flight, I asked the stewardess if there was hot water or some way
I could heat his bottle and was curtly told "no".

There were only 5 of us in the First Class Cabin. United isn't even
on my list; Amtrak is a better choice.



--

On Dec 23, 11:38*pm, Jim Davis wrote:
On Dec 22, 12:16*pm, rst wrote:





On Dec 17, 11:53*am, zorba wrote:

December 16, 2007

A Context for Those Complaints
By Patrick Smith

After five-plus years of fielding air travel questions from the
general public, I've pretty much heard it all. Certain subjects I
expected to be popular -- questions about the use of cell phones during
flight, for instance -- and I continue to be amazed at the number of
fliers petrified by turbulence. But more than anything else, I have
learned to never, ever underestimate how much people simply hate to
fly.

http://jetlagged.blogs.nytimes.com/2...-for-those-com....

Good article.

People need to remember: *you get what you pay for. * If you bitch and
moan about long check-in lines, if you don't like the rude service and
inconvenience, no meals and having to change planes, then either book
something non-stop and in first class-- or don't ****ing fly.

Absolutely true. But don't expect that to happen. We have become a
nation of people that expect something for nothing and will whine to
high heaven until we get it.

I've had half a dozen flights so far in December, several
international. Between the class of service and my gold FF card, I've
been able to avoid the problems that the "cheap at any cost" people
complain about.

Yes, you get what you pay for.

My thoughts exactly, but here's the problem the way *I* see it.

The occasional, and Holiday fliers are the worst for complaints. *They
fly once or twice a year, an when they return a year later, everything
has changed.

The frequent fliers see the system deteriorate slowly every week, and
make the necessary adjustments. *Sure, they complain at times too, but
not as often. *I had a woman ask me just last week how I got my
lighter through security.

Security has become a joke. When my wife and I went through SFO
security they stopped her because she had a jar of lotion in her carry
on. She'd forgotten. They decided it was small enough and let her
through. I then recalled that I had left an amenity kit from Singapore
Air in my carry on. Shaving cream, tooth paste, cologne, etc. They
didn't see any of it even though it was larger than my wife's jar of
lotion.

Holidays are the worst. *I'm heading back out on Dec. 26th, and not
looking forward to it.

I flew from Utah (ski country) to SFO 2 days before Christmas. Full
plane. But the lines at SLC weren't bad, even for the non-premium
fliers. The news had been telling people it would be chaos so people
came to the airport early. Amazing how allowing yourself extra time
reduces problems and stress.

On Dec 25, 2:25*am, Justin Case wrote:
Jim Davis wrote
m:

Everyone has trouble with one airline or another. *My inferior
airline is US Air. *It's a disaster whenever I fly with them.
United has been so-so, but not high on my list.

My experience with United was a cross-country flight to the east
coast. *I was taking my infant son to stay with the grandparents
while I was on an extended business trip.

Mid-flight, I asked the stewardess if there was hot water or some way
I could heat his bottle and was curtly told "no".

There were only 5 of us in the First Class Cabin. *United isn't even
on my list; Amtrak is a better choice. *

United is pathetic, IMHO. Delta is worse. Continental should be
ashamed of its own existence. But like JIm said, we've all had our
problems with one airline or another. I won't fly *any* US airline
internationally.

Tchiowa wrote in

:

United is pathetic, IMHO. Delta is worse. Continental should be
ashamed of its own existence. But like JIm said, we've all had our
problems with one airline or another. I won't fly *any* US airline
internationally.

I agree. On our trip back from Australia (after a 4 day stopover in
Fiji) on Air Pacific, breakfast consisted of fish and fresh fruit. I
was a bit surprised and found it to be unusual for a breakfast but
delicious.



--

On Dec 27, 11:28 pm, Tchiowa wrote:



Security has become a joke. When my wife and I went through SFO
security they stopped her because she had a jar of lotion in her carry
on. She'd forgotten.


KY Jelly ?

Kind of like don't leave Pattaya w/o it.

Hope you can make it back to Thailand soon Tee Cho Waaaa ;-)

In article ,
Tchiowa wrote:

United is pathetic, IMHO. Delta is worse. Continental should be
ashamed of its own existence.

Still sore that Continental's BusinessFirst is routinely rated better
than Singapore's business class? Get over it

I won't fly *any* US airline internationally.

If only it were so easy. Most of my international flying, for example,
is between Europe and the US, where on most routes the choice is
between a US airline and a European carrier. US airlines are paragons
of service and efficiency in comparison to such outfits as BA, AF,
KL and AZ.

In article ,
Tchiowa wrote:

I've had half a dozen flights so far in December, several
international. Between the class of service and my gold FF card, I've
been able to avoid the problems that the "cheap at any cost" people
complain about.

I log over 100K miles a year, most of them in business/first class,
all of them as a highest-level FF, and I've experienced plenty of:

- Interminable delays

- Canceled flights, often as a side effect of weather events
hundreds of miles away

- Hours-long takeoff delays due to airport and air route traffic jams

- Diversions to random airports, where the entire airplane is
held hostage for hours

I don't complain because it's pointless. Instead, I try to choose
airlines - like Southwest - that provide superior service and whose
routes are less prone to megahub delays. Unfortunately, they don't
fly internationally.

Yes, you get what you pay for.

Only if you fly private. If you squander thousands on a business-class
ticket on a commercial airline, you are still subject to the same
delays, cancellations, and chaos as the backpacker in the last row
of steerage.

The news had been telling people it would be chaos so people
came to the airport early. Amazing how allowing yourself extra time
reduces problems and stress.

On every plane I've been on, the last person to check in took off
at exactly the same time as the moron who dragged himself to the
airport two hours in advance. Something for you to ponder as you
``reduce stress'' by drinking yourself into stupor in some dismal
airport lounge

On Dec 28, 5:30*am, (VS) wrote:
In article ,

Tchiowa wrote:
United is pathetic, IMHO. Delta is worse. Continental should be
ashamed of its own existence.

* Still sore that Continental's BusinessFirst is routinely rated better
* than Singapore's business class? *Get over it

????

I've flown both. There is absolutely no comparison. Continental is not
in the same league as SQ. SQ (and Cathay) are routinely ranked as #1
or #2 in both business and first class by Conde Nast and most other
passenger surveys.

I won't fly *any* US airline internationally.

* If only it were so easy. *Most of my international flying, for example,
* is between Europe and the US, where on most routes the choice is
* between a US airline and a European carrier. *US airlines are paragons
* of service and efficiency in comparison to such outfits as BA, AF,
* KL and AZ.


AF and KL I agree with you. But BA is substantially better, as is
Lufthansa.

On Dec 28, 5:44*am, (VS) wrote:
In article ,

Tchiowa wrote:
I've had half a dozen flights so far in December, several
international. Between the class of service and my gold FF card, I've
been able to avoid the problems that the "cheap at any cost" people
complain about.

* I log over 100K miles a year, most of them in business/first class,
* all of them as a highest-level FF, and I've experienced plenty of:

(I log around 150k - so that's similar - and have for about 20 years)

* - Interminable delays

Haven't had a delay more than an hour except in Bangladesh.

* - Canceled flights, often as a side effect of weather events
* * hundreds of miles away

Haven't had a cancelled flight in over a decade. And the only ones
I've *ever* had were Delta (during a hurricane in Atlanta so that's
understandable) and Air France/UTA during one of there many random
strikes.

* - Hours-long takeoff delays due to airport and air route traffic jams

Never.

* - Diversions to random airports, where the entire airplane is
* * held hostage for hours

Once, AF diverted from Paris to Lyons.

* I don't complain because it's pointless. *Instead, I try to choose
* airlines - like Southwest - that provide superior service and whose
* routes are less prone to megahub delays. *Unfortunately, they don't
* fly internationally.

Yes, you get what you pay for.

* Only if you fly private. *If you squander thousands on a business-class
* ticket on a commercial airline, you are still subject to the same
* delays, cancellations, and chaos as the backpacker in the last row
* of steerage.

But those system-wide problems are relatively rare. Most of the
passenger complaints are around service, seat comfort, etc. that the
premium passengers don't have problems with.

The news had been telling people it would be chaos so people
came to the airport early. Amazing how allowing yourself extra time
reduces problems and stress.

* On every plane I've been on, the last person to check in took off
* at exactly the same time as the moron who dragged himself to the
* airport two hours in advance. *Something for you to ponder as you
* ``reduce stress'' by drinking yourself into stupor in some dismal
* airport lounge

I don't drink. But by arriving early, neither do I get stressed in the
security line when there are 50 people ahead of me and my flight is
leaving in 20 minutes.

And I have seen many examples where the "last person to check in"
didn't make through security and took the next flight.

In article ,
Tchiowa wrote:

Still sore that Continental's BusinessFirst is routinely rated better
than Singapore's business class? =A0Get over it

I've flown both. There is absolutely no comparison.

I doubt very much that you've flown Continental's BusinessFirst (maybe
their domestic first class, which is a different product entirely),
but look up OAG Airline of the Year awards, where BusinessFirst and
Virgin's Upper Class routinely place above SQ in the international
business class category.

SQ (and Cathay) are routinely ranked as #1
or #2 in both business and first class by Conde Nast and most other
passenger surveys.

Most of these surveys are bull****. I saw Qatar Airways ranked as a
``5-star airline'' by some survey. The only other 5-star airline was
Cathay. I haven't flown Cathay, but in my experience Qatar is worse
than any US airline (but better than any European carrier, natcherly).

US airlines are paragons
of service and efficiency in comparison to such outfits as BA, AF,
KL and AZ.

AF and KL I agree with you. But BA is substantially better, as is
Lufthansa.

BA is to be avoided. My recent experience with BA (flying business
class, too): 5-hour delay in Heathrow, cabin heated up to a sauna-like
temperature, and then, after arriving to JFK at 2 in the morning,
learning that my baggage has been lost.