Airline Hell
Well I made it back home... No thanks to the damned airlines. It's crazy these days. You can guarantee with nearly 100% certainty that something will be wrong with your flight. This time I got stung both coming and going.
Flying to my destination, one flight that was over an hour and a half late taking off. We got the special treat of sitting on the tarmac without any air conditioning in brutal heat while we waited, for what; I have no clue. Once airborne, the plane had no catering on board other than luke-warm bottled water. There wasn't even ice to cool it. The magazines in the seat back pockets were also missing & here I was looking forward to ordering an over-priced laser sighted golf putter from the sky mall catalog!
Then, because we were so late, I barely made my connecting flight. I arrived at the gate right as they were buckling the plane closed, but I managed beg until they allowed me to get on board. My baggage on the other hand did not make the flight. It arrived hours later requiring a return trip to the airport to pick it up.
Flying back home I had a tight connection and I had to dash from one end of the Las Vegas airport all the way to the other. So, having rushed through the airport at break-neck speeds. I arrive panting at the gate just in time to hear that the plane had been delayed and would be 40 minutes late. Of course 40 minutes late in airline speak means two hours.
So I thought to myself, well if the plane's delayed, at least there will be more than enough time for them to get my baggage transferred. I was concerned about that because of the tight connection time. So I arrive back home only to find that my optimistic hopes of having my baggage arrive with me was a pipe dream. So another trip back to the airport to pick up my baggage was required. I mean it could have been worse right? My baggage could have simply vanished. I've had that happen too.
Now I ask you... What in the hell has happened to the airline industry? I can remember being served meals on airplanes. I can remember booking a flight and actually arriving when the ticket said I would and actually arriving WITH my baggage. Airlines weren't going out of business left and right back then either. You know what else wasn't happening? The airlines selling the same seat twice! Way back then, computers weren't anywhere near as powerful as they are today and yet the airlines were still able to tell if they'd sold all of the seats on the damned plane or not. Every flight I've been on in the past few years, they've been asking for volunteers and offering free flight vouchers because they over-booked the plane. Perhaps if they didn't over book the flight in the first place then they wouldn't have to give away so many free flights. If they didn't give away so many free flights, they could actually sell those seats and make some money. If they sold those seats for money, perhaps they'd earn more money and would be able to afford to give a damn about their customers.
The airlines just don't give a damn any more. They have you buy the jockey shorts and they know it. They treat you like cattle and if you dare lose your cool because they've abused you beyond the limits of human endurance - they just call the cops and have you ass raped in jail.
The airline situation is absolutely unacceptable. It has been years since I've actually arrived when the airlines said I'd arrive. I lose my baggage about ¼ of the time.
Personally, I'd be happy to pay a bit more for my tickets to be treated like a customer. But hell even that doesn't seem to work. If you pay the extra money for first class (provided they even offer it on your flight) all that buys you is a bigger seat on the late plane.
I would mention which airlines it was, but does it really matter? They ALL treat their customers with nothing more than utter disdain. So any review of one airline over another is moot. It would be nothing more than a comparison that stated one airline treated their customers slightly less shitty than another. I mean the airlines are probably the only organization with an approval rating at or below the U.S. Congress.
So I ask you, what can we as consumers do to change the way the airlines treat us?
Flying to my destination, one flight that was over an hour and a half late taking off. We got the special treat of sitting on the tarmac without any air conditioning in brutal heat while we waited, for what; I have no clue. Once airborne, the plane had no catering on board other than luke-warm bottled water. There wasn't even ice to cool it. The magazines in the seat back pockets were also missing & here I was looking forward to ordering an over-priced laser sighted golf putter from the sky mall catalog!
Then, because we were so late, I barely made my connecting flight. I arrived at the gate right as they were buckling the plane closed, but I managed beg until they allowed me to get on board. My baggage on the other hand did not make the flight. It arrived hours later requiring a return trip to the airport to pick it up.
Flying back home I had a tight connection and I had to dash from one end of the Las Vegas airport all the way to the other. So, having rushed through the airport at break-neck speeds. I arrive panting at the gate just in time to hear that the plane had been delayed and would be 40 minutes late. Of course 40 minutes late in airline speak means two hours.
So I thought to myself, well if the plane's delayed, at least there will be more than enough time for them to get my baggage transferred. I was concerned about that because of the tight connection time. So I arrive back home only to find that my optimistic hopes of having my baggage arrive with me was a pipe dream. So another trip back to the airport to pick up my baggage was required. I mean it could have been worse right? My baggage could have simply vanished. I've had that happen too.
Now I ask you... What in the hell has happened to the airline industry? I can remember being served meals on airplanes. I can remember booking a flight and actually arriving when the ticket said I would and actually arriving WITH my baggage. Airlines weren't going out of business left and right back then either. You know what else wasn't happening? The airlines selling the same seat twice! Way back then, computers weren't anywhere near as powerful as they are today and yet the airlines were still able to tell if they'd sold all of the seats on the damned plane or not. Every flight I've been on in the past few years, they've been asking for volunteers and offering free flight vouchers because they over-booked the plane. Perhaps if they didn't over book the flight in the first place then they wouldn't have to give away so many free flights. If they didn't give away so many free flights, they could actually sell those seats and make some money. If they sold those seats for money, perhaps they'd earn more money and would be able to afford to give a damn about their customers.
The airlines just don't give a damn any more. They have you buy the jockey shorts and they know it. They treat you like cattle and if you dare lose your cool because they've abused you beyond the limits of human endurance - they just call the cops and have you ass raped in jail.
The airline situation is absolutely unacceptable. It has been years since I've actually arrived when the airlines said I'd arrive. I lose my baggage about ¼ of the time.
Personally, I'd be happy to pay a bit more for my tickets to be treated like a customer. But hell even that doesn't seem to work. If you pay the extra money for first class (provided they even offer it on your flight) all that buys you is a bigger seat on the late plane.
I would mention which airlines it was, but does it really matter? They ALL treat their customers with nothing more than utter disdain. So any review of one airline over another is moot. It would be nothing more than a comparison that stated one airline treated their customers slightly less shitty than another. I mean the airlines are probably the only organization with an approval rating at or below the U.S. Congress.
So I ask you, what can we as consumers do to change the way the airlines treat us?
Labels: Commentary, Misc, Rants, Reviews
posted by G-Man at 12:25 AM
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