WHO WILL MAKE THE PLANES FLY ON TIME?
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Apologists for authoritarian dictatorships-- particularly for Mussolini's fascists regime, but for Hitler, Franco and more recent iterations of the same dreck-- used to always says how at least they made the trains run on time. Today CNN kept talking about how the worst on time performance of the American airline industry wasn't only due to weather.
As a frequent flier for decades there is no question in my mind that Bush Regime policies have been disastrous for the airline industry across the board and have made flying into a nightmare for Americans-- as well as a "Go Away" sign aimed at potential foreign visitors to our shores.
Flights on U.S.-based air carriers suffered more delays in the first four months of this year than in any year since the government began tracking the numbers in 1995, according to figures released by the Department of Transportation.
Kate Hanni of the Coalition for An Airline Passengers' Bill of Rights, who notes that 7 of the 11 coast-to-coast flights she has made since February suffered delays, is not surprised-- not at all. "It's boding horribly for customers now. We're looking at a customer service debacle. We've been predicting this since January when we've began looking into what is happening. I think the public is caught off guard."
Last week on my travel blog I talked about the disaster the policies of the airlines have dragged their companies into. Every time I'm standing at an airport with my belt and shoes in one hand while worrying if I'm about to lose keys, my cell phone... and tooth paste as I check-in, I'm wondering how long it will America to get back in balance after we've fumigated the White House in January of '09.
Labels: airplane travel
posted by DownWithTyranny @ 3:32 PM
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3 Comments:
Also read your relevant travel blog, Howie.
Not to disagree on anything you said, but to add..
So, as far as I know/ remember, life in the jet stream started heading downhill after Reagan and the ATC strike. Remember him? He's the guy that has an airport named after him.
As for airline gate staff and on board "attendants", I can think of maybe 3 or 4 who have been less than terrible in the past 6-7 years. The only excuse that I can make for them is that they are crapped on from top to bottom.
On one recent flight, I was sitting behind a guy who kept pushing his broken seat back into my face, and repeatedly called me a bitch, saying I was pushing him on purpose whenever I moved.
I was in a window seat and put up with as long as a could, because there was a disabled passenger who had come on in with a wheelchair, pushed by his son. The father was seated in the aisle seat in my row. The father had horrible bruises all over his face, and was obviously not compos mentos. And, he had already been reseated twice.
When I finally rang for the attendant, I was immediately reseated in first class. Apparently I wasn't the first person who had "an issue" with this passenger. And, the attendants notified security, and the unruly passenger was met by local cops upon his exit from the plane. I had to stay behind to talk to the cops. And, then I rode back from the gate on the people mover with the whole crew. And, I got to hear a lot about their anger and frustration (not directed at me, btw) about how horrible their jobs had become. I really couldn't blame them.
After all, they are dealing with a bunch of passengers who are already totally pissed off by the time they get to board the plane.
Pissed off, due to the awfulness of TSA. And, in my experience, the TSA personnel really can be awful. I won't even go into my own experiences on that account. But, imo TSA is part of the core problem, and def. is due to Bushco.
Just my 2 cents.
VG
The TSA is rife with baggage content theft; most major carriers have outsourced all of their baggage handlers with young punks who couldn't care less (but make 7 bucks an hour); the rest of the people have taken pay cuts, benefit cuts and pension hits that you wouldn't believe. So this cannot surprise anyone.
Gawd, this has brought back a lot of my worst travel stories that I'd tried to forget. Like, travel out of CT returning from brief stint as volunteer for Lamont primary.
Sitting on the runway in Hartford CT before takeoff for an extra 30 mins the morning the "big alert" on potentially explosive liquids was first declared. Huge episode in 2nd class with one passenger accusing another of sneaking on a bottle of water, against the newly declared "security" measures.
Bit alerts are extra opportunity scare people about terrists.
e.g.
http://www.tpmcafe.com/blog/electioncentral/2006/aug/10/ct_sen_lieberman_says_lamonts_policies_would_be_tremendous_victory_for_terrorists
CT-SEN: Lieberman Says Lamont's Policies Would Be "Tremendous Victory" For Terrorists
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