737 question

[Mark815]

Really? So their part of the plane crashed but yours didn't? Because there must have been a crash if it was a "disaster" and not just an inconvenience.



People are paying for transportation. They stopped paying for service about 37 years ago.



You got exactly what you paid for, and so did they. Pay dirt cheap prices, get a dirt cheap product. Want it to be like 1960 again? Then you'd better be ready to pay 1960 prices. That $410 ticket I'm probably going to buy? It would have cost me about $2,060 in 1960. Sound good to you?

There's a lot of things I agree with you on this board, but this mindset isn't one of them. I've flown with quite a few CA's already who have this "couldn't care less" mindset about the pax. They lock themselves up in the flight deck, and nothing else matters. It's sad really.

Nobody is paying for service in economy in the US, you're 110% correct. Many are paying premiums for business/first class on the airlines and expect good service, but that's not the point here.

Even the most basic of economy pax ARE paying for transportation, and they're getting that, barely. Just because a product is "cheap", that means it's okay to screw over your customers? Sure, we get you to your destination alive, but it generally takes much longer than expected. Why is that ok? Because they didn't pay $2,060 they shouldn't be transported on time? Because they didn't pay $2,060 they should be forced to sit in airports and airplanes for hours upon hours, or be delayed because of incompetence on the ground? It's one thing to delay passengers because of weather and safety concerns, but it's a whole other story when the incompetence of the airlines end up delaying their own paying customers.

Passengers also have no say in who the airlines hire. Been to DEN lately? Ask any one of us who have been dealing with Simplicity. 30+ min just to get a ramper to come out and park us, because United wanted to save a few pennies and hire minimum wage workers. Thanks to that you now have angry passengers. They didn't chose those workers. The airlines did. And because of that, they're again pissing off their own customers.

You're argument of "pay dirt cheap prices, get a dirt cheap product" also doesn't make sense anymore. I paid $14 for a train ticket the other day to get home, and the train departed, and arrived within 5 minutes of the scheduled time, in a snow storm. I normally pay $12 for a bus ticket to get from the airport to home, and they always show up on time, and arrive on time. Sounds like a good product to me. And if you want to get outside the realm of transportation services, just look around your house and tell me if cheap price equals cheap product still. A new 50+" HDTV costs less than $1000. Should we demand a much higher price because back in the day a TV would have cost thousands?

 

[Autothrust Blue]

Do what I do, think of it as job security. It is the only way to maintain sanity in a world of nonsense. It is basically why we have a job.

Everyone out in Cali is upset about the woo woo anti vaxers. And I'm just over here going "yeah you go anti vaxers. Keep it up and we'll have rich people avoiding public transportation like the plague" - because of a plague.

WOOT!

It's all fun and games until you're the one without the pertussis vaccine (for actual medical reasons like "I blew up like a God damn balloon when they gave it to me", not "my mom was on Facebook and thought it caused autism") and there's a God damn pertussis outbreak.

If I ever fly one, let alone step foot in one again, I would be pleasantly surprised.

A certain large U.S. operator of this airplane won't even let myself and my coworkers on one at this time, so I will nod agreement to this.

stuff

I don't generally agree with ATN on much, but you have to admit that flying is THE CHEAPEST IT EVER HAS BEEN.

So, I come to work and I do a very good job every single day I do come to work, but I am one piece in the puzzle. When one of the other pieces, say, a ramper, fails to top off the potable, we go out late, or we don't have coffee. For instance. Or when they're not all secure below and we don't get cargo paperwork 5 prior to the door closing. Or when they take so long to do that we have to call the fuel guy back, because we were already skosh. Or when Customer Service can't make up their minds about who to put on the airplane. Or when, because of the dubious decisions of taxpayers in San Francisco to not pave a part of the Bay, your service from Sacramento is delayed for as long (if not longer) than it would take to drive here.

Of course, you mentioned "Simplicity," so I'm going to assume that you've actually been exposed to this phenomenon first-hand, and therefore scratch my head and wonder why you are surprised/outraged at what is happening.

 

[SlumTodd_Millionaire]

There's a lot of things I agree with you on this board, but this mindset isn't one of them. I've flown with quite a few CA's already who have this "couldn't care less" mindset about the pax. They lock themselves up in the flight deck, and nothing else matters. It's sad really.

I haven't advocated that attitude. I did my absolute best on every flight I ever operated. But that will never change the fact that the system is designed a certain way in order to accommodate the dirt cheap prices that the consumer demands. The guys up front can't change much in the operation.

Even the most basic of economy pax ARE paying for transportation, and they're getting that, barely. Just because a product is "cheap", that means it's okay to screw over your customers? Sure, we get you to your destination alive, but it generally takes much longer than expected. Why is that ok? Because they didn't pay $2,060 they shouldn't be transported on time? Because they didn't pay $2,060 they should be forced to sit in airports and airplanes for hours upon hours, or be delayed because of incompetence on the ground? It's one thing to delay passengers because of weather and safety concerns, but it's a whole other story when the incompetence of the airlines end up delaying their own paying customers.

The airlines are on time about 80% of the time. So your characterization is disingenuous. Delays happen, but they are not the normal course of business.

Passengers also have no say in who the airlines hire.

The passengers have decided that the only criteria that they really care about in choosing a ticket is price. Sure, they'll bitch about other stuff after the fact, but when buying their ticket, they'll always choose based on price. The results are inevitable.

You're argument of "pay dirt cheap prices, get a dirt cheap product" also doesn't make sense anymore. I paid $14 for a train ticket the other day to get home, and the train departed, and arrived within 5 minutes of the scheduled time, in a snow storm. I normally pay $12 for a bus ticket to get from the airport to home, and they always show up on time, and arrive on time. Sounds like a good product to me. And if you want to get outside the realm of transportation services, just look around your house and tell me if cheap price equals cheap product still. A new 50+" HDTV costs less than $1000. Should we demand a much higher price because back in the day a TV would have cost thousands?

Are you actually a pilot? Because these arguments sound like they're coming from a random passengers who doesn't understand a thing about the airlines.

Airlines have had to make enormous adaptations over the years following deregulation in order to remain competitive. If you haven't read Hard Landing, then you should. It goes into great detail about how much the entire model has had to change in order to accommodate the demands of price-sensitive consumers. After you understand that, you'll understand why 20% late arrivals is an acceptable standard.