Air travel in a downward spiral
It seems like this is the year of things getting worse just when you think they can't get any worse.
The horrible housing market. Layoffs. Gas prices that leap by quarters and dimes every day with seemingly no end in sight.
Lately, you can add air travel to that list.
Not only do you have to jump through security hoops that make you wonder how secure we really are, but the planes are more crowded. The airlines are charging more and offering fewer flight options. Delays and cancellations and lost luggage are becoming the rule rather than the exception.
The past few weeks have been filled with news about maintenance oversights and bankruptcies among the big carriers. It seems small airlines are dropping from the skies.
And you can't just say you'll drive instead of paying fares that rose eight times already this year, because you really can't afford to do that either.
For once, I don't envy people with plans to fly this summer because they say it will be so miserable that you'll probably need a vacation to recover from the hassles of getting to your vacation.
It seems our country's transportation system is failing and failing miserably. Who is going to take responsibility for this? What can be done to fix it? How's a traveler to survive in the meantime?
God Save The Republic · May 3, 2008 9:40 AM
There is a simple solution. Within 30 days, there will be no lines at security, less baggage in the system and fewer passengers on the planes. Within 60 to 90 days all the maintenance issues will be resolved. As an added bonus, the airlines can start serving food again and business travelers will not be required to put up with unruly and undisciplined children. Every airline should increase the price of a ticket by four to five times. The business people will still fly and the families can take Greyhound.
Pearls before Swine · May 5, 2008 11:41 PM
Jan, your air travel diatribe amounts to little more than the random ravings of someone who just wants to vent about personal inconveniences. As one who works for a major airline, I can attest that while there are admittedly cutbacks in service at many airlines, the flying public is paying far too little for their tickets, given the price of oil, which hurts the airlines far worse than motorists. This is due to the double effect of both the price of crude and the greater expense to refine oil into jet fuel.
Extreme competition exists between airlines, which results in folks paying bargain basement prices for airline tickets, which in turn results in the full aircraft you complain about. I wonder why it seems you think that planes should not be full. Are you really so egocentric that you think airlines should not attempt to fill all seats just because you find it uncomfortable or inconvenient?
I'm also unclear about your complaint of bankruptcies among airlines. This, too, is the result of a glut of airlines charging too little for tickets, due to severe competition, which is nothing more than simple market economics.
Finally, your complaint about maintenance oversights is myopic, to say the least. Of course, I can't blame you for this, since you certainly have not been given an accurate account by any of the media. It would only have been fair if they had portrayed how ridiculously safe air travel is. In fact, it is a plain fact that the media circus surrounding the overblown and inaccurate "maintenace oversights" (which were little more than political grandstanding by certain Congressmen, most notably Rep. Overstar) has scared enough people out of flying that far more people will have been killed in automobile accidents that occurred in the stead of the air travel they would have conducted.