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Wow, reading these stories and comments blew my mind! As a senior, I don't fly anymore because of the horror stories I hear from friends and family, BUT flew a good bit in the 80's both domestically and internationally; It was really quite wonderful, and I feel badly for those who never knew the industry at its best. British Air and Aer Lingus: DREAMY!!! Even the old TWA and Pan Am were pretty fabulous with large comfy seats and MEALS!!!
I know many of you have to fly for business and family - I applaud you! I just could not put up with what I'm reading here, ESPECIALLY with the excessive prices.
When adjusted to for inflation, airline tickets are nearly at the lowest prices in history. It's cheaper than Greyhound (even I was surprised by that one!).
Seems like we need a higher fine on canceling flights. $24000 is the right amount, because your airline have caused 200 people to miss appointments, family and connecting flights.
And yes, it might have been unavoidable, but that is just a risk companies have to deal with.
Agree, its stupid to only have 1 hour connection.
It required so little of you to go to speakers again and say "we are still trying to fix the maintenance delay". They are paying for your income, give them some respect.
Some airlines are ****tier than others, I wish more people did this because it would force airlines to treat their customers better.
You want fines for airlines cancelling flights now? Seriously...? Welcome back to the law of unintended consequences.
As to speaking with this irate lady, what did you want me to say? "Ma'am, they have made repeated announcements that the airplane is delayed for MX and there will be an update in 30 minutes." The gate agents already said that. Do you honestly believe a deadheading employee has the slightest idea what may be wrong with the plane and how long it will take to fix? Even if I did, what would happen if my estimate turned out wrong? Yep, here we go again with another airline employee "LYING" to us.
You see, with the entitled attitudes so prevalent in American society today, there's no winning. Indeed, no good deed goes unpunished.
Suffice to say, if passengers got what they wanted, the airlines would be out of business and these entitled...
People do seem much more entitled these days. Downright spoiled rotten is probably more accurate.
Glad the airlines are trying their best to keep us safe in the air. They are doing a pretty darn good job if you ask me. Passengers for the most part are great also, but there are always a few idiots.
Another factor, thus far unmentioned, needs to be noted. Air transportation is almost unique in the position of authority that the crew wields over the passengers. Though we have a veneer of comity and equality, the reality is something like a military system. The pilot can order a passenger off of the plane, the passenger being a paying customer notwithstanding. The airplane is not a democracy. The passengers can’t vote to expel a surly crewmember. Submitting to the authority of the crew is part of the terms of conveyance. Given that, the crew owes particular magnanimity towards the passengers, who are effectively their charges, again resembling the relationship between military officers and enlisted people. But unlike in the military, fare-paying passengers are not part of an overarching mission of service to some greater end. They are actually the ones being served.
The implication is airline crews are under special obligation to sustain the barbs and rancor of passengers – an obligation not levied on say restaurant employees, customer service reps, financial advisors, gardening contractors and so forth.
I too have been involved in situations that have been very trying with no gates available. During severe weather events, there isn't much pilots can do. Ultimately, it's failed leadership at the very highest levels that allowed things like this to happen. Thanks to the Passenger Bill of Rights, you will likely no longer hear about this.
Um, isn't that the whole idea?
Quote:
Of course, even though it was extremely unlikely for any individual customer to experience one of these fiascos, now you are almost guaranteed to have your travel plans interrupted as airlines cancel thousands of flights in weather we use to routinely fly in (albeit with delays).
Did you retire years ago or something? Ever since its passage, bad weather has happened and airlines still operate their flights, albeit with delays. They don't cancel all their flights. Nothing has changed except that that now there are fines for sitting on the tarmac for more than 3 hours, so in these scenarios, the airline finds a way to let people off instead of just saying "ahh screw 'em they can wait". Why is that such a sore issue for you? Do you delight in holding passengers captive?
Did you retire years ago or something? Ever since its passage, bad weather has happened and airlines still operate their flights, albeit with delays. They don't cancel all their flights. Nothing has changed except that that now there are fines for sitting on the tarmac for more than 3 hours, so in these scenarios, the airline finds a way to let people off instead of just saying "ahh screw 'em they can wait". Why is that such a sore issue for you? Do you delight in holding passengers captive?
Since you are anointing yourself an expert on the airlines, perhaps you should check the departure boards when there is a forecast snowstorm of 6 inches or more. Perhaps you forgot about the days long snafu in ATL just a month or so ago due to thunderstorms. Passengers were stranded for days. It was national news for days. They were stranded because Delta preemptively and reactively cancelled almost everything.
Everything has changed when airlines go into SWAP nowadays. It must be an interesting life going around believing you're an authority on subjects you know nothing about. Do people often look at you funny when you are explaining how things really work at their jobs?
I enjoy pax from A to B. Now that the lax have told us they would rather the flight cancel than be subject to a couple hour delay, that's what they get. If we hit a 2 hour delay, we are heading back to the gate. We have 3 hours to offer deplaning with an open door. In reality, we don't even get close to the 3 hours anymore. Once we return to the gate, it's much more likely the crew will time out due to having to reboard. We are also now last in line for takeoff to ice we push back off the gate.
The people have spoken. They just didn't realize what they were signing up for and now it's too late.
I live in an area where the only way I can access stores is through a fairly expensive plane ticket. Same with adequate health care. Our only airline provider has canceled about 1/3 of their flights this year. That is insanely high. Nothing is ever done, and we are constantly given the "mechanical issues" excuse or the "weather" excuse. What sucks, is that you aren't placed on the next flight, you are often times rebooked on a flight two days later, and forced to incur any extra costs. Anchorage ain't cheap.
The airline is finally giving out $50 vouchers for travel, on their airline lol
I consider my family to be very well versed in travel. We don't complain often, because weather happens. We have learned it is better to arrive safe, than not to arrive
With that said, customer service would be a little nicer. We once booked our flights and chose our seats for our family of five (5 yr old, 3 year old, wife, husband and infant) and when we checked our seats at the gate, we were all in different rows. Seriously. Nothing was done and I was threatened by an agent to be arrested, mind you, I wasn't even in Marine mode.
Thankfully, when we got to our next stop (where the seats were snafu), we had enough of a layover to get a caring agent.
Customer service is lacking. Customer understanding is lacking at times too.
Since you are anointing yourself an expert on the airlines, perhaps you should check the departure boards when there is a forecast snowstorm of 6 inches or more. Perhaps you forgot about the days long snafu in ATL just a month or so ago due to thunderstorms. Passengers were stranded for days. It was national news for days. They were stranded because Delta preemptively and reactively cancelled almost everything.
Everything has changed when airlines go into SWAP nowadays. It must be an interesting life going around believing you're an authority on subjects you know nothing about. Do people often look at you funny when you are explaining how things really work at their jobs?
I enjoy getting pax from A to B. Now that the pax have told us they would rather the flight cancel than be subject to a couple hour delay, that's what they get. If we hit a 2 hour delay, we are heading back to the gate. We have 3 hours to offer deplaning with an open door. In reality, we don't even get close to the 3 hours anymore. Once we return to the gate, it's much more likely the crew will time out due to having to reboard which takes time. We are also now last in line for takeoff to ice we push back off the gate. Tick tock, tick tock my friend.
The people have spoken. They just didn't realize what they were signing up for and now it's too late.
I don't want your address, but would you give us a clue as to where you live, please?
Looks like Anchorage.
She/he makes some very valid points, however, regarding customer service and empathy. Many situations could be fixed with a touch of empathy but the powers that be have made it clear to gate agents that if they delay a flight for assisting a customer above and beyond, they may face termination.
Additionally, there are bonuses tied to on time performance so middle managent is incentivized to threaten lower level employees. Lower level employees are also part of an on time bonus program (about $100/mo) so they try to get the flight out on time sometimes regardless of whether it's the right thing or not.
Herb and Gordon seemed to get it. The rest of these CEOs don't.
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lol
