This thread is for all areas related to air travel. TSA, Airline customer no service, food, what ever.

I went to Mexico and back starting 12/26/10 and returned 1/2/11.

I have not had a problem getting through security.
Alaska Airlines has gone down is service quality.
Over weight old flight attendants. 1 male borderline rude.

To many fellow travelers are stupid, ignorant, or think they are special and carry on size doesn't apply to them. They bring to much or to big. They can't even follow a simple direction on how to load the carry on in the overhead.

Why does the pilot tell us we can't use the bathroom because of turbulence but the flight attendants are walking around serving 1st class drinks?
Pilot says it is for our safety and the safety of others, flying bodies hitting other passengers I guess. If that is the case, I wouldn't want to get hit by a flight attendant either.

This flights grades
TSA C
Airline D+
Fellow passengers D

Boeing 737 getting me 1000 miles in 2.3 hours A++

I have been flying commercial from the Northwest to the Southwest an average of four times each summer for the past ten years. My ticket is always purchased at the last minute and is one way so I am suspected of being taliban.

The ticket counters at the major airlines have about 30 windows but only one open.

The kids with their video games and Ipods and cell phones texting won't turn them off when told to by the flight attendants.

When I go through Phenoex my baggabge doesn't make it to Tucson with me until the flight after mine.

Southwest broke my portable computer printer.

I could write a song about it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOqozo

This is one I can sink my teeth into.

I have the kind of job that requires me to travel all around the world. I can't think of too many places I haven't been, but I can name a lot of places I never want to go to again.

One thing that may surprize most of you is that, in my experience, the US domestic flights are worse than any other place on earth regarding customer service. US main line carriers that I use for overseas flights are pretty crappy too, but the introduction of these feeder regional airlines that share the same name with their major airline but are operated by Chitaqua or Mesa or Express jet......are major contributors to the problem. I used to fly for one of these and back then the pay was rediculous and the experience level was nil. I know this because I rightseated at 500 PIC and 220 in Multi. If its the same deal today, we are screwed. United Express sucks soo bad at the local airport. The desk attendants are all low class asses that have some sort of Urban culteral problem. The US Air (worst in my opinion overall) team burned me recently. I went to the check in desk and it was closed. The attendant was walking away and I told him I needed to check in and get my ticket. he told me that all flights for the evening had departed. I checked in online and continued to the gate and the same idiot took my ticket (assbag). Because I sometimes have to travel with very little advanced notice, my company pays top dollar for this dis-service.

The friggen seats on these planes ar toooo friggen small! not just for fat and tall people , but for anyone. I usually have to wrestle with some linebacker for the armrest. WTF?

Here's some tips for the other passengers that can't seem to figure out how to do it.

1. Leave your Mr T starter set at home. Don't try and get on the plane with all of your stupid "bling" (AKA shiny crap jewelry) wrapped around you from head to toe.

2. If you can't lift your bag over your head, then check it dumbass!

3. It would be nice not to have to deal with sloppy people waering their PJs and flipflops with a bed pillow and blanket shlepping their lazy asses around the airport. Get TF out of my way and let people who dress and pack appropriately (ie shoes you can walk at a natural pace with and manageble luggage) move through the airport efficiently.

4. Take a damn shower before you leave home and take some extra steps to remain free of horrific body odor while traveling. You can return to smelling like livestock when you return home to your flock of goats.

obxbushpilot wrote:4. Take a damn shower before you leave home and take some extra steps to remain free of horrific body odor while traveling. You can return to smelling like livestock when you return home to your flock of goats.

Rob, take note of this one. Male flight attendants prefer the smell of Lever 2000.

Typicialy I don't ride the airlines much, when I do I go with Alaska, haven't had a big problem with the airlines nor TSA for the most part. I did end up on a regional flight where the FA looked like the cast of rocky horror picture show!

Over all it's not as bad as the b1tching everyone does about it.

Ok, I can't resist.

Rob, the point of letting the FAs serve drinks while the seat belt sign is on is directly related to the other comment on regarding the "overweight old FAs". The theory is, if they get injured on the job, we get to hire new flight attendants...preferably younger, better looking, straight female FAs. Yes, one may fall on you, but that is just acceptable collateral damages...and why the airlines carry insurance.

Obx. Good comments and observations. To be fair, there are some great FAs out there. Unfortunately, they are far and few in between. Same goes for gate agents, etc. Unfortunately, those that aren't predisposed to a "regional mind-set"(regional as in area of the country...not airline)), shall we say, have had to deal so long with all the other morons that you describe and have become disgruntled to the point of hating their jobs and the customers. At which point, in my opinion, its time to move them to a position where they don't interface with the customer as much.

We say that most passengers check their brain at security screening. It seems that the ability to follow simple commands, to read signs, and to be aware of their surroundings disappear upon entering an airport. A condition that only worsens when you put them into a tube with little windows and they feel they have lost control of their situation. Air travel has become so common place to even the lowest common denominator, that they give no thought to the fact that they are in a pressurized, explosive tube 6+ miles above the earth in a deadly environment where times of useful consciousness is a matter of seconds. To them, its just another Grey Hound bus and, because they paid $59 to go coast to coast, you are now their hired servants for the next 6 hours. Never mind that their fare didn't even cover the cost of the gas it took to carry their butt the distance they traveled. (I know that doesn't apply to last minute guys like you who make up their difference). Then, they proceed to trash the plane with their garbage despite the fact the FAs come through the cabin several times to collect trash. People can't seem to comprehend that the pocket in front of them isn't a trash can...or at least should be emptied when they come around.

I could go on and on. But I'm in Cancun and it's time for lunch down by the beach!

Zane wrote:

obxbushpilot wrote:4. Take a damn shower before you leave home and take some extra steps to remain free of horrific body odor while traveling. You can return to smelling like livestock when you return home to your flock of goats.

Rob, take note of this one. Male flight attendants prefer the smell of Lever 2000.

Um, Zane---just how perchance did YOU learn this little factoid

MTV

mtv wrote:

Zane wrote:Rob, take note of this one. Male flight attendants prefer the smell of Lever 2000.

Um, Zane---just how perchance did YOU learn this little factoid

MTV

They're always EXTRA nice to me, I just figured it was my shower fresh scent?

I have reduced my commercial air travel year-by-year. The travel I do is mainly to visit clients and to work with my dealer channel. Over the last 20 years I have found myself increasingly spending more time trying to avoid flying commerially.

It starts with the trip to the airport. I will spend a couple hundred extra to fly out of my local airport (ABE) simply because the experience (traffic, parking, airport environment) of going to Newark or Philadelphia is so offensive that I have to conciously control my temper.

I have no problem with a modest amount of airport security. The present security procedures badly infringe on my personal freedom and dignity.

Generally, I have found flight crews to be good people laboring under impossible conditions.

Generally, I have found that the majority of my fellow passengers create impossible conditions. The result of flying as cheap as possible without any thought to the business implications that implies. You get what you pay for.

Airplanes lack space. As space goes down rudeness, stupidity and immaturity go up.

Airline companies have lost business stratification. Meaning that if I dislike the service provided by one company, then I can pay more and use a company providing better service.

First class has migrated to charter services abandoning the masses at McDonald's.

In summary, the entire business environment (travelling to/from airports, the airports, the airlines, etc.) has uniformly been reduced to the lowest common denominator. I intensely dislike operating at that level.

WTF Zane? I have been locked out for two plus weeks. I can't read those puzzles! Today I just got lucky.

Anyway about airport security and all the hassles. I keep thinking of all the ways they don't check. Like if I wanted, I could fly into any large airport at night with a plane full of bad guys in a 4-6 passenger plane, and while taxing to the ramp in the pitch dark out there in the vastness of the airport, you could easily off load the commandos before you get to parking??

Another time I was flying Columbus to Denver on a commercial and by mistake I had several different kinds of ammo in my carry on. I made it out ok, but they caught me in Denver on the way back.

I don't feel very safe, and avoid commercial travel when ever I can.

Years ago at Denver's old Stapleton airport, we were out in temporary ramp on the ground made out of 2X4's, plywood, and plastic waiting to board a United 727. The plane was late coming in, all of the folks had to get off, the plane serviced, and redied for boarding all while we were standing around in the cold. We were not allowed to go back up to the heated concourse all during the wait (about 1 1/2 hrs). No rest rooms, nothing to drink, no services...folks were getting a little pissed! This was Stock Show time and there were a lot of "Cowboys" waiting to board. A bunch of us got to talking about our plight as to how we had been treated. When we finally started to board up the ramp to the rear of the 727, we all started bawling like a bunch of cattle being hearded into a cattle truck. We sure got the stink eye from the FA's but at least we made the best of the situation..and they got the idea how we felt about our treatment!

Thanks RDU for clearing that up. Deleted so other folks don't waist their time reading it.

Fortunately, a few sources debunk this account:

http://www.economist.com/blogs/gulliver/2009/12/what_really_happened_on_flight
http://www.snopes.com/politics/religion/flight297.asp

(and others...)

Yeah no shit on all that! i go about once per month somewhere, and it all pretty much sucks less the wx is toast and i'll put up with it. as for me, i would rather poke along in my slow 182 with my shoes off, willie in the deck, lettin'GPSS do its thing and reading a book or doing deals on the phone and making notes...

fwiw, timed myself out of vegas last time, was 32 mins from the hotel to" in the air" out of henderson...took longest to put the sun shades away and fill up my thermos...was back to work in east idaho in less than 4 hrs, with a stop somewhere to stretch...and get more coffee of course!

All good points made above. So I'll keep it short this time. (I'll wait tell I'm really bored again to get into a lengthy reply )

So long story short.

I'd much rather drive the 900 miles between Boise and SoCal, than go through LAX with the TSA scum bags yelling at you for no good reason but to get the line moving along, deal with rude, inconsiderate, smelly passengers, crying babies, that little punk behind you kicking the back of your seat while the parent is wondering why the heck I'm looking back at them.

And I can't stand that load, obnoxious chick talking on her cell phone up in row 10 while your way back in row 25!!! She just has to let every body else on the plane know where she's going, where she's planning for dinner, how many business meetings she's got lined up, what fancy hotel her company has her staying at, how much she likes this girl or don't like that girl or co-worker. And so on!!!

I'd say I'm only at about 100K airline miles since I started with my company back in late 1992. Most of the time, I've always had a good flying experience up until about 3-4 years ago. Then things went downhill very quickly! Ah damn........ I just realized I was going to keep this short. I'll came back to this later.

My friends wife is a FA (young one) anyway she has a hilarious FB Page. There are pictures of some of the passengers that look like they should have never been released much less allowed to go in public. I can see it from their side too. They have to put up with every DA who thinks they need to be treated like royalty because they somehow came up with the money for a plane ticket. I wouldn't want their job!

Jaerl wrote:My friends wife is a FA (young one) anyway she has a hilarious FB Page. There are pictures of some of the passengers that look like they should have never been released much less allowed to go in public. I can see it from their side too. They have to put up with every DA who thinks they need to be treated like royalty because they somehow came up with the money for a plane ticket. I wouldn't want their job!

My buddy Joe fly's for US Airways (he was with America West before the merge). He says pretty much the same. He's a captain on a "School Bus" now, but miss's hand flying the 737. He's not digging the computer flying age.

Raise the damned air fares....

...to prederegulation era, corrected for inflation. Restore the pay, benefits, retirement and security that airline employees enjoyed pre-deregulation. Make air travel too expensive for those who belong on the Greyhound bus. Watch the load factors drop to 60% the legroom and wide seats come back, food service be restored, the crowding and hassles reduced. Watch the smile come back to the faces of both the employees and passengers. Life with the airlines would be good again.

I started my career in the pre-deregulation era(1972) and lived through all the drama, corporate raiders, bankruptcies, hijackings, terrorist attacks, pay cuts, loss of retirement, crowed airports and airplanes, service reductions....from days of no security at all to the TSA Gestapo of today. When I started with the airlines only 27% of of all Americans had ever flown in any kind of aircraft. When I retired in 2007...88% of Americans had traveled on an airliner. Make the tickets more expensive so that airlines can earn resonable returns on their investment....so that not everyone can afford to fly....and those of you that can will enjoy air travel as it once was.

As for the security bullshit. Don't blame the airlines. That is Homeland Security, TSA, FAA and the rest of the Federal Government. The airlines are complelled to comply with the rules. They don't make them. Like you I avoid air travel when ever possible. Hell... my wife and I can fly all over the world for free. Yet I drive or fly the Maule unless it is a trip over 600 miles. Then maybe......

Keep Smiling.

Bob

So here's a good one

I flew Southwest from LAX to Boise on Friday Nov 2 and was dropped off at the airport just before 5am. I'm already checked in online and have my boarding pass and proceed through the main doors and up the escalator at the Southwest terminal. Halfway up on the escalator, a TSA official is yelling (YES, yelling!!) at me that the security check point isn't open till 5:30am and to turn around at the top and go back down and wait. I did as told.

When I got back down to the bottom of the escalators, more people were going up the escalator and once again, the TSA official is yelling at them too that the security check point is not open till 5:30am.

Now, wouldn't common sense tell these dirt bag TSA people to block off the escalators till 5:30am to keep travelers from going up early just to get yelled at by these low life scum bag TSA folks??? I cannot imagine this goes on every morning

If I had offended anybody here that is a TSA official.......... TOO BAD!! Your people have been getting a bad rap for the last how many years??? And your people still treat the travelers like second class citizens!!


On a happier note. I just started to fly Southwest this year more often and I can't say enough good things about this airline. I watch the crews very close sometimes and I'm impressed how tight of a ship (plane) they run. I hadn't flown Jet Blue, yet. But, I have heard really good things about that airline, too.

Has anyone bitching on this site about airline service maybe considered that YOU are one of the reasons airline service sucks these days??????

I fly four or five times a year, more in past. I rarely have a "bad" experience while traveling. I plan my layovers for lots of slack in case of weather or delays, and perhaps most of all, I treat EVERYONE politely, even if they are not polite to me.

It amazes me how much one can get done by just being polite.

For a change.

MTV