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Gary
climber
"My god - it's full of stars!"
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Yup - deregulation ALWAYS is the answer....
Yup.
I fly Amtrak. Roomy seats, cheap drinks, nice views. Taking a sleeper from LA to KC is like vacation.
Flying sucks. Your seat is too small to start with, then the two 300 pounders on each side of you take up half of it.
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blahblah
Gym climber
Boulder
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My beef with UA is not that big other than when I book a trip with my family I want to sit with my family and not your family. It always seems they put my wife and I together and my 3 year old with someone else.
I just refuse to let the person who was supposed to sit with us sit down. I hand them my 3 year olds ticket and show them where their new seat is.
Let them take it up with the airline.
Interesting way to deal with people. If you ask me even sort of nicely to switch seats with your 3-year old, I would. If you try to play games, I will be sitting down in my seat, on top of a smooshed 3-year old if that's the way you want to play. You can take it up with the airline.
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Binks
climber
Uranus
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I pity anyone that has to fly around on these stinking aerial buses for work.
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zBrown
Ice climber
chingadero de chula vista
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What does ACRO say? I'm glad you asked.
Dr. Hartouni will now discuss this data from the viewpoint of a physicist and fellow traveler with special emphasis on the experience of Citizens United.
EDIT:
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Daphne
Trad climber
Black Rock City
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I disagree with the idea that good service cannot be offered with low cost. I regularly fly Southwest and while things happen to all carriers, they do a great job of getting me to and from with a decent seat and general on-time departures. I just have to book in advance. On 2 last minute flights in April, I flew United because it was cheaper in the last-minute and ended up totally regretting the decision. It sucked so badly, way worse than Southwest has ever sucked. YMMV
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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zBrown, the simple number of aeronautical deaths or accidents means relatively little - it has to be correlated with the total number of passenger kilometres, or total number of flights, and possibly broken down further, e.g. as to type or size of aircraft.
If your chartes suggested that there are five or ten times as many annual fatalities and accidents as there were say in 1950, the response would be that there are probably 50 or 100 times as many flights and passengers now as there were then. The accident rate has dropped considerably. (It was one of the black ironies of 11/9 that out of fear of air travel, more people drove, and died - the death rate per passenger kilometre in motor vehicles being substantially greater than that in airplanes.)
And yes, neither flight crew, other passengers, nor the TSA are very accepting of passengers changing their or others' seats willy-nilly, especially in crowded aircraft.
Isn't it amazing that the 'reward' for flying a lot is points that allow you to fly more? "Floggings will continue until morale improves."
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blahblah
Gym climber
Boulder
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Blah Blah i ask but you would be suprised how many people refuse to give up a seat thinking one seat is bettter than another. Did not mean to come across like that but after re reading that I do. Sorry! I mostly fly with them 5 hours to the islands and Im not leaving my wife alone with a 3 year old for 5 hours and a complete stranger to help.
Yeah and I gave you a somewhat jerky response--sorry about that! (And of course I would not sit on a 3-year old child, that's an internet response, not real life)
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zBrown
Ice climber
chingadero de chula vista
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the simple number of aeronautical deaths or accidents means relatively little - it has to be correlated with the total number of passenger kilometres, or total number of flights, and possibly broken down further, e.g. as to type or size of aircraft.
Kind of makes you wonder about who funds ACRO.
We can conclude, though, that if one can avoid taking off and landing in an airplane, one has a much better probability of not participating in an airplane crash. Does Las Vegas take bets on this kind of stuff?
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klk
Trad climber
cali
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dingus, you fly more domestic miles than i do. in country, i try like hell to fly only jetblue and southwest. but both seem pretty superior to united.
the worst domestic i ever flew was ozark, which seemed to be somewhere in the vicinity of a blackmarket crop-dusting operation.
most of the european carriers ive flown have been more consistent than united.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Flying is ridiculously safe as long as you do it on a US flag carrier or one
of the premier furriners. I'm sorry to say Air France isn't on that list any
more. If they're not speaking English or German on the flight deck they're
not getting my business if I can help it.
My favorite domestic carrier now is Alaska.
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Crimpergirl
Sport climber
Boulder, Colorado!
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(And of course I would not sit on a 3-year old child, that's an internet response, not real life)
Completely cracked me up! Hahaha!
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Anastasia
climber
InLOVEwithAris.
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Alaska is descent.
For Bozeman we usually fly Allegiant from Las Vegas for 60 dollars round trip. It's why we bother flying out of Las Vegas. Allegiant is a cheap flight with no food, rubber seats yet being what it is, I like it.
Anastasia
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 1, 2012 - 10:23pm PT
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I travel for business, and the way the bids go for service, the Travel Agency that has the contract to manage the lab's travel negotiates rates with the carriers, and since we are trying to save the good tax payers' money, we are compelled to fly US carriers (it is US money) and at the least expensive ticket we can find.
But another weirdness of all this is the apparent necessity of face-to-face meetings in Washington, which could probably be managed remotely, especially given the huge investments that an organization like the Office of High Energy Physics has made to teleconferencing, and the experience that its review panel members have participating in these sorts of meetings.
I get resentful that my time is viewed with so little value that spending 2 days to attend a half-hour meeting is viewed as a positive value proposition. Now I get a lot of work done, but there is also a huge amount of stress trying to get that work done on the road.
I also agree that there are no good choices for carriers, they all make the same calculations related to the bottom line, and if a few customers are pissed off, the carriers either are willing to write them off, or know that there isn't a choice so the customers are captive.
Deregulation and "free market" rhetoric is laughable, basically the ecology of air carriers is somewhat unstable... the current equilibrium point is the same one as a pond in which there is one large frog, who has successfully consumed all his froggy competition...
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matisse
climber
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Just did YYT-YUL-ORD-SAN yesterday. Business class on Air Canada YYT to YUL and United so called "First class" the rest of the way. no contest, Air Canada wins hands down. Even to a backwater like YYT they fly new aircraft with personal entertainment screens in all classes. reasonable food. lots of sucking up on the part of the flight attendants. United, ancient smelly aircraft even on the ORD-SAN leg (it's a 4.5 hour flight comeon) with those old fold down screens. what is this 1985? Surly flight attendants. not much in the way of food. The United lounge in ORD was pretty nice tho.
Airports don't get me started. EWR terminal A is like a third world country. I should know I spent 2.5 days there a couple of years ago.
Fricking continental/United. See on the EWR-YYT Continental (now United) flight, they cancel flights if a snow flake even thinks about falling (I gotta keep telling myself it's not a great connection if they don't actually fly the frickin aircraft)-every other carrier managed to land in YYT but they didn't. So first they have ground hold delays because of too much traffic so then they are 5 hours late, then they don't like the weather so they cancel. Bring us back at 5 am the next morning, make us hang around for 5 hours then cancel again (2 snowflakes this time) have to go claim bags (after 5 hour wait I am told that bags are lost lost) and have this utterly absurd discussion with passenger agent.
Me: Rebook me please
Agent: You need to travel with your bags
Me: Bags are lost
Agent: we can't book you until they are found
Me: Bags are LOST, it may be weeks before they find them
repeat
repeat
repeat
multiple times until I break down in tears refuse to leave and have tantrum.
Finally rebooked but bags arrive 5 days later -Continental calls the house at get this 5 am christmas morning to tell me bags have arrived, but I will have to go pick them up and by the way I better get there soon because they are closing because it is christmas.
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ontheedgeandscaredtodeath
Trad climber
San Francisco, Ca
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Arrived in my destination on UA without further delay. I like Air Canada. I've also had good experiences with that airline with the animals on the tails... can't quite remember the name. Southwest is great for non-stops on the west coast, torture for any far away destination. Agree that they seem to generally provide good service.
Scariest flight thus far is probably Royal Nepal airlines. Some countries should not have a national airline- they ran out of beer on a flight over the himalaya!!
The horror!!!11116666
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zBrown
Ice climber
chingadero de chula vista
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. Now I get a lot of work done, but there is also a huge amount of stress trying to get that work done on the road.
Amen.
While it is flattering that your services are so in demand, it is stressful.
I gave up working while in transit and figured out ways to enjoy myself when not in meetings.
I hope you do too.
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Anastasia
climber
InLOVEwithAris.
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LAX is a nightmare. It gets the worst ratings every year among U.S. Airports. SFO isn't as bad.
Best airports I've ever been in the U.S. is tied between Bozeman and Salt Lake City. Both are efficient and easy to navigate. Bozeman has the best security. Utah is simply designed RIGHT.
Now be cautious. I watched a woman's bag get stolen in Salt Lake City. I had no idea the guy was not part of their group until she started freaking out about it. Seriously did not expect that. Especially since I was not in LA or Chicago which sadly where I do expect that.
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Gary
climber
"My god - it's full of stars!"
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I'm Delta gold
I'll never fly Delta again after being bounced around the South for an entire week one winter.
Although the lady in New Orleans did take pity on me and get me in first class for free.
The best part was sitting in a plane at New Orleans. They announced they were about to scrub the flight due to ice on the wings. Somebody loudly complained about the lack of deicing equipment. The stewardess replied "Lady, this is a tropical airport!"
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JLP
Social climber
The internet
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I think weather and airport logistics are the main reasons for delays, not one particular airline's incompetence.
I used to fly a lot for work, always on UA. For travel overseas, they are one of the best.
For domestic, these days, I generally take whatever fits my schedule at the best price.
Agree with DMT - they're all basically the same, +/- some silly perks that you may prefer, and will all be a pain to deal with when delays hit.
I avoid flying as much as possible. Getting locked in a sardine can with non-boulderites just kills me.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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JLP is largely correct which is why Alaska's ontime record doesn't look so
good; they fly in weather a lot crappier than others, especially in the winter.
For many years their fleet was the only one in the world that was wholly
kitted out for Cat III B* equipment and certified crews. When you're going
into Juneau, Cordova, etc, believe me, you want to be on Alaska. These days
Cat III B isn't as big a deal but I'd still rather be flying on the airline
that does it more than any other.
*Category III B – A precision instrument approach and landing with:
a) a decision height lower than 50 feet (15 m) above touchdown zone
elevation, or no decision height (alert height); and
b) a runway visual range less than 200 meters (660 ft) but not less than
50 meters (160 ft) (ICAO and FAA) or 75 meters (246 ft) (JAA).
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