I heard on the radio this afternoon that "Tempe based US Airways", United Airlines, and American are very likely headed for bankruptcy again as they continue to operate in the red, posting consistent losses every quarter. In the 2 passports I filled from 1999 to 2002, and the 1 platinum and 3 gold frequent flyer status I used to have, I can say unequivocally, that all three of these airlines repeatedly treated me as a 2nd or 3rd class citizen. NW, Delta, Continental, Dragon Air, SW China Air, Singapore Air, Cathay Pacific, Lufthansa, British Air, Air France, Austrian Air, and Alitalia all treated me fairly, professionally, equitably. Quantas did not do well inside Australia, but were OK over the Pacific. Southwest has treated Dr. Desert Flower reasonably well as she's flown them (I have not yet).
In my perspective, airlines that suck and treat their customers poorly, like US Scare, United, AA, and Quantas Should go out of business, or get bought out by competitors. There's way too much capacity in the US airline market currently (just look at the massive numbers of planes in storage), and when there's companies like SW who have (for the most part) happy repeat customers, and Delta & NW who understand how to treat their frequent fliers well, why should incompetent, surly, inefficient, and un-friendly airlines continue to operate? [surly, as defined by having peanuts angrily thrown at me on a US Air regional flight by a flight attendant who was so pissed off to have to be flying at 6am, after I dared to ask her if I could have any peanuts after she passed me by twice, giving me none, while slapping down peanuts and paper towels on other surprised passenger's tray tables over rural Western Pennsylvania, for example]
If the Federal Government tries to "bail out" these failing airlines, I might just join the fringe libertarian protesters in downtown Tempe picketing against such a plan.
8 years ago
It'd be nice if they were measured by their service, but the market just doesn't work that way. What matters is the route...some routes can hold competition, with multiple carriers, while others cannot. And airlines have developed very sophisticated ways of excluding other carriers from some routes. Customer service doesn't even fit into the equation on some city pairs.
ReplyDeletethat's true JoeM. Sadly, many smaller and rural markets are served by only 1 regional airline with a tight monopoly.
ReplyDeleteOnce gasoline gets up to the $10 or $20 a gallon range in the coming years, the nation will further polarize between large cities and more isolated "hinterlands".
So much fun, enroute!