Airlines

[marksiwel]

I was watching that TV show about Airlines, I think its on A&E. I came to relaize that most Major Airlines...suck. They are too big, and badly run. How do you overbook a flight? Airlines should be run like movie theaters, you buy a ticket you wait in line you go to your Screen (plane) you sit down let the show begin (ride). Because thats about as hard as it needs to be.
its not like the people behind the ticket counter are landing the planes, or fueling them. That all happens somewhere else (like in a theater) you have seats for 200 people, dont sell 223 seats how hard is that?

Also the it makes you laugh at the Airline Industry in general. The Pilots are doing less and less work, what with planes nearly flying themsleves, and yet they still get payed more and more. While ground/loading crews are getting better and better, but are the first to be canned. Also who the hell needs flight attendents?
Also why is Airport secutiry so hard?
Empty your pockets shoes and everything else, get searched, if yuou want anything to be on the plane with you have that searched and handed back to you when your on the plane. Also when you get on the plane just give everyone a choice of canned drinks and a snack! BAM no more flight attdents.

Ranting at 130 in the morning done, bad spelling (check) waiting to be laughed at!

[Threadkiller]

Here's my opinion on overbooking. The airline industry is much like the cell phone industry in the way they price things. That is, they can make the most money by offering their services through a number of confusing and different middle-men rather than just selling at the lowest price. Can the person who answered the phone at the Continental ticket counter explain why the guy sitting next to me paid $50 more for what is essentially an identical ticket to the one I have? Hell no.

The problem is, 20 different travel agents might be selling the last two tickets on your flight simultaneously. Then some double bonus platinum frequent flier club member with 1 quadrillion miles to use might call and insist that the computer screwed up his reservations and demand a seat and a vegetarian meal. Then add in the 15 people who got bumped from the previous overbooked flight and you have the lovely world of air travel.

Makes me wonder if a smallish airline really could survive if they sold tickets at a fixed price like a movie theater and didn't use travel agents or brokers. Probably not.

[Tongue]

I have a family member in the airline business and the reason they overbook is simple. People don't make their flights. Because of the cost involved in running an airline they have to try to get eery seat full and by overbooking they are making up for the shortfall that late passengers or those that for what ever reason (no passport, drunk, illness etc) can't fly.

Due to my sis being in the industry I get free flights. However i have to wait till the very end to see if there is a free seat. If not i wait till the next flight. The same applies to overbooked seats.

It's all about moolah.

[code6enterprises]

I read Scott Adams' book "Dilbert and the way of the Weasel" (great book, go buy it) and he has a whole chapter about airlines. Here's a passage that holds true in my heart.

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
One of my theories is that a single holding company owns every airline in the world. Granted, all of the "competing" airline companies have different uniforms and logos. (How hard would it be to fake that?) But they all fly the same kind of planes and tey all use the same airports. That's a little too coincidental.

Would a "real" competitive industry hire ex-convicts to handle your luggage, make to wait two hours for your flight, give you a seat that's designed for a hobbit, sell more tickets than the number of seats on the plane and pay the extra people to get off the plane? C'mon! that's not even trying!

[/ QUOTE ]

He goes on about the seatbelts and things on the planes that annoy him.

[Dr3vil]

Actually, many major airlines are competing themselves into near-bankruptcy. People want decent service, competent management, edible food, but all these things cost money and what people complain most about flying is the prices. It is probable that they're simply too big and if the current airline oligopoly was replaced by a network of smaller upstarts like jet blue, we could stand to benefit, but most complaints about airlines rarely stop to consider how damned expensive they are to operate.

[straight2video]

I have a solution to all of your problems: jetblue... /forums/images/icons/grin.gif

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