This is REALLY shocking..... Airline Passenger Complaints Soaring

[devilgrrl]

:sarcasm:

WASHINGTON - AirTran and Jet Blue have taken the top spots in a national survey of airline quality.

<snip>

The annual Airline Quality Rating survey released Monday found that overall the industry did a poor job last year. There were more lost bags, more bumped passengers, more consumer complaints and fewer on-time flights than in the previous year.

The rate of consumer complaints was up 60 percent. </snip>

<snip>All these problems are making travelers grumpy, the annual survey said.

The past year "was the worst year ever for the U.S. airlines," said Brent Bowen, a study co-author and professor at the University of Nebraska at Omaha's Aviation Institute. "Overall operational performance and quality declined once again to the lowest level that it's ever been."</snip>

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gbbxsOtWUJUbKH9se7gUQKrfRzFAD8VT3VCG0


Wow! How's that deregulation thing working for everyone? :hi:

[keep_it_real]

1. Link does not work

[devilgrrl]

3. fixed

eom

[opihimoimoi]

2. Peeps want cheap...they recieve cheap....thats the way it is...

[CabalPowered]

4. I've been flying Southwest a lot recently

More than half of the flights have been delayed, one oversold, and two unplanned aircraft swaps. That's in about 8 flights over the last 2 months.

I have been hearing really good things about ExpressJet.

[harun]

5. I have been avoiding flying for work and pleasure as much as possible

lately. My bags are getting lost more often now, and mishandled/destroyed.

I think a lot of the problem comes from them packing too many flights in to a day. They should convert some of the military air bases near populated areas to alternative airports. We don't need as many air bases as we had before.

[Fleshdancer]

6. how is it that foreign airlines can be on time, feed you well, treat you with respect....

and cost the same as or cheaper than american airliners? In all my years of traveling, I have never had an issue with non-American airliners. Meanwhile, American Airlines has rude flight attendants, Delta is always late, Northwest is just a nightmare for just about all the reasons you can think of, Continental is ok when they're not over selling seats and bumping people off their flights, and now Southwest has turned into the freakin' fashion police when young women where summer clothes and now I read that they're using planes that are too old or something??

I read that the British carrier, Virgin, had to fight for years to break into the American market. I completely understand why American airliners wouldn't want to open the US to more foreign carriers because they'll lose the business they don't deserve to have in the first place.

[Marrah_G]

7. Here is a big reason why...

Their fuel costs are subsidized. Many airlines are government run (the Asian ones I think).

Good people are leaving the airline industry.

MY sig other has worked for Delta for more then 25 years. Last year he was making the same as he had made in 1983, due to a number of steep paycuts. Just let that sink in a little.....1983. Recently their rate of pay climbed a little as the airline stabilized a little. He was recently offered a buy out if he retired early. Good people leave and are replaced by lower paid people who may or may not care as much about customer service.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

8. If you want to see a bunch of classic capitalist pigs

go over to Flyertalk.com and look in on some of the 100,000 mile/year (business or first class class only) flyers discussing the economic problems of the airlines. To hear them, it's all the flight attendants' and pilots' fault for (gasp!) not wanting their wages cut. Meanwhile, they argue (in the same thread, no less) that executives DESERVE their multi-million-dollar bonuses for cutting said wages from the "greedy" frontline employees. :eyes:

That site has some good information, especially about foreign travel and the fine print of frequent flyer programs, but the ATTITUDE on some of those 100,000-mile flyers (probably all high-level executives or entertainment industry types) is disgusting.

[Romulox]

11. I'm not understanding how that's any different than how UAW workers are spoken about

on this very site?

Did people really think that "free trade" and deregulation would only cut one way?

[seabeyond]

9. SHOCKED i tell you. we have stopped using airlines a couple years ago. i wont give my $

to be in environment where i have no rights.

[devilgrrl]

10. My sister wants me to visit her back East. I want to as well but I HATE the airlines right now!

It is incredible how unpleasant air travel has gotten since 1980's. It was bad before 9/11 too!

[seabeyond]

14. i want to hit cape cod, i want to hit seattle. and here i sit. i dont know

i am ALWAYS.... really ALWAYS, the one they pull out and make me spread em to wand me. pisses me off. and i forget to be intimidated. and i look em in the eyes.... lol

[JackBeck]

12. I used to enjoy traveling.

The excitement of being somewhere I've never been to. Meeting the locals and hearing their stories.

Not anymore. I travel a lot for work and the thought of waiting at an airport, because my flight has been bumped or rescheduled...again...makes my stomach turn.

I've created a tin foiler for this one: the reason why flights get re-scheduled is so you spend money at the airport (for me...bar).

[Lydia Leftcoast]

15. It's more like they'll cancel any flight that not's overflowing with passengers

Back in 2004, I was scheduled to fly MSP>LAX on Northwest, followed by LAX>NRT on All Nippon Airways (ANA).

I scheduled myself so that I had a comfortable four hours between the domestic and the international flight. When I went to check seating the night before, I saw that the plane was only half full. "Excellent," I thought, as I chose an aisle seat in an empty row."I can sleep all the way to LAX to make up for having to be on the plane during the pre-dawn hours."

Not two hours later I got a call on my cell phone saying that my flight had been canceled and that I had been rebooked on a flight that was two hours later. Ack, now I had only two hours at best to navigate LAX.

Matters took a worse turn when THAT flight was delayed. When I finally boarded, I saw that it was totally full. Speaking to my seat mates, I found that they, too, had originally been on the earlier flight.

While waiting at the airport, I had called ANA and found that they had no later flights that day and that none of their Star Alliance partners did either, so I was in worrywart mode. Fortunately, one of my seat mates told me that she was from L.A., knew the airport well, and would run ahead to the international terminal to notify ANA while I collected my suitcase. Just as I picked up my bag, she called me on the cell phone and said that it was all arranged with ANA.

When I arrived at the ANA counter, all out of breath, 15 minutes before departure, they first wanted to admonish me for scheduling flights so tightly, but after I explained the situation in Japanese and apologized profusely for inconveniencing them, they couldn't have been nicer. They had a customer service agent escort me through the employees' security gate, and I made it to the departure gate just as they were about to close the doors.

I ended up sitting with members of the Dave Matthews Band, who were very pleasant and friendly, but I had never heard of them and didn't realize until later that they were pretty well known.

[trof]

13. Check this email I got today:

"AMR / Gone with the Wind"?

On a 1 to 10 Scale, How do you rate AMR's
Chances of 'Not' being here in 2 years ?
10 = Gone for sure
01 = Very slight chance of being Gone

8+
Interesting that you brought up that question. I just had 2 lengthy e-mail
exchanges with individuals in a mid-life airline employment crisis quandary
- "Do I Stay or do I Go" kind of thing. Being 52 or 53 can be a gut
wrenching time in many ways.

The economic stars are aligning against AA.

Fundamental AA/AMR problems in order of severity:

1.Employee problems. All 3 contracts are due and the employees are in
an Eastern Airlines unforgiving mood. This was brought on by the 'Greed and
Incompetence' of AMR Management.
Almost no chance of another "Pull Together, Win Together" kind of Kumbaya
plan.

2. Price of Oil and Aviation Fuel will NOT come back to the level
Of a few years ago.

3. Mandatory need for new fuel efficient aircraft. The MD-80s are a
fuel albatross that MUST be replaced and soon with 737-800s or 787s.
Difficult to do under current employee problems.

4. Open Skies and soon Open Cabotage.

5. Euro and continued weakening of the dollar.
Making AMR a steal.

6. AMR stock price. Interesting to note that many misinformed
employees think that by driving down the stock price it hurts mgmt and the
infamous "PUP" bonuses. NOT TRUE. In fact it appears that just the
opposite is true in regards to the current VALUE of the airline in regards
to European carriers.

7. Congress is in no mood for any kind of bail out. 4 airlines have
failed in the last 2 weeks and it appears many more will be joining them.
The suicidal Delta rejection of the merge with NWA will be revisited very
soon as a "Life Boat" strategy takes hold.

8. The parting out of UAL will accelerate the fracturing of the U.S.
Airline industry driving carriers to look for "Safe harbors" with the 3 mega
European carriers.

9. Bush, McCain, Obama, and Clinton will not prop up or protect the
dying U.S. Airline industry as they are all very Pro-NAFTA supporters and
globalists, despite their public pronouncements.

All in all, AMR as we know it is doomed. Regardless of how, AMR is mostly
NOT going to be around in 2 years in its present form. A labor disruption
will most likely exacerbate its demise. Mgmt has doomed the company because
of very shortsighted business practices. Furthermore, employees are
ignorant of what is really happening and are further stressing the viability
of the airline. As more airlines fail, you notice how BK now have moved
from the old "breathing room" strategy to the more odious liquidation stage,
the pressure will surely mount on AMR to find a "Safe harbor". BA is the
logical buyer as there is already strong ties between the 2 carriers. The
key questions, and one I cannot postulate on as it deals with intricate
financial structuring, is what shape will the buyout take? I do not think
it will be a merger per se, but some kind of amalgam between outright buyout
which might be challenged under the current 25%/ proposed 49% foreign
ownership rules, and subsidiary operation. Virgin America was the test case
and you know how that went. A friend who knows the industry told me there
are many ways around the 'Foreign Ownership' requirements - as Branson has
proven.

Ergo, to your question: 8+ AMR as we know it will not be here in
2 years. There are always caveats to everything, but under the current
situation that appears to be what probably will happen.
As I told my friend who is agonizing over all this, ''Where is Arpey*?'' I
m sure there is behind the scenes negotiations and the management bastards
will once again walk away with 'Millions' while the
Employees are sold out as 'Cannon fodder'.

I hope I am wrong but I see 'NO' way around this unless there is a collapse
of oil, collapse of the EURO, or another World War. I hear
The fat lady tuning up along with Andrea Bocelli singing
"Time to say, Goodbye."
So very sad but wasn't this all so predictable years ago? IMHO.

Pragmatic xxxx, dealer in truth and realities

"Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre
minds." -Albert Einstein

"One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you
end up being governed by your inferiors." -Plato

"An election is coming. Universal peace is declared and the foxes have a
sincere interest in prolonging the lives of the poultry." -T.S. Eliot

"When they call the roll in the Senate, the senators do not know whether to
answer 'present' or 'guilty'." -Theodore Roosevelt