Tag: airlines

Airlines Behaving Badly

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WECT – Southwest Airlines has apologized after one of its employees reportedly name-shamed a 5-year-old girl.

Traci Redford said a gate agent at California’s John Wayne Airport made fun of her daughter’s name, Abcde Redford, according to KABC.

She pronounces her name “ab-city” and because she suffers from epilepsy, she and her mom always pre-board.

The Redfords were flying home to El Paso, TX, when the gate agent laughed at the name, pointed it out to coworkers and even went so far as to post a photo of Abcde’s boarding pass on social media so that others could join her in name shaming.

Clearly this airline employee acted inappropriately, to put it mildly. No surprise there. I’m never surprised by the incompetence or depravity of airlines. This is an industry that thinks it is acceptable to literally drag paying customers off of planes if they sell too many tickets for a flight.

In this case I don’t know whats worse, name shaming the child or thinking it was a good idea to share a picture of her boarding pass on social media. How do people this stupid get jobs? It would be bad enough if the airline employee did this to some random fat dude, but to a child who didn’t pick this name? Not a great look, Southwest.

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[And don’t even get me started on Southwest Airlines. I can’t stand Southwest Airlines. They are a bus company that operates planes. They don’t have assigned seats and the Wi Fi / in-flight entertainment never works. They’re so cheeky in their Wanna Get Away ads, advertising $49 fares. If you want to fly from Pittsburgh to Buffalo that is. Want to fly from Boston to LA? Have fun stopping once or twice. I once saw a flight from Minneapolis to Boston that stopped in Denver. No lie. But if you want to fly from Hartford to Cincinnati, they’re the airline for you.]

That being said, while I feel bad for Abcde, her mom can go pound sand. I hate that Traci is getting the attention she so obviously craves. When you name your child Abcde, you know exactly what you’re signing up for. Why should Traci get to play victim on social media? Abcde is the one that has live with the unpronounceable name. At least Prince was an adult and made the decision himself when he changed his name to Logo. Hollow circle above downward arrow crossed with a curlicued horn-shaped symbol and then a short bar in 1993.

George Costanza was better at baby names than Traci Redford.

At least Seven, or Soda, or Mug Costanza would have been easy to pronounce. Hell, Qwerty would have been a better choice than Abcde.

In conclusion, I hope Abcde can go by Abby when she gets to grade school if she wants and I wish her well. Traci and the Southwest employee can both go piss off.

Delta Air Lines to Connect Worcester and Detroit

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Boston Herald – Delta Air Lines will begin a nonstop flight between Worcester and Detroit next year in a move that officials say will offer MetroWest travelers convenience and boost the city’s economy.

The flight between Worcester Regional Airport and Detroit Metropolitan Airport will be operated by Delta Connection carrier SkyWest Airlines and will give passengers more than 100 connecting opportunities, both domestic and international, according to the airline and the Massachusetts Port Authority.

 

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I’m shocked to hear that Delta Air Lines will be operating this flight. A direct flight between Worcester and Detroit had Southwest written all over it. Want to fly from Boston to Tampa? Have fun connecting in Chicago. Want to fly from one second-rate city to another, like Milwaukee to Cleveland, nonstop? You’re in luck with Southwest!

Look, I’m all for regional airports offering travelers more options. Let the free market do its thing. I fly a lot and more options means lower prices for everybody. Looking at the Worcester Regional Airport flight board today, it looks like JetBlue has two flights going to Florida from there today. If I were going to Disney I would take a hard look at Worcester. I just can’t imagine many folks were clamoring for more options to get to the Motor City.

“People will be able to fly to Detroit and, from there, to San Francisco, Las Vegas, China, Japan,” said Massport CEO Thomas P. Glynn. “It’s a good option for people in MetroWest.”

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That’s where you lose me, Tommy. If Detroit’s not my final destination, no way I am flying out of Worcester to get there via Motown. I’ll gladly pay the toll and sit in hours of traffic on the Mass Pike if it means not having to spend twenty minutes at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport Subway.

At least the people on the flights from Worcester to Detroit will have rows to themselves. No chance these flights will be more than half full. So we’ll see how long this lasts. Hopefully it’s part of a bigger plan to eventually attract airlines with more enticing destinations. Let me know when know I can fly from Worcester to San Diego, Phoenix or Vegas in the middle of winter and then I’ll start making plans.

In the meantime, I’ll bet Larry Lucchino is a happy man today.

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Airlines Behaving Badly

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I’ve asked this question before and Sun Country Airlines is making me ask it again. Does any industry think less of its customers than the airline industry?

I guess this nonsense is to be expected from an airline that last summer hired the executive vice president and chief operating officer of Allegiant Air to be its new president and chief executive officer. You might remember Allegiant Air from such television programs as 60 Minutes, which on Sunday night called Allegiant Air “one of the country’s… most dangerous [airlines].”

When I hear the term “ultra-low cost carrier,” I think of Spirit Airlines, being asked to pay $3.50 for half a can of Diet Coke, being told it’ll be $25 to bring a suitcase with me, and generally being told to go eff myself. Add “figuring out how to get home from Mexico during a blizzard on my own” to that list.

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For all of its troubles, I don’t remember the Fung Wah Bus ever telling people to find their own way home from New York City. No man left behind!

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Airlines like Spirit, Allegiant and Sun Country are slowly turning into the Fung Wah Buses of the sky. Southwest Airlines already is a bus company that just happens to own and operate planes. There’s no assigned seating and no other way to explain why a flight from Boston to Atlanta would stop in St. Louis.

My personal policy used to be to drive to any destination less than 8 hours away. These stories have me considering updating that policy to drive to to any destination less than 12 hours away. I know that air travel is a privilege and not a right, but if I have the “privilege” of paying for my ticket, luggage, soft drink and small pack of pretzels, I think I have the “right” to expect a flight home.

Does Any Industry Think Less of Its Customers Than the Airline Industry?

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There’s nothing funny about this story and I don’t have too much to add, other than to say that this stuff needs to stop.

I generally agree with what Mike Rowe had to say about air travel last year, after another United Airlines fiasco, because I also don’t want to fly with people who get to pick and choose which rules they follow. But that assumes the people enforcing the rules, namely flight attendants, are competent employees. Far too often, though, many flight attendants have demonstrated staggering incompetence.

There are far too many jobs in America that require a master’s degree that shouldn’t, or even a bachelor’s degree that shouldn’t. I don’t know what the preferred qualifications are to be a flight attendant, but I wouldn’t want to make an admittedly thankless job even tougher to get. But is it too much to ask that flight attendants understand that living animals on planes require air to breathe and not die? If you’re too God damn stupid to understand that, maybe you should be working at the Burger King in the terminal and not on the plane as a flight attendant.

Again, I don’t want to fly with people who get to choose which rules to follow, but the lack of critical thinking here is mind blowing. This attendant is like George Costanza playing Trivial Pursuit [“the card says moops”]. They did not care about the animal’s safety or well being, they only cared that a carry-on bag larger than 9 inches x 10 inches x 17 inches be placed in the overhead bin because that’s what the rules say. To ask any questions would require critical thinking and decision making, which is clearly not in the job description of a flight attendant.

PETA has released a statement calling for this flight attendant to be fired and prosecuted, and I completely agree. I’m tired of flying with idiots.

Airlines should keep stories like this in mind the next time they try to limit the number of service animals that fly with passengers. Maybe Americans wouldn’t need to fly with so many service animals if the airlines would just stop murdering their pets.

Airlines Behaving Badly

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USA Today – Lines are longer than usual. Hundreds of flights have been delayed or canceled during the past week. By Monday, frustrations boiled over for Spirit Airlines passengers in Fort Lauderdale.

Police were called to quell fights that had broken out there between upset fliers and beleaguered airline employees. Videos posted by passengers showed a chaotic scene, with authorities doing their best to separate fighting fliers.

The Monday evening incident erupted after Spirit Airlines abruptly canceled nine different flights, according to CBS News. But problems had been building at the carrier for the past week, with CNN saying nearly 300 Spirit flights have been canceled during that period.

I feel for these fliers, I really do. They’re just like the rest of us, trying to get from Point A to Point B as cheap as possible. All airlines basically suck, so who cares if you lose a little leg room or the free half can of Diet Coke on Spirit?

But I’d be lying if I told you wasn’t laughing at Spirt Airlines today.

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You know how I know Spirit really is the worst? Even the pilots employed by Spirit hate Spirit.

Spirit Airlines filed a suit Monday against its pilot union… In its suit, Spirit accused the union of being “engaged in a pervasive illegal work slowdown that has caused approximately 300 flight cancellations and has disrupted the travel plans of over 20,000 customers.”

Spirit suggested the effort was an attempt by the union to affect contract negotiations.

If there’s any justice in this world, it’d be nice to see Spirit get hit with a billion dollars worth of change fees for the 20,000 customers they’ve screwed.

Will that be cash or check, Spirit?

 

PS – As always, I really just want this airline’s stock to take a dump so I can get a $40 flight to California next month. Is that too much to ask for?

Airlines Behaving Badly

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USA Today – United Airlines came under fire on social media Monday after video emerged of a man being violently dragged off of an overbooked flight out of Chicago.

Video of the incident, posted online by Audra D. Bridges at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, shows the man screaming as he is dragged off of the plane by what appears to be security personnel.

The way United Airlines treated this man was reprehensible. The 300s strongly opposes passengers being violently dragged off of commercial flights. What’s that, you have four employees you need to fly from Chicago to Louisville? That sounds like a you problem, United, not a me problem.

That being said, the Twitter tough guys saying they are going to boycott United is laughable. If you fly once a year, your business won’t be missed. Also, anyone who pays for their own flight (i.e., not business travelers) who says they wouldn’t book United over another airline to save even one buck is lying. All airlines suck, so I always choose the cheapest flight. I am loyal to my wallet.

Also, this flight was from Chicago to Louisville. A quick check of Google Maps reveals that this is a drive of just over four hours. I won’t even consider flying if the drive is less than eight hours.

If you left Chicago at the same time this plane was scheduled to take off, you would’ve been halfway across Indiana by the time it actually did take off after a two hour delay. If you left your house the same time these passengers left for the airport, you would have beaten them to Louisville. Even without the two hour delay, you wouldn’t get to your destination in Louisville much later after accounting for time to get off the plane and grab your luggage.

This could be a great experiment for The 300s. I drive, you fly. We both leave the house at noon, see who gets their first. Big Z is #TeamCar all day every day.