US Airways is joining other major carriers in charging additional fees for checked baggage, turning an already tense boarding process into a Darwinian death match for scarce overhead luggage resources. And...
The Tempe, Ariz.-based carrier also said it would cut domestic flights, shrink the size of its fleet, slash 1,700 jobs and add a $2 fee for nonalcoholic drinks during flights.
So let me get this right... we're already prohibited from carrying beverages through security due to some bullshit, Bush scare tactic, and now the airlines want to charge us table-service prices for a fucking can of seltzer? As if flying at 30,000 feet isn't dehydrating enough?
Better carry a shitload of quarters with you the next time you fly folks, just in case the plane loses cabin pressure and you have to feed the goddamn coin slot on the oxygen mask.
For those of you too young to remember, flying wasn't always such a miserable experience. There was a time when airlines treated passengers as more than just those things they pack into the space above the cargo hold. There was a time when airlines focused on service, and treated even us plebs crammed into coach like paying customers, instead of just an inconvenience.
There was a time when flying from Florida to Seattle, if I missed a connecting flight in Houston due to "thunderstorms in Boston" or some bullshit excuse like that, they'd reticket me on the next available flight, even on a competing airline, instead of just shrugging their shoulders and leaving me and a small child to fend for ourselves in an airport for 24 hours or longer.
That's because there was a time when airlines were in the business of actually moving passengers and their luggage to their final destination. You know... back before deregulation.
I'm not saying consumers didn't benefit from deregulation; ticket prices dropped dramatically due to increased competition--hell, at under $300 round trip coast to coast, I don't think I paid a profitable fare for years--but holy crap, enough is enough already!
Perhaps it's time to consider a little reregulation, to stabilize the industry and bring a modicum of service and reliability back into the flying experience. Perhaps consumers might benefit if the fare didn't routinely fluctuate between $749 and $404 and back again, depending on which minute you logged into Expedia? Perhaps something other than "the free market" is necessary to fix an industry that has collectively lost $15 billion since deregulation?
Because if the airlines are so willing to cut corners above deck, where the paying customers can see it, I'm damn frightened to learn what they're cutting behind the scenes.
[David Goldstein blogs on WA state politics at HorsesAss.org]
People don't keep an eye on their elected representatives and they fall for nonsensical wedge issues so that they are pitted against one another. Thus the treasury gets looted amid the inane squabbling. You wonder why Bush is so enamored of Mexico? He would like to turn the U.S. into it. And he has almost done it because we are too cheap to pay for what we should be getting and too inattentive to what is going on to ensure that there is enough competition to keep civilization moving forward.
Oh. Snap.
This is nothing new, we have just gotten used to living in a world where our infrastructure is no longer maintained, but right-wing mantras of non-regulation are dogmatically adhered to.
I started to search on one website, but some options didn't quite work out, so I looked around on another. As the plans started to come together, involving calls back and forth with the other parties, I needed to search again based on flight times and availability.
Then it happened: the booking computers started to catch on. Flights that used to have 20 seats suddenly had 7 or 8 - and this happened with most of the flights I looked at. The prices were also going up - every 10 minutes. I gave up in frustration. I made no reservations.
The next day, resigned to fight the system again, I looked up the flights. The availabilities were back and the prices were down. I got the tickets.
It was clear that the system took query information from one web site and modified the availability and pricing for another. Legal? Questionable. Proper? No.
(I remember the day in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s when flying was an adventure, but in a good way. The seats were like easy chairs, we dressed in our Sunday best and the crew was friendly and unharried. Then came regulation ...)
I think that despite all the hassles, air travel is still one of the great bargains of western civilization.
On the baggage charge for the first bag, this will cause a delays to boarding. As it is now, people fight for space in the overhead bins....imagine if EVERY passenger tries to carry on a bag!
Here's an idea: price fares based on your costs and a fair profit and treat your customers with respect. Pretty radical, I know. The way the airlines operate now, they deserve to go out of business. Time for high speed rail IMO.
To be honest, in a true corporate world heavy people would be charged more tor the flight than lightweight people.
3 seats. Imagine, those little seats barely fit a regular person and one does not know
where to lay the arm if the other guy uses the armrest. I was in a 777 and there were
10 seats across.
When I read that maintenance will be outsourced to India I knew we would be in trouble.
When those planes were recently held for maintenance check it confirmed my suspicion.
Thanks to that whistleblower otherwise they would still be flying unchecked.
But it will happen again I am sure. In the meantime I would only board Lufthansa or BA!
Maybe the price of a ticket should be determined the way a barrell of oil is fixed. The NYMEX type entity could determine the prices and the airlines could charge whatever the "boys" in New York, the market, determined. Sounds like a good, conservative, free market solution to the current problem, eh?