My Airline Experience

[Bill Greenwood]

The recent controversy in the news now reminds me of two times I have been on overbooked flights. The first was United, just a one hour flight and they were asking for volunteers to give up seats. They offered $1000 and one person was a lady with a baby who needed two seats so I asked if the $1000 was cash now (or check), and if they would furnish a hotel room for me overnight. I knew they have a decent hotel, about 3 stars that their crews use, and with a short airport shuttle, so for $1000 I was willing to stay overnight and go the next morning. But turns out the $1000 was a travel voucher, so not as useful and a few other people took took the offer while I was asking.
Another time was with another airline, and plans changed at the last minute so I was the extra passenger on the later flgiht. The folks I spoke with were nice and politely said the flight was listed as full but to come to the gate from my connecting flight and they'd try to get me on. Sure enough there were a few no shows and I was the last one to get a seat about 5 minutes before departure. This happened to be in Chicago also. I hadnt eaten all day and boy that quick hot dog sure tasted good. Dont know if Chicago really has best dogs or I was just really hungry.
This last time especially they folks were very nice that made it ok, even if I had not gotten on that plane.

In both cases this was before everyone was seated on the flight and was resolves at the gate.

[Bill Greenwood]

Jut thought of being in the food line at Oskosh which can get pretty crowded at times. The key is not to wait til the the last minute when you are really hungry. Anyway when you finally get to the front, the high school and college young people who work there are almost always friendly and makes the wait okay. Same for most of the convention.

I also recall dinner once at a restaurant where there was some major problem in the kitchen. The orders came out slow and were all wrong and had to be sent back and came out even slower the next time. But the waiter went out of his way to be nice and honestly explained the problem, made no false promises of only a few more minutes and made the best of it for all.

[Gil]

I have been on several overbooked flights and took the offer one time on the way to Las Vegas. Instead of direct through Chicago, they routed me through Phoenix and gave me a voucher (I have since learned you can insist on cash). I got to Las Vegas a couple of hours later than my original flight, no big deal.

[FlyingRon]

I took the voluntary overbooking once. The only stupidity was that I was ticketed for the dawn-of-crack flight because it was $200 cheaper than the one that left mid-morning. They ended up putting me on the one I wanted to be on (still I had to get up two hours earlier). I got involuntarily bumped once and they put me in First Class on a one stopper that left the same time (I was on the non-stop) which arrived two hours later. Frankly, if they promised to put me in first on the later flight, they could get me to volunteer more. I don't know why they don't do that.

The only really annoying thing was the flight they put me on was already close to getting the door shut. The gate agent at the first flight told me to run over to the other gate. They waived me down the jetway and into the plane as they shut the plane door behind me. At this point I realized I had none of my ticket paperwork (let alone a boarding pass for the connecting flight). When I got to Chicago, the gate agent gave me a lot of lip about my situation.

ME: Hi, I got bumped from the direct flight to Dulles, and I need a boarding pass for this flight.
AGENT: OK, let me see your original paperwork.
ME: I don't have it, they kept it in San Francisco.
AGENT: They wouldn't have done that.
ME: Believe me, they did. It was a very rushed deal, I had to run to the other gate to make the flight.

this went around for a while until the guy begrudgingly typed my name into the computer and got me a boarding pass. What was really annoying was when I got to Dulles (well after midnight) there was exactly one United employee left in the terminal. I was supposed to get a coupon for a future flight. Since all I had was some baggage claim rep who didn't have access to what he needed to issue it, he printed out what was under my name in their computer. Amusingly, at the top of my file (clear to Mr. Chicago idiot if he had looked) was a note from the SFO agents telling them that they indeed had my paperwork and I had been inconvenienced by the flight change and that they should issue me my first class boarding pass, a travel coupon, and any other accommodations I needed) due to the screw up on the far end.

Frankly, the airlines need to weed out those who are not customer motivated. It only takes a few to really mess up the works.

Years ago I was making a connection in MSP (this was in the old Northwest days). It came to the attention of those of us waiting at the gate that while we had an airplane there, there was no gate agent and it was now 20 minutes prior to departure and that seemed odd. I walked down to the next gate and pointed that out to an agent there who was (I kid you not) wearing a tie tack which was an old-style beer can pop-top tab. Now mind you, this was an airline known for a couple of incidents of drunken pilots. The guy tells me I am mistaken, there MUST be an agent there. I suspect he was drunk, too. Finally, I guess the flight crew got to wondering why nobody was getting on the plane and rattled some cages. They pulled in several agents (Including Mr. PopTop Tie) to process the backlog. I smirked when I gave him my bording pass.

[Frank Giger]

I try to fly Delta whenever possible, as every time they asked to bump me they were very polite, gave me a voucher for a free round trip domestic flight (now they give a dollar value), and a meal ticket. Since I'm somewhat perk driven, I ask (and usually got) access to the Sky Lounge VIP waiting area. One can fall asleep in a recliner and the staff will wake one when it's time to meet the flight, and the bathrooms are much less adventurous than the ones in the terminal.

Most of my flights in the past couple decades, though, were on your tax dollars (and yes, I'm very aware and grateful for it), and so I was bump-proof.

Frank "My TWA travel bag is worn, where can I get a replacement" Giger

[Mayhemxpc]

Bill,

YES, Chicago hot dogs really are that good...but not worth having to change planes in Chicago. (Similarly, genuine frankfurters in the Frankfurt airport are ALMOST worth changing planes there -- if you don't have to be changing planes between United and Lufthansa...1.25 miles through the airport, I kid you not.)

One time I took the two hour delay when accepting an offer from United for an overbooked flight. They put me on a Lufthansa flight. 747 vs 767, which was nice. Exit row seat, which on a 747 means the next row is about 8 feet in front of you. The food was good, and THEY EVEN GAVE ME STEEL EATING UTENSILS (even a knife!) Afterwards I had fun trying to get my mileage points. They wanted to credit me only the minimum amount because it was on a star alliance partner rater than United. I showed them the ticket was on United and the money went to United, and somehow they finally agreed to give me the proper credit.

[CHICAGORANDY]

Quality customer service is an item that does NOT cost a corporation (any corporation) $$$, it makes money. TV commercials cost a small fortune to make and air. How much has this 'free' negative publicity cost United? They could have just kept upping the cash offer till enough passengers agreed.

[raytoews]

We have become amazingly spoiled.
I'm sure most have seen the movie, Living In The Time Of Airplanes and can appreciate how complicated the system is and how rapidly it was built.
The system was built and the airlines had to develop their's at the same pace.
Safety is a good example, we have had accidents and learned from each one to the point where the chance of dying in an airliner in North America is ZERO.
Bus, car and train can't say that. We in General Aviation definitely can't say that.
The airlines have done an historic job of giving us the freedom to move about and,,, boy do we travel.
Flying is considered a high consequence occupation, and billions of dollars have to be invested yet a single employee with a bad judgement call can wipe out a lot of investment with a few cell phone videos.
How many of you are going to invest in an airline that faces these kinds of consequences.
How many airplanes does United have in their fleet, how many billions of new Boeing's do they have on the order book.

Cut ALL the airlines a little slack, stop being so damn demanding when you don't get the unrealistic service they have been trying to provide and be grateful you don't have to walk.
When was the last time you took a boat across the Atlantic or train across the country.
Doesn't take long to understand why we all like to fly.

[lnuss]

Doesn't take long to understand why we all like to fly.

But not on airliners these days (for me, anyhow). All the stuff you have to put up with (I know the stated reasons) is beyond what I am willing to endure, so I'll drive if I can't go general aviation. And I used to love to travel airlines, but that's a long time ago.

[rwanttaja]

But not on airliners these days (for me, anyhow). All the stuff you have to put up with (I know the stated reasons) is beyond what I am willing to endure, so I'll drive if I can't go general aviation. And I used to love to travel airlines, but that's a long time ago.

With the exception of the TSA crap, the majority of people's issues with airline travel is self-inflicted. You *can* have an old-style experience...wide seats, lots of legroom, lots of overhead space, free checked luggage, early boarding, personalized attention from the flight attendants, first off the aircraft, etc... you just have to be willing to pay for a first-class ticket. It's surprisingly cheap, at times.

Most people sort their airline searches by cost, and select the lowest-cost option irregardless. Therefore, there's no advantage for an airline to provide a better experience in coach. People whine about United now, but if the airline were to drop their airfares by ~$25 or so their planes would be full again.

Ron Wanttaja