At Least They Weren't "Reaccommodated"

[JavaBrewer]

Originally Posted by Sooner or later

My best ever flight was the Sat after 9/11. Empty airports and empty planes.

Mine was flying home from Tokyo Narita March 12 2011 (day after the 9.0). Original flight was on the 11th and the quake hit when I was on the bus heading to airport. The next day we were lucky to find a working subway to a train station that was still working for line to airport. Plane left at 6 pm so once at the airport hit the bar for a couple BIG sake, boarded the 747 and I had the entire row to myself...most could not reach the airport. Dinner served after take off, another sake, arm rests up and I woke up somewhere over CA slowly descending toward LAX.

I have 3/4M air miles with America West->US Airways->American and generally had positive experiences. I have flown with United ~ 20 times in my life and about 50% of the time there were issues. Delta, the few times I have flown them, were great.

[cairns]

Jeff once again nails it.

That said the low cost model works well for Jet Blue and Southwest....the big three can't seem to get it done.

[Jeff Higgins]

Originally Posted by legion

That's fine, my issue is with how airlines treat passengers when there are delays, not that there are delays.

It used to be that airlines would go out of their way to get people home on time and treat them with dignity and respect throughout the process. Heck, they used to often solve the problem for you before you even knew there was a problem! I remember times when I landed for a connection to find out I'd been rebooked on a different airline because the original plane had mechanical problems. I haven't seen that happen in over 20 years.

Now they dump you in the terminal, make you wait for hours, and don't give you enough information to make informed decisions, and get angry and threaten you (remember, your civil rights are suspended at airports) if you bother them. If they know the 45 minute delay is really going to take 4 hours, they just keep pushing the flight back by another 45 minutes every 45 minutes.

This all gets back to what I said earlier - this "poor" treatment is a direct result of what you are willing to pay to fly. The airlines simply cannot afford to pay the on-the-ground "hostess" staffs that used to make all of this happen behind the scenes.

Back before the deregulation that the flying public all clamored for, the airlines flew set routes for set prices. It was relatively pretty damn expensive to fly. As others have mentioned above, airfares today are pretty much frozen at 1970's and 1980's prices. Think about that for a moment. How much do you think the airlines' costs have gone up since then? Where do you think they had to make the cuts to remain viable and profitable while still charging 1970's and 1980's fares? They have no choice but to treat you this way - the staffs that used to take care of you are long gone. You know, so you can fly to Lima, Peru for $800...

[onewhippedpuppy]

I am a frequent flyer on Delta and typically enjoy it. I pay a little more for Delta because I believe they have the best customer service and I seem to have the least issues.

Chris I fly a lot and most of what you are saying just isn’t true unless you make the CHOICE to fly on a cattle car airline. Typically when there is a delay I’m automatically rebooked and can make complimentary selection of another flight option for free from the app on my phone. Most of the time I hear someone complaining about flying it’s because they haven’t bothered to educate themselves on the options available to them.

[fred cook]

Flying, that is. The last time I got on an airplane was in 2009 when my son and I went to Commiefornia for a driving school day at Laguna Seca raceway. If I really had to fly somewhere now, I would charter a plane, probably one that a friend owns and takeoff and land at a small regional airport. "Quoth the raven, "Nevermore"!