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I've traveled extensively across the Atlantic. I booked a flight with American Airlines and it was like riding in the back of a truck! The interior was tacky and it wasn't appealing at all. When I took a flight with Swiss International Air Lines, the planes look brand new inside and everything worked! I try to avoid flying with U.S. airlines.
Last year I flew on American internationally, it was a 777-300ER that was in great shape. American and United both have more 787 routes every year. Of course there are plenty of older crap planes too, but just being a US airline doesn't guarantee an older plane.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Warszawa
Because there is no competition, no need to improve or anything. All the other international airlines, LATAM, Avianca, Copa, etc, they offer free food, free alcohol, free checked bags, free carryon, etc.
When I fly US based carriers internationally you know what I get? Free food, free alcohol, free checked bags, free carryon etc.
I'm no champion of US airlines but the rhetoric in here is getting a little thick.
I guess you don't take 100+ flights a year, some of them 10 hours long. I do. (Most, thankfully, are short flights but I know people who fly back and forth to Europe every couple of weeks.)
Bzzzz, appeal to authority fail.
I had periods in my career where I fly constantly (I don't know 100 or not but probably pretty close) with majority being either Arizona to Florida which is 3.5 or 4.5 hours depending on direction. I'm with charlygal, as long as the plane lands safely I don't need any additional service on a flight.
To each their own, you can't dismiss someone else's opinion on the assumption you fly more than everyone.
Hate to pull a Louis CK here but: What makes an airline 'sh*tty'? The job of an airline is to provide for you, for a price, transportation from one location to the next at an incredible speed. You're flying from one city to the next, halfway across the globe in a matter of hours.. and people still complain!
Yes, but....
The memory of the flying public is long. At one time, flying was glamorous, exciting, and something to look forward to. Food (even in steerage class) was decent, and the passengers were treated with some respect. Some people remember those times, and compare what is with with what was, and flying today is found wanting. If we had never been treated that way, we would not be so dissatisfied.
I'll consider southwest once it flies intercontinentally, assigns seats, joinss an alliance, and goes for the hub and spoke model.
So in other words, you'll fly Southwest once they adopt the business model of the legacy carriers, all of whom are currently being raked over the coals right here in this very thread? Well, OK then . . .
I mean, how many people, historically, have taken vacations requiring 1,000 miles of travel from point A to point B? Not many, definitely not many outside the 1%ers.
Just about every single person I know, including me, and most of my family. MANY times. And none of them are 1%ers.
That depends on how much we are willing and able to be gouged on prices and squashed on top of each other in transit.
It may be that go-to-meeting and similar conference software will be the death knell of airlines, if airlines go the way you suggest and become so massive that there's absolutely no semblance of a chance of competition on routes. If business travel craters, I wonder whether they'd survive. I mean, how many people, historically, have taken vacations requiring 1,000 miles of travel from point A to point B? Not many, definitely not many outside the 1%ers.
Off the top of my head NYC to points in Florida are 1,500 to almost 2k miles. Those routes were popular during rail travel and have only grown. Heck NYC to Orlando is only 973 miles. Care to guess how many make that trip who aren't "one percent" make that trip on any given week?
But wait now: NYC to Quebec is just a hair above 1k miles from NYC. Again care to guess how many make that trip?
So in other words, you'll fly Southwest once they adopt the business model of the legacy carriers, all of whom are currently being raked over the coals right here in this very thread? Well, OK then . . .
Pretty much. I like legacy carriers. They're big. They go where I want to go (and everywhere else thanks to alliances.) They have a good product. You get to choose a seat.
Just about every single person I know, including me, and most of my family. MANY times. And none of them are 1%ers.
What does the word HISTORICALLY mean?
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