Rant on Flying Commercial

[Pépé le Pilot]

The service on US carriers is appalling to say the least. Prehistoric fleet, demotivated and sometimes rude FA's, lack of in-flight amenities, uncompetitive prices... Air France business class feels like flying in your GIV, Singapore business feels like flying a private A380... On the other hand, AA's b-class feels like flying a C152 !

 

[OldTownPilot]

Service wise, Coach in the rest of the world is like US domestic First. Just with the normal coach seat.

 

[Sisson2011]

I use to be a ramp rat for Express Jet branded. I have to agree with the earlier stated. I never purposely through bags around or try to damage them. However, I also never treated every bag like they were unwrapped glass. There is a lot of things that can go wrong when you check your baggage. A few examples I remember when I worked.

Another airline would mistakenly pull my bag off of the belt and put it on their flight. A bag fell off of the baggage cart and no one realizes it until another handler drives up and goes, is this yalls bag? Oops that flight just left. Misreading the tag and putting it on the wrong plane. TSA not getting the bags through quick enough (that happened too often). The pilot saying we need 10 more bags from the middle compartment to the back. That means we have to shove 10 more bags into an already packed compartment. And also realize the type of bag you're checking. Generally the roller bags are the "base" of the loads. Then the squishy gym bags fill the tight corner (because they're squishy and they can fit in that small spot). So if you're really worried, buy those hard shell luggage bags. Those are very durable.

And yes I have had the handles snap of on my as I put it on the conveyer belt. Had zippers come off when they got snagged on the belly of an MD80. You name it, it can happen.

 

[ian]

uh...not true from my experience. I've flown several times on Lufthansa in 9th class (way in the back), and I was served a full meal on a 3 hour flight. My drink was never empty. That's business class service in 'ole 'merica.

i was talking about seat wise....the flights were too short for there to be a meal..

 

[JordanD]

On a sort of (not for the passenger ) funny note, we had to reroute probably 100+ bags off a 737 that cancelled yesterday. Somebody thought it'd be a bright idea to pack their newly bought bottle of Kentucky bourbon in their checked baggage. Never found which bag it was, but the area outside ops smelled like a drunk uncle for a while.

 

[Bandit_Driver]

On a sort of (not for the passenger ) funny note, we had to reroute probably 100+ bags off a 737 that cancelled yesterday. Somebody thought it'd be a bright idea to pack their newly bought bottle of Kentucky bourbon in their checked baggage. Never found which bag it was, but the area outside ops smelled like a drunk uncle for a while.

I felt bad for a guy that shipped a case of wine on a Saab. We got to our destination and went to baggage claim to get our bags (thanks to the ground crew sending the crew bags there) and going around the belt was a lopsided wooden case going around the belt with wine running out of it.

 

[Guy]

sometimes rude FA's,

In defense of the FA's, I have to say that it is a wonder they aren't all rude, surely, and on the verge of physical violence. How they do what they do day after day is a miracle.