Airlines are looking for a fight! Passengers are ready to give it to them!

[masraum]

[KFC911]

Originally Posted by masraum

Yeah, but at the same time, getting mouthy and telling someone to hit me, if that's answered is just going to mean a payday for the douche, or at least, a whole bunch of trouble for the person that doesn't keep his head and remember "sticks and stones..."

Push the wrong button on some folks and logic is over...they "see red" and you really don't want that . I'm not a fighter...but if I see someone abuse another human or animal, then all bets are off....

[KFC911]

I just saw where the flght attendant has been grounded....how much would I tip him on his next job...hmmm

[widgeon13]

I have traveled with my DIL and two young grandkids. The flight attendants in general don't offer any assistance.

[daepp]

Was just delayed three times for three hours on United. They had to get a crew off of their weekend who'd been on standby, and get a plane ready that must have similarly been standing by - they said they had to tow it to our gate.

Everyone was civil, but no explanation was ever given as to what happened. I did very courteously ask if they would do anything for us considering the delay, and they said call Customer Service.

When the we finally made it home, I (and many others) thanked the stand-by crew. But it really did bother me because there was no real weather anywhere around, and they obviously had both equpment and crew scheduling issues. Is United having some kind of other, systemic issues?

[sammyg2]

Originally Posted by BE911SC

Now that the United story, for better or for worse depending on your own viewpoint, has put airline service, or lack thereof, back into the national media hype cycle, I will take the position that some passengers might now feel emboldened to act even more poorly than before.

OTOH, crews have been hammered-down by cost control and the rise of the company shareholder to the highest level of importance over all else. Cut, cut, cut so that the suits may expand shareholder value. Cut your pay, cut your benefits, eliminate service and cut back on quality. Employees cost too much and so does quality. You might feel a little less empathy too if you had to deal with the public on the modern cattle-cars with wings while constantly being told you cost too much.

But for every tough customer there are a thousand who are just great and know the pressures coming at crews from all sides.

I say it all the time. "This is what 'low cost' looks like."

If you want kiss-ass treatment then you should get rich and fly on a private jet, or at least pay up and get into the Business or First Class. Capitalism baby. It costs money to treat people well.

If you don't like it then write a letter to Harvard Business School and tell their tenured MBA profs to start teaching--go back to teaching--some level of morality in the pursuit of profits.

Putting shareholder value over all else results in us rats fighting with each other down in the bilge of the boat.

"That's just my opinion and I could be wrong." -Dennis Miller

What is the company doing?
It is giving the consumers what they are asking for.
cheap flights.
What matters most?
cheap flights.
What gets sold?
cheap flights.
What criteria does the consumer use to decide which airline to fly?
cheap flights.
What fills seats?
Cheap flights.

Be careful what you ask for as you just might get it. And then you can beotch and complain that they gave you exactly what you asked for.
And then you can blame the business for acting immorally by giving you what you wanted


My younger brother is a pilot who also runs a multi-plane charter service, business jets only.
On more than one occasion he has described his job as that of a "glorified bus driver".
His words.

[sammyg2]

Originally Posted by widgeon13

There is no cost to civil behavior. Hitting a customer with a stroller by some little San Francisco twit is just uncalled for, he deserves his ass kicked, not just fired.

They need to be a little more discriminating when hiring stewardesses:

[cstreit]

Wasn't she refusing to give up her stroller on the airplane? (I thought I read that)

He was wrong to grab it from her. The next step, since she refused, was to ask her to leave the plane. We know how that ends when passengers refuse don't we?

Strollers are not allowed on the aircraft.

[DanielDudley]

CEO of United has stepped down, and United is going to focus on customer satisfaction in the coming year.

[pavulon]

Originally Posted by DanielDudley

CEO of United has stepped down, and United is going to focus on customer satisfaction in the coming year.

That should be entertaining. Watch for this manuever: United will do little (possibly nothing) different but quickly claim they are now providing excellent customer service and that (also new) passenger satisfaction surveys prove it!

[widgeon13]

And he'll get a big golden handshake.

[WPOZZZ]

Originally Posted by DanielDudley

CEO of United has stepped down, and United is going to focus on customer satisfaction in the coming year.

He stepped down? Where did you hear that?