Flying the Bloody Skies - How passenger abuse is built into the airlines' business model

[gyroscope]

Flying coach has become the modern equivalent of riding in the steerage compartment of the Titanic. In other words...you're treated like cattle or worse.

...The systemic abuse of those who fly coach has become the sine qua non of the airlines’ business model, as the incessant shrinkage of the seats and legroom afforded passengers clearly attests. “The roomiest economy seats you can book on the nation’s four largest airlines,” according to Consumer Reports’ Bill McGee, “are narrower than the tightest economy seats offered in the 1990s.” Maverick airlines that try to market themselves as more customer-friendly have been compelled to revert to the industry’s dismal norm.

...There are really only two classes of air travel: peerage and steerage. Long-distance travel has reverted to the model that prevailed before World War II, with luxury for a few and you’re-lucky-to-be-here-at-all-so-don’t-mouth-off accommodations for everyone else (see Titanic for a quick refresher course). The decent level of comfort and service afforded to all passengers in the three decades after the introduction of commercial jets in the late 1950s looks to have been a byproduct of the mass middle class that emerged in Western nations during the broadly shared prosperity of the postwar boom. Since then, the economies of Western countries have become increasingly bipolar, and so, too, so have the airline industry’s attitudes toward customer service and seating.

http://www.alternet.org/economy/united-flying-bloody-skies

[Yavin4]

1. Taking a bus from NYC to Washington DC is a more pleasurable experience than flying.

Except for the fact that our roads are fucked up with cracks and potholes. Other than that, the bus is fantastic.

[MineralMan]

7. In the same time it takes you to make that trip,

I can fly from MSP to LAX, including security screening and waiting to board. I wouldn't fly from NYC to DC, anyhow. I'd hop in my car and drive there. That MSP to LAX trip takes three days to drive. Sometimes, being uncomfortable is worth it.

[gyroscope]

8. Unless your flight is delayed or canceled

then the people taking the bus might get there before you do. Minnesota is known for its bad weather which often results in flight delays and cancellations. Buses are slow but not as prone to bad weather as airplanes. And you will never get kicked off a bus because it was overbooked.

[KittyWampus]

2. Good article points out monopolies and CEO's from private equity backgrounds

who are happy to charge for anything and everything they can while packing in as many people as long as profit margins keep soaring.

[gyroscope]

4. Why does the public put up with such poor treatment?

I guess people don't have much choice since the airlines have a monopoly on long distance travel. Thanks to deregulation, consolidation and lack of competition the airlines can get away with treating people like cattle. Too bad passenger rail service in the US is so poor we don't have much alternatives to turn to.

[dixiegrrrrl]

3. Except for guy in PEERAGE they threatened to handcuff

if he did not give up his seat for an employee.

Ist class ticket holder, wealthy guy, and still.....

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10028923680

[gyroscope]

5. If they can treat a first class passenger that badly

imagine what they would do to the people in coach.

but I guess there's no need to imagine anymore, now we know.

[MineralMan]

6. Uncomfortable, for sure.

I'm 6' 1" tall and weigh about 200 lb. I've never flown anything but coach. I'll be flying coach again near the end of this month. Here's my reaction: Yes, I'm uncomfortable in coach seats. However, if I'm only going to be sitting in them for 3.5 hours or less, compared to the three day drive it takes me to get from St. Paul, MN to Los Angeles, I don't care.

I don't even mind the 5 hours from LAX to New York. When I can, I book exit row seats and pay a bit more for my seat, but if I can't do that, I can sit in the narrow coach seats for those flights. Am I comfortable? Of course not. Am I glad to travel that distance in just a few hours? Absolutely. I just read a book on my Kindle Fire, play Solitaire or talk with my wife, who is sitting beside me. Sometimes, I manage to nap for awhile, although it's not that comfortable to do so.

I like going to visit my parents. I couldn't take the time, though to spend six days on the road to visit them. If I fly, I arrive there in the early afternoon of the day I travel out, and get half a day with them on the day I return. We usually stay for three full days, which is long enough for guests and fish to start stinking.

Lots of things get uncomfortable. Sitting on a church pew for an hour while attending a funeral is another one. But, I do that, too.

I think I'll continue flying when I want to travel a long distance. I'll just stretch a bit and walk around when I get off the plane.