A&e's New Series Airline

[JS]

The TSA (and the airlines, as well) only require photo ID of pax 18 and older.

But anyone with a brain should bring a copy of a lap child's birth cert if there is any doubt (like with a big kid).

Then again, IMO, only fools refuse to buy their infants a half-price infant ticket - so it is hardly surprising that the parent neglected to bring some proof of age.

How do you reconcile that statement with the saying "Fools and their money are soon parted"?

Given the choice between buying one ticket and buying two tickets, the fool is the one who chooses to buy two tickets when one will suffice.

 

[SWAFA30]

Not when spending the extra money for a second seat could literally meanthe difference between life and death for your child. Again, the same parents who would NEVER drive to the corner for a quart of milk without strapping junior into his carseat think nothing of flying with their child on their lap.

 

[KCFlyer]

Not when spending the extra money for a second seat could literally meanthe difference between life and death for your child. Again, the same parents who would NEVER drive to the corner for a quart of milk without strapping junior into his carseat think nothing of flying with their child on their lap.

Bingo...I'm sure that both couples with children most likely shopped for the "safest" vehicle to protect their child on trips to the doctor and the grocery store (my bet is that they own the biggest baddest SUV on the block), and bought only the top rated car seats to strap junior in. This is to protect them in the event they hit something at 35 mph. But they'd rather save the money on an airline ticket and hold junior safely in their arms as they are in an aluminum tube hurtling down the runway at 200 mph.

 

[mga707]

Just curious: Anyone know who the artist is on the "Airline" theme, the remake of "Leavin' On a Jet Plane"?
The original, a #1 record for Peter, Paul, and Mary in December 1969, was John Denver's first success as a songwriter.

 

[KCFlyer]

Just curious: Anyone know who the artist is on the "Airline" theme, the remake of "Leavin' On a Jet Plane"?
The original, a #1 record for Peter, Paul, and Mary in December 1969, was John Denver's first success as a songwriter.

well...it ain't Enya....

 

[UnitedChicago]

Hate to wallow in anyones pain but this show, to me, shows there really is no difference in a LCC versus a Legacy carrier. The same problems abound at each. Airline travel is hectic and tiresome no matter what name is on the side of the plane.

With all due respect to SWA - the global carriers (legacy as you call them) don't deal with the same clientele.

Greyhound service in the air produces many of the trashy episodes that we've watched on A&E - so don't say this program shows that "there really is no difference in a LCC versus a Legacy carrier".

Do the same show on United and you'd have episodes of passenger angst - but it would be over not being upgraded or business traveler misses flight...but there's another non-stop in 1 hour - did I say non-stop which means you won't have to stop 5 times on the way there while enjoying no entertainment or assigned seating.

 

[skycruiser]

Do the same show on United and you'd have episodes of passenger angst - but it would be over not being upgraded or business traveler misses fligh

Ahhhh but after approaching all the "legacy Carriers" and getting turned down I guess A&E had no other choice. My assumption is that the "legacy Carriers" did not, in what is a feeble attempt to get a little publicity, chose to expose their passengers, business or pleasure, to that kind of nonsense. A picture is worth a thousand words and the poor folks millions watch, every Monday night, making an attempt to Survive the Win Air travel Experience proves you get what you pay for when unwittingly becoming the star of yet another reality show featuring The Premier "Reality TV Carrier" SWA.

 

[Goldentail]

Kudos to UnitedChicago!! after 19 yrs in this business....I can honestly say I'm so glad that CO changed it prodict from carrying flip-flops for briefcases. Don't get me wrong for those of you that love LCC's. They serve a purpose, and they have a product that alot of Americans want. But Mainline carriers like CO offer so much more....and it obviously costs us more in the process. B)

 

[KCFlyer]

With all due respect to SWA - the global carriers (legacy as you call them) don't deal with the same clientele.

Greyhound service in the air produces many of the trashy episodes that we've watched on A&E - so don't say this program shows that "there really is no difference in a LCC versus a Legacy carrier".

Do the same show on United and you'd have episodes of passenger angst - but it would be over not being upgraded or business traveler misses flight...but there's another non-stop in 1 hour - did I say non-stop which means you won't have to stop 5 times on the way there while enjoying no entertainment or assigned seating.

I'm assuming that you are with United. YOur company may be losing money, but maybe that's because employees like you might feel that moneyu from"greyhound clientle" is not worthy of working it's way thru your corporate bank accounts. Before you start casting stones at folks like me...that greyhound clientle, (by the way...I've never seen the inside of a greyhound bus, but I've seen the cabin of many a SWA jet...as well as the First class cabin of many of the legacy carriers...United included). But I might offer you a couple of examples of the problems that have been documented on United Airlines:

1. A gentleman in the first class cabin was upset because the FA refused to serve him any more drinks. To show his displeasure, he defecated on a serving cart and wiped himself with a linen napkin. As far as I know, no UAL employees volunteered to assist in cleaning him. Eeewww. Thank heavens SWA doesn't use serving carts.

2. Two "models" enroute to Tokyo had a nicotene fit and became unruly - requiring the pilots to divert to Anchorage. That one WAS on TV, thanks to a passengers video camera. The scene got to be rather "Jerry Springer-ish" as I recall.

You can blame SWA all you want for the ills of your company. But I resent the insults that you and those like you casually toss out about the "lower social class" of passenger tha SWA attracts. I live in a damn nice house, in one of the nicest areas of my town. My household income is "significant". The net worth of myself or my parents and siblings is nothing to sneeze at. But if I'm not good enough for YOUR airline because I'm little more than 'trailer trash' that will fly on SWA, well, I suppose I can opt for another airline that values my dollar. While your nose is in the air about the higher caliber of clientele you serve, allow me to leave you with the words of Lamar Muse:

"Feed the poor, grow rich. Feed the rich, grow poor". Think about that the next time you feel the need to insult 79 million folks based on what you've seen involving maybe a dozen people.

 

[KCFlyer]

Kudos to UnitedChicago!! after 19 yrs in this business....I can honestly say I'm so glad that CO changed it prodict from carrying flip-flops for briefcases. Don't get me wrong for those of you that love LCC's. They serve a purpose, and they have a product that alot of Americans want. But Mainline carriers like CO offer so much more....and it obviously costs us more in the process. B)

Hmmm...my wife, daugher and myself have all flown SWA enough in the past year to get two RR trips for each of us. And none of us even owns a pair of flip flops. Go figure.

BTW - nice financial results over there at CO. Keep that nose in the air and it's harder to see that their "profit" was from the sale of some assets. It strikes me as odd that the greyhound clientel are able to help airlines like Southwest or Airtran to achieve a profit, but the classier people don't seem to be willing to pay the other airlines enought to cover their costs.

 

[ELP_WN_Psgr]

CODispatch writes in, and I quote: >>"But Mainline carriers like CO offer so much more....and it obviously costs us more in the process. "<<

I've asked this question before, and nobody ever seemsw to be able to answer ir.

What does the "so much more" that a mainline carrier can provide me consist of.

CO provides me an airline seat to go from A to B in a metal tube. So does WN.

Seat pitch? In the Y cabin I am better off on WN than CO.

Beverage Service? Short flights don't seem to faze WN, I get a drink and a refill. Whether or not a beverage service is offered on 'mainline' carriers seems to be related to phase of the moon and mood of the Flight Attendants.

Frequent Flyer program? The only thing I've ever been able to get out of OnePass was magazine subscriptions. With WN free tickets seem to arrive in the mailbox like clockwork.
First Class? Yep, CO offers it and WN doesn't. But that's not something I want or need. Giving somebody a bunch of extra money for something of no lasting value is not how I managed to accumulate what money I do have.

A trip to CLE, EWR, or IAH whether I want to go there or not? Well, you've got me there. Depending on where you are traveling, you have a better shot at not having to connect if you are flying WN.

Full size jets? The knowledge that if I buy a ticket on CO I am going to be on CO? All this code sharing and express jet stuff.......I swear it's like.....if you show up and it's not a Barbie dream jet (aka RJ) then you find yourself on NW or DL pretending they are CO. It's like buying a box of Rice Crispies and you pour them in the cereal bowl and they turn out to be Raisan Bran. Or you buy a Chevrolet and the first time you wash it, the decal comes off and you find out you have purchased a Dodge.

The bottom line is CO, or any of the other network carriers, really don't do much for me. If you are flying Coach, and most people are (and even a bunch of them in the F cabin are paying for Y tickets)....the network carriers tell you where to sit. That is about the sum and extent of all these costly "extras" you mention. And Hoss, some of us don't really look at forced seating as an advantage.

For business travel I get to ride the govt contract carrier and that varies by market. As a result I get to sample the wares of a lot of different airlines. I will say that of the network carriers, CO and AA generally do a pretty good job. I wouldn;t give you two cents for Delta or United. USAirways is hot and cold. However, I find myself judging other carriers' service against the benchmark set by WN, and only on rare occasions do the others manage to provide me with service comparable in quality to that which I encounter on Southwest.

My suggestion, CODispatch, is to take what I say at face value. Southwest really does do a good job. You can pretend they don't, you can pretend that business travelers or passengers with a buck or two in the bank won't fly them....but all you are doing is pretending. The truth is for many of us, WN is the carrier of choice. Someday, maybe your airline will be as good and we will fly them more often. But you have a ways to go.

 

[WNjetdoc]

First post in a long while, glad to see KC and others keepin' up the fight. I've seen the series on A&E and find it very good. It shows the good and bad of air travel but mostly it makes me happy I don't have to deal with the passengers like you guys, "upstairs" do, yikes.

I deal with the passengers on the airplane, but its not the same. I have a new founded respect for y'all.

 

[skycruiser]

1. A gentleman in the first class cabin was upset because the FA refused to serve him any more drinks. To show his displeasure, he defecated on a serving cart and wiped himself with a linen napkin. As far as I know, no UAL employees volunteered to assist in cleaning him. Eeewww. Thank heavens SWA doesn't use serving carts.

2. Two "models" enroute to Tokyo had a nicotene fit and became unruly - requiring the pilots to divert to Anchorage. That one WAS on TV, thanks to a passengers video camera. The scene got to be rather "Jerry Springer-ish" as I recall.

And these two situations relevant to your argument how??
Unruly passengers that cannot conduct themselves in a civilized manner are a problem industry wide. Not to mention as :censored: les come in all walks of life: the grocery store, restaurants, movie theaters, etc. The two models going to Tokyo that got their antics on TV :jerry: was not something UAL went out and solicited. Yet the Man that couldn't/wouldn't control his children on the SWA reality show was. Big difference!

 

[DHHeronCLE]

The point is, airline travel is pretty fungible. I have flown any number of carriers and any number of types over the past forty years. The product offered is that you plant your a$$ in the seat (assigned or not), and the airlplane takes you to where you want to go, while you listen to music, play with the IFE, read, or whatever. I have had unusually good and bad experiences on a range of carriers. WN is neither better nor worse than any other carrier, and that WN would allow a "day in the life" program to be made of their operation indicates that they have confidence in themselves and their operation.

 

[KCFlyer]

And these two situations relevant to your argument how??

Only illustrates that all airlines attract pretty much the same clientel.

Unruly passengers that cannot conduct themselves in a civilized manner are a problem industry wide. Not to mention as les come in all walks of life: the grocery store, restaurants, movie theaters, etc.

Indeed, but look at the posts I was responding to - which implied "only trailer trash flys on southwest". Southwest apparently didn't let drunks board. UAL did - the result...poop on a serving cart and a diversion to Anchorage. Yet...based on a couple of drunks shown on television, a blanket statement is in order tha SWA only attracts "greyhound types". I get pretty sick and tired of being referred to as "trash" of any sort. SWA is my carrier of choice because they offer me something that NO other airline does - value for my travel dollar. Example? Plans change and there isn't any $100 change fee. Fair price 21 days or 21 minutes in advance. None of the "legacy" carriers can offer me that. Sorry, but in my book, saving money is not indicative of "trailer trash".

The two models going to Tokyo that got their antics on TV was not something UAL went out and solicited. Yet the Man that couldn't/wouldn't control his children on the SWA reality show was. Big difference!

You mean in the LA times there was an ad from Southwest seeking unruly kids? I'd love to see that advert. Or are you saying that UAL would rather have not sold tickets to the two models? Why not change the contract of carriage if you don't want those types...perhaps require a financial statement before selling the a ticket.

And....Southwest didn't seek anything out. A&E sought an airline out - any airline. SWA was the only one who agreed. Warts and all. I am sure that A&E would have much preferred to profile an international carrier with elite clientle. But UAL, AMR, DAL, CAL and others decided not to. Guess they were afraid that a drunken defecator might have been on one of their flights. But you know something...if they did profile UAL and the druken shitter was covered, us "white trash" folks who might have seen that wouldn't declare that EVERY passenger was like that. But...you "legacy" folks sure like to spread the word that Southwest is nothing more that wall to wall scum in the passenger compartment.