where's all the mad flyers??

[jwanty]

Fair enough, so tell me this... Why all of a sudden in 2010 one airline is charging for over head storage? Why does southwest still offer free luggage regardless of checked baggage or over head baggage? I would respect your statement if the entire airlines market was doing the same thing.

[petalnrose]

Please give us the fiscal information. Also,please include the fiscal strategy regarding, common sense, "customer satisfation."
I am willing to be open minded about this.

[RoadWarrior]

As a regular frequent flyer, I don't really care about the fiscal aspects of an airline -- It ain't my problem -- I do care about a safe reliable flight that gets me to a destination on time, as I make plans based on the supposed arrival time of the aircraft. Poor maintenance as sighted by the FAA, and excessive fees (charging for a trip to the bathroom (RyanAir) do seem to be a bit of an issue with some airlines in spite of the increases in fees and tickets. No business is allowed to operate without some government regulation. We have a Bill of Rights and should have a passenger bill of rights individually we can only vote with our wallets together we can help set policy that prevents the more agregious acts of a corporation. This site is a way for people to get their individual voices heard. If you don't like it don't post or go start your own site in support of the airlines. O I chose most of my flights by time not price and the airlines still can't get it right about 20 to 40 percent of the time (their figures not mine).

[flyer68]

I am one of the many mad flyers that just found this website and forum. My family have been flying with AA for the last 10 years (3-4 x/yr. domestic) and for the last 5 years we have headache each time. Five years ago we were almost bump off the airplane coming home from a cruise in San Juan Porta Rico. We purchase our airfairs 6 months ahead and always does as we planned our vacations. The followings years after that, delays, lost of baggages, increase in pricing of baggages, almost gotten bump off again, sitting in the tarmax for take off and landing, and rude flight attendants. We goes thru pilots and flight attendants strikes, AA financial difficulties, etc. In all fairness, the airlines should hire better CEOs to managed their bussinness and profits. It is not my or any other consumers' concerns.

My concerns are: Are the Pilots well trained?, Are the planes well maintain?, Are the rules and regulation for safety in place, Are the flight attendants professional and nice?, and ARE MY FLIGHTS ON TIME!

I didn't purchase the tickets because of low pricing. I purchased them so I & my family can enjoy our vacations.

[bagby]

You want to know where all the mad flyers are? I'll tell you.

In your aircraft.

You got passengers? Then you got angry customers. NOBODY has a pleasant experience flying. It's just a question of how arduous, how difficult and how frustrating your flight was -- not WHETHER it was arduous, difficult and frustrating, that's something you can take for granted.

The answer to the question, "How was your flight?" Is never, "Great!". At the very best it's an indifferent, "oh, fine, I guess.", meaning no more delays than usual, no luggage lost or damaged this time, nothing worse than the usual indignities. No worse than the dreadful usual.

The airlines, all of them, have taken something as fundamentally exciting as flying through the air (!) and made it boring, mundane and about as exciting as hopping on a bus for a trip whose monotony is broken only by a very small drink. Then you've made that experience excruciating. One must arrive hours early, in order to stand in line and pass through "security" which has NEVER managed to prevent any serious airline incidents, but which has become "Thieves-R-US" for stealing the contents of luggage, (and damaging what isn't stolen).

All this waiting is despite your knowing ahead of time exactly how many people would be coming and when -- information that restaurants would just kill to have! Yet the airlines can't manage to avoid sticking people in one long queue after another.

Now you've taken to stranding passengers on the tarmac, for hours, with failing restroom facilities, nothing to drink, crying babies and general misery. Yet the new CEO of Continental called the regulation saying he couldn't do that anymore, "silly". The airlines have been called "the worst-managed business in America", and it looks like you're working hard to retain that proud title.

Let me re-iterate: you don't HAVE any happy customers. All of them are angry, all of them are frustrated, it's just a question of degree. You DO run the worst-managed business in the country, and you continue to do a really terrible job of it. You've dumped most of your pension responsibilities on the taxpayers, but despite this you can't seem to run a profitable business, or keep your employees OR customers happy.

We fly on your airline because we don't have a choice. Many of us now look for any alternative where we would have flown before. (Aw, can't we drive instead? With the lines and the waiting it ends up taking just as long to fly there, and at least we don't arrive tired, tense, frustrated and hungry.)

We're all kinda looking forward to the day when YOUR industry asks for a public bail-out, when we'll tell our representatives, "You vote for this and I'll volunteer to work for your opponent, no matter who it is, next election." No WAY, baby.

Perhaps if you simply fired everyone at the rank of vice-president or above, throughout the industry, and then never hire an officer who has ever worked in the airline industry, you might be able to rebuild a reasonable business. They won't have any experience, but trust me, your experience is the problem. The old ways of doing things are exactly what we want to be rid of, and they don't any of them have any experience at running a profitable company anyway.

I realize that it's not ALL the airlines' fault, but so what? If allowed, you'd ALL blame each other and your lap-dogs at the CAB/FAA, then do absolutely nothing different. (As you've done for the past forty years.)

A good start, frankly, would be firing astroturfers like you, flyer68.

[azflyer]

Quit flying American and Delta and you won't still be a mad flyer. I am not an employee, just a really happy customer of Southwest. They have friendly, helpful employees, cheap prices and free baggage. I was on a flight recently that hit some clear air turbulence that really bounced us around. I was the last one off the plane and the pilot was still standing there talking to the passengers as they deplaned to assure us he was surprised at the turbulence but had complete control. I would never consider flying American.

[QuitURwhining]

[quote]The airlines, all of them, have taken something as fundamentally exciting as flying through the air (!) and made it boring, mundane and about as exciting as hopping on a bus for a trip whose monotony is broken only by a very small drink. Then you've made that experience excruciating. One must arrive hours early, in order to stand in line and pass through "security" which has NEVER managed to prevent any serious airline incidents, but which has become "Thieves-R-US" for stealing the contents of luggage, (and damaging what isn't stolen).
/quote]

Your right, flying is exciting. Want to blame someone for the 'security', how about Mr. Mastermind (Bush) that came up with "Homeland Security"? Really?!? A color coded security alert scale; like we're in elementary school! TSA. Thousands Standing Around, Twenty Stupid A-hloes, whatever. I agree with you. But your blaming the airlines, and it is not so my friend. Look to your Gov't for the answers (FAA) How many times do you see some overweight poor excuse for 'security', curbside, lunchbox in hand, sucking down 3 cigarettes before he has to go "protect' the public?! Other countries have ARMED military protecting them, we get a bunch of clowns. As far as the thieves; yeah what do you expect when you pay those people China factory worker wages with a high turnover ratio, but that leads up to the main source of this mess.....Greedy CEO'S! They want to make a killing off of labors back, and your pocketbook as well!

[QuitURwhining]

[quote]Now you've taken to stranding passengers on the tarmac, for hours, with failing restroom facilities, nothing to drink, crying babies and general misery. Yet the new CEO of Continental called the regulation saying he couldn't do that anymore, "silly". The airlines have been called "the worst-managed business in America", and it looks like you're working hard to retain that proud title./quote]

Right, cause the crew onboard wants to be there just as much as you. How about the fact that the Air Traffic control system in this county is still stuck in 1950's technology. Its easy to blame the airlines; but look at the bigger picture. The airspace is so screwed up and inefficient; THAT is the reason your not taking off. The 12yr old in row twelve with an Iphone has more weather information than the pilots, the In-trail spacing required because controllers are sitting in a dark basement somewhere waiting for a radar return on a green mono-chromatic old-school sweep screen. We have the technology, but the FED's don't have any reason to hurry up and spend the money to upgrade. (more important things like bailing out banks and irresponsible peoples mortgages, but thats another story!) The reason your stranded is not the airlines; its the system they are forced to operate and compete in.

[lcfa]

Hello, I don't work for an airline. I do fly every single week, and usually on American Airlines.

Re the comment about Southwest - I always hear good things about Southwest, but in my opinion I'm perfectly satisfied with American and I don't think they deserve to be generally categorized as a bad airline.

Also, I have to agree with the author of the post. I do find this organization to be ridiculous. It really seems to be mostly people who like to whine, or like to take their bad experience, and then offer that up as reason to change an entire industry. Even further, the ideas to change the industry are generally completely silly and uninformed. The reason I find this annoying is when it advocates or results in new rules that actually make it harder for those of us who fly all the time....on a more visceral side, I just find your whole culture of whining to be annoying.

Sure, there are lots and lots of reasons to be skeptical about airline management, but keep in mind a few things: a) shouldn't we acknowledge that airline pricing hasn't substantially increased in the last 2 decades? Amazing that they have been able to literally keep the industry flying when their actual customers haven't paid more for services in all this time. b) shouldn't we acknowledge that we get what we pay for? c) and if you think airline managers aren't great, you think the industry would be better managed by bureaucrats and politicians in Washington? Really??

[Doowop]

I hate to say it, but people are stupid. If you give business to airlines that abuse passengers they will go right on doing it. Ryanair is a perfect example. Worst conditions of any airline and the people are supporting it by flying them and making them successful. Maybe the masses actually want only the cheapest way from here to there. If so, then they have their nich in the airline industry. Nich airlines maybe the answer, so the rest of us can pay a little more for to fly civilized airlines.