I Could go on and on about this one. Huge soapbox topic. I'll stay short. I've found masses in our society in general seem to bother me more in general as well now. Due to the dumbed down, entitled, take care of me mentality that our govt has been breeding over the last several decades.
TSA, homeland security, FEMA, and pretty much any government group pisses me off!! I'm sick of it! Going off track here and probably on the "list" now but sorry. The Ben Franklin quote pretty much sums it up. If your willing to give up any amount freedom for any amount of temporary safety,(which is a false sense of) then you deserve neither. I'm sick of getting frisked for opting out of the high radiation body scan. I'm tired of a bunch of brain dead zombies in security uniforms acting like they're God. I'm tired of seeing vets and 80 year old ladies have to get half naked and frisked to make sure were all safe. I'm tired of having my toothpaste thrown away so I can't do something crazy. And on and on. It's insane!! I get worked up when I HAVE to fly commercial. Only a last resort. I long for the days ( and I guess it's every aspect of life) when you could get on a plane with your pocketknife and stow your deer rifle under the seat. Common sense is dying and on life support in this world. Which is just where they like it. If the airlines didn't have to run theyre business like a discount burger shop, I am sure things would be better. But due to destroying of our economy, severe over regulating, and pretty much anything they can think of to keep the evil corporations down and on check; I don't see things getting bettere any time soon.
Really sorry about that. I usually don't get to fired up but the airlines thing gets me going and kind of flows into whats wrong with our country in general if you examine it. Hopefully our nation will let God back in and we can heal.

mtv wrote: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

I'm not sure about others here, Mike. But I'm actually one of the most easy going, patient and prepared travelers one can know. Lately, I travel the airlines about once a month both for work and personal. All of my own direct experiences have been good. Like you, I try to get to the airport early with no less than 1.5 hour before my scheduled flight. I always check in online if I can. Makes it a lot faster and easier if you don't need to check baggage.

Of all the airports I've flown out of, I'd say the LAX TSA has been the worse as far as their communication skills. Kinda like I said earlier, if the TSA don't want travelers in a certain area until a certain time, then they should block the escalaters with a sign that reads "Not Open Till ?:??". No need to wait till travelers are halfway up the escalater to yell at them that they are not open.

Because I want to just get to where I'm going with the very least of hassle and harassment, I never open my mouth and do anything stupid or out of the norm. Plus, I'm always wearing company issued logo'd shirts and I'm usually on company time. So I don't have any disire to act unprofessional even though I feel like I'm (or we the travelers) are being treated like second class citizens sometimes at usually the bigger/busier airports like LAX.

Just thought about this person. Perhaps you might be talking travelers like Rob???

X2 on Southwest.
Can't complain much about TSA lately. Of course I'm through generally less busy terminals.
Last week out of Albuquerque, TSA pulled me aside after going through the scanner. Said "sorry I have to pat you down from the knees down, Wranglers tend to bunch at the calves and the machine gets confused."
Before they would never explain and act as if I was a threat.

OregonMaule wrote: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 am so sorry you had such a bad experience on my airline. I know we can't win them all, but we try. Please note that we often win customer service awards. Additionally, Alaska Air has invested much into the PNW, particularly PDX. Your pilots and cabin crew are PDX...we're your neighbors.

As for the "fat flight attendant" comments. You need to look at what has happened to the country within the last 30 years. We've become a politically correct county. We allow litigation to shape our laws and our lives.

As for the seatbelt sign. Yes, litigation again. There are all to many people just itching to sue the airline. Since the cabin crew is "trained" to deal with the bumps, they are allowed up. Part of our preflight is reviewing weather, we brief the crew on the conditions. If the rides are unknown at altitudes, we wait until we reach cruise altitude, get some ride reports, then let you all up. Obviously, we put the sign on during decent so there is no scramble to get everyone in their seats for landing.

ZP

chance wrote:Wranglers tend to bunch at the calves and the machine gets confused."

Good to know. I happen to wear Wranglers, too.

I make sure I'm ready. Nothing in the pockets, shoes off, belt off and try to put all of my loose stuff in my backpack (wallet, keys, cell phone, etc). When I'm in the security line and if it's long, I scan the X-ray lanes to see which ones are moving smoothly and try not to get behind parents with kids, clumsy travelers and people with too much crap.

My sister-in-law thinks it's hilarious that I hate to travel yet I fly for a living. I got 7 hours in the 207 today and it was really boring.

Almost as boring as the time I flew on Alaska Airlines last December from Anchorage to Chicago non-stop in a 737 with an interior temperature of 85F and 0% humidity. The beverage service seemed as fast as the second coming of Christ, and when I asked for water (eyeballing the water bottles in the cart), I got a plastic cup with enough water to sustain life until the FA passed by again on the next round. I was worried the piece of leather in my mouth where my tongue used to be might not spring back to life before she came by again and I wouldn't be able to express my dying wish for one last sip of water.

Today it was around 5F, but of course I was decked out in my carharts and bunny boots. I had a 1.5L bottle of water, a thermos of coffee, and was packing a .44 in my flight bag as usual. Still had to put up with brain-dead passengers, but didn't have to get fondled by TSA. Thus, I love my job, yet hate to travel.

Enough stories about domestic flying, pretty much the same experience with me.
Last summer we parked the G2 in Jeddah for the first time since I have been here. Usually we are somewhere in Europe or once in a while LA.
This year I ended up on Turkish Airlines. Thankfully the company pays for a business class ticket for long flights. Jeddah-Istanbul-LAX (Sky West to SBP) and back the same way. The TK flights were fantastic, lay flat seats on the 777 flights to/from LAX and only about 25 other pax on the Jeddah flights made for a long day but a good overall experience. The 777 flights have an on board chef, the one going to LA was cute. Everybody spoke pretty fair English, were friendly and the oldest FA I saw was probably about 35.
Their Business class lounge in Istanbul is great too. I heard later they even have showers available but are usually booked up in advance. The only downside wasn't the airline but the IST airport. TK connects from all over the Middle East, East Africa and the Indian subcontinent to Europe and North America in the morning, absolutely jam packed. They require all pax going to Canada, US, UK and Israel to stand in one line to register their passports before going through regular security. In my case that added about 75 minutes to the transfer time. The return flight landed later in the evening and the place was all but empty.
I would normally have taken Lufthansa but their LAX flights were full when I checked. They would have been a somewhat better connection, leaving and arriving earlier in the day but I'm not sorry I tried Turkish.

All interesting stories and opinions. I fly for an international cargo airline. My travels on pax airlines to get into position usually involve inter Europe and the middle east. I have also worked for a pax airline and experienced that side of the flying world. One thing that stands out in my observations about passengers is about 75% of them act like they have never been out of the house. Yes the TSA is a joke and is out of control but that will not change. Our gov. thinks they are doing it correct and we as crew and pax cannot change that. I'm current on being pissed off, I just got airmailed by my company from O'hare to Hong Kong last week to cover for a sick call. It was a 15.5 flight and was full. You can be assured your letters to your various congressmen and other authority figures involving our flawed TSA system are being read by an office staff member, but only to make sure you have not written a threat. Otherwise they hit the delete button fast. Right after 9/11 my nail clippers were taken away so I couldn't take down a jet. I replaced them immediately. Never did figure out how to take down a jet with them (or would want to) Guess the TSA was never taught the flight crew sits next to a crash ax sharp enough to cut through .080 aluminum with one good whack.

I'm glad that I've not had the experiences some of you apparently have. I don't fly commercially very often, but when I do it is generally not too unpleasant. Haven't encountered any notably rude behaviour, the main problem has been when I am unfamiliar with the airport layout and/or procedure and the signage is deficient. And having to arrive early just in case there's a security back-up, and then having to kill a lot of time when there isn't.
As far as the comment about old overweight flight attendants.... I'm not a flight attendant but I am old & overweight so this sounds a bit unreasonable. I'd prefer to see young hotties, of course, but I think the idea of the FA's is to provide in-flight service NOT be eye candy. Rude behaviour is of course unacceptable, but I've encountered what I considered borderline rude behaviour in person & on the telephone from receptionists etc many a time. People going through the checkout line totally involved with their cellphone conversation is pretty rude but I see alot of that sort of thing too. Judging from seeing young people in action, I think maybe courteous person-to-person behaviour is becoming an obsolete concept. We need a floor-to-ceiling revamp of society to improve that, raising airline ticket prices isn't gonna do it.

A few years ago, a guest on one of the late night shows did a bit on airline travel. He started off by saying "Holy shit, folks, we're hurtling through the air in a giant aluminum tube...." THAT is amazing!!

I've actually traveled via Greyhound and Trailways bus (when I was in the service) and traveled to college my first year on a train (15 hour plus trip--NO attendants, everything cost extra and this was 40 years ago.).

I spent 30 years in Alaska, and without the airlines, I would have never been able to say goodby to my mother or my father.....by boat or car, I'd never have gotten there in time. The airline I flew on at the time was Reeve Aleutian Air-RAA for short. Their motto: "If you don't like our service, Ride Another Airline" Get it...RAA. Trust me, I heard ticket agents and stews actually TELL passengers that. Nevertheless, if you were a bush resident (as opposed to a carpet bagger commercial fisherman who lived outside), and you got hurt or you needed to get out of the bush, they'd move heaven and earth to get you out, including in one case I know of, turning a Lockheed Electra around and flying nearly an hour back to CDB to pick up an injured person. I was put in a jump seat once when no seats were available, and I needed to get out, and once, when my Mom was dying, they pulled a boarding pass from an obnoxious fisherman and gave it to me (quietly). I asked later if they'd get in trouble with the boss (R.C. Reeve, the famed "Glacier Pilot") and their response was he'd probably give them a bonus.

I got totally spoiled by Wien Alaska Air and Alaska Airlines and dreaded having to fly with anyone else, especially Northworst..... I have to admit that Alaska's service has dropped a notch or two, but it's still better than anyone else. They too are carpet baggers now, though, and at one point they proposed to take the old Eskimo off the tail of their airplanes and go to a "modern" logo. They got so much flack from Alaskans that they kept the old guy around.

I've found that, with the takeover of Northwest by Delta, customer service seems to have improved and attitudes have as well. Not to mention on time records are good as well.

I've flown Untied (and no, that's not a sp error), Luftansa, British Air, Condor, Air France, and they all had great service, compared to domestic flights.

I like happy airline crews. I knew many of the Reeve crews, including the stews. One day, their YS-11 had been bouncing around all day trying to get to CDB. They'd hit several Peninsula villages, waiting on weather to improve in CDB. They hung in there, and got to us. As I was boarding the YS, the Flight Attendant at the door had a serious scowl on her clock. I said "Sarah, come on....smile". She smiled, and then said "Okay, YOU smile" I did, and she said "Now hold it for fourteen hours, asshole". Boy did I ever deserve that one. She was a friend in any case. After airborne, she came over to my seat, and told me to get my butt to the galley, cause I was doing beverage service, so she could get some rest. She showed me the drill, and sat down in my seat. Touche.

TSA sucks. These are minimally trained, minimum wage folks who inherited a SHITTY job, having to regularly irritate the hell out of folks. I have no doubt their attitudes vary with zip code, but I've been treated with great respect by all for a number of years. I wouldn't want that job at any pay scale, but most of them do it, and don't TRY to piss people off.

But, think about it....You get aboard this thing, and before long, you are hurtling through the sky in a huge aluminum tube. It's PFM, folks. (That M stands for magic, by the way). You could drive from Fairbanks to Chicago in, oh, say 4 to 5 days, or get on a jet and be there in 6 and a half hours. You can go from anywhere in this country to anywhere else in this country in a day. Is there any other way you can even come close to that? I think not.

So, yes, there are irritants involved with air travel. And the process isn't as easy and perhaps as user friendly as it used to be. What process is, these days?

And, consider the safety record of the major airlines.....all I can say in that regard is: It may in fact be the safest of all possible means of travel we have available to us. You can get bucked off a horse, by the way. All that, considering the literally millions of people who get moved every day by the airlines.

Any of you been in or near a Greyhound bus depot lately???? Good thing there's no TSA there, cause you NEED a gun.

Nuff said.

MTV

I fly about 20-30K a year coach. For the price, it is normally OK. I fly coach and get what I pay for. It's all about what's in your wallet.

Does Agricultural Inspection count? I was recently returning to the states via Schiphol Airport in the Netherlands. Lots and lots of flower bulbs for sale in the airport. I picked up several gift bags, all of which carried a sticker indicating that they were approved for import to North America. When I filled out the immigration form, I declared them under the part that asks about plants and plant products, which seemed like enough of a no-brainer. So I was a bit surprised when the inspector made this huge deal about how the sticker was ten months old, and therefore expired, and I couldn't import them, but since he was such a nice guy he'd let me do it this one time, and to check more carefully next time, and it was my responsibility to be familiar with the regulations, and on and on and on.
So when he handed them back, I looked at the sticker, and saw the date stamp was 1/11/12. Which in the European date-writing format made them exactly five days old, not ten months. Dipshit!

Great post MTV. My sentiments too.

EB

wow what a bunch of experiences for sure...well, i am the buyer for our bike/snowmobile/razr store, and manage to get to about every dusty/nasty part of most big cities in huge old warehouses to look at/ buy stuff...if u want the deals, they want your body there, somehow...

so what i've found is what mtv says is way true, i go way over-board on being polite as hell, even when it hurts. most all of the airline help really do bust their asses to get it done right, wx permitting...i have found the hard way that i love the 50 or 70 seat jets that united/delta offer. they are full mostly of workin' stiffs like me that want to get gone and back as quick as possible, with the least amount of grandma/kids goin' to disney land...! no offense, but being on the road like that does suck, and it is expensive! i buy alomost all one-way tickets as i never know when i might get done. sometimes that throws a red flags up, but once they all know who u are and what u do for a living, they sometimes work miracles for me....

by that i mean that i usually end up at their counter after a dust filled $ spending day, just hoping to get headed for home, and i dont care where i sit! i do manage to always show up there clean and good-smelling though, somehow, and it amazes me when they do all they can to help if im polite. not much fun camping out in atlanta or baltimore or chicage or LA's airport, trust me...

the best trips are like the one i just finished though...had to be in vegas for a one day deal, threw my bag in the 182T, dodged the wx in slc, thru ely nv turn at cedar city and head to henderson...total flying time about 4 hr...no security cks, shoes off, cd blastin, auto-pilot running, flight following for a good back-up, and arrive 1.5 hrs ahead of the commercial folks, push the bird over to the pumps and put in 40 then have a hell of a nice night flight home when done workin'...pop it up high with the ox on and avoid the long stretches of rocks...! does indeed make u hate going commercial for sure...

having your first/best flight instructor be a captain at skywest dont hurt either, when the wx is down and u need a little help with some standby tickets...thru it all, it way helps to be part gypsy/moto man and have a great attitude...especially when u maybe have to leave your bird in some out of the way place cuz the wx really sucks, and ya gotta go!

I've some nice experiences on airliners and only a couple of bad/uncomfortable ones (earplugs really help).

Ethiopian is one of my favorite airlines. They are sort of like the old school US airlines before deregulation. I always wore my crew card when I flew with them and about half the time the invariably beautiful and sweet flight attendant would come back and say quietly in exotically accented english "Captain, we are going to upgrade you." Getting called Captain when you fly a Caravan is good for the ego. Great food, excellent service with very comfortable seats. Sweet.

Got to fly several times with Air France. Too expensive, but if the company is paying... I joke that I worked in Africa for a year and the best meal I had was on an Air France flight. AF always gives you complimentary wine and none of that typical French too-good-to-serve-you attitude. If money is no object fly Air France.

I've become convinced over the years that Horizon (Alaska Airlines Feeder) only has one airplane. It is currently in bound from Spokane and is expected shortly.

EB

Horizon rocks. Free beer.

Worst airline I've ever flown was China Eastern. Cigarette smoke in the cabin, no one spoke English. They did serve a little meal though.The Chinese airport security dudes weren't screwing around, but I also don't think they were stealing passengers' iPads either.

Best airlines serving China are Cathay Pacific and Hong Kong Airlines.

Domestically, I try to fly Southwest as my first choice. Alaska second. I avoid United at all costs because I've slept on the dirty carpet in SFO more times than I can count. Jet Blue is great, still hoping to get invited into the cockpit one day when Grassstrippilot mans my flight.

mtv wrote:A few years ago, a guest on one of the late night shows did a bit on airline travel. He started off by saying "Holy shit, folks, we're hurtling through the air in a giant aluminum tube...." THAT is amazing!!
...
MTV

Here ya go, Mike and all.

http://vimeo.com/14975413

I second Air France as a good ride but changing planes at Charles De Gaulle airport sucks if you have go from one terminal to the other.

I just flew Southwest, LAX to Boise connecting through Las Vegas tonight. Awesome flight. TSA at LAX was good (no yelling ). Both flights, very friendly crew and on time. When I booked my flight a couple of weeks ago, I didn't think about the Friday night LAX to Vegas crowd plus the start of a holiday week for a lot of people. But, things went really smooth and the TSA lines weren't too long.

I'm usually not a celebrity gawker, but Penn from the Penn & Teller show was on my LAX to Vegas flight. He's a big dude!