News and notes from around the interweb:
- Top tier hotel status and 2 free nights in just 7 stays
- One financial analyst thinks United’s stock has done well after the Dr. David Dao dragging incident because customers assume other airlines are just as bad, so they don’t book away. (HT: Alan H.)
- Delta Fixes Crap Comfort+ Upgrade Problem, But Not for Award Tickets?
- Airlines limit what you can photograph on flights. And it needs to stop.
With airline customer service in decline, videotaping is the only way that passengers can make sure they are treated fairly, says Gary Leff, a travel blogger who has criticized the airlines over the issue.
“The TSA allows more photography at the checkpoint than the airlines allow on board their planes,” he says.
- John Oliver, Instad of a segment on the TSA: (HT: Hunter T.)
I cant speak for the traveling Public but for our annual reunion
9 out of 10 chose not to fly United even though they were half the price
For 40 dollars more I could have flown first class on United
Some chose Southwest and I chose Alaska
And truthfully Its about great recognition and easy saver redemption all of which United and American both lack
so for that reason and not the actual accommodating a passenger for their flight crews
the majority of us are all flying other airlines
Id rather be on American and United but they have both hit bottom
so there is no race to get there 🙂
Flew home to Maui yesterday, not an open seat on the plane. I wish customers would stop flying UA , that way things would change!
@Dee
So why didn’t you take your own advice and NOT fly UA?
Good question Phil…..emergency at home, so the hubbie booked it! I think Alaska was full and I’m also not a fan of Hawaiian. I know a lot of people love Hawaiian but not me…esp. interisland. I miss Aloha every time I fly to Oahu. I wish I didn’t have to fly, but unfortunately I live on an island
The reality is that UA (along with the other major airlines) provides a product that people want to buy: affordable airfare to places they need/want to travel to. And there aren’t a lot of good travel alternatives. I’ve personally flown a million miles on UA and its predecessor airlines. The vast majority of these experiences, while generally unexceptional, have been fine. Remember, Dr. Dao was dragged off a plane because he refused to follow crew member and police instructions. “Normal” passengers will NEVER have experiences such as that, and they undoubtedly realize it. I don’t want to question other people’s sanity, but there is nothing UA does that would warrant “boycotting” them. There’s also little they do that would warrant “preferring” them, either, but in an oligopoly, that’s not very important.
I wrote the followng 6 days ago over at OMAAT so I am not surprised with report that the Dao dragging had little lasting effect.
“The United 3411 incident happened on April 9. On April 23, I flew to Honolulu on a sold out United flight; ditto of my return flight on April 28…
So, get a grip. Only creatures that dwell in travel blogosphere still remember UA 3411 or Dr. Dao’s name, or are even critical of US airlines in general. Almost everyone out there is simply looking for a flight that’d take them from point A to point B affordably and/or conveniently and/or on time…really ”
That’s the normal. Attempts to do otherwise lead to the cognitive dissonance and schizophrenic behavior exhibited by @Dee who flew United precisely because it was convenient and then says, likely with a straight face, completely oblivious to the rich irony:
“Flew home to Maui yesterday, not an open seat on the plane. I wish customers would stop flying UA , that way things would change!”
Wow.
The consolidation of airlines [back] to the Big 3 (Delta absorbed Northwest, American swallowed US Air in addition to TWA many years earlier, United merger with Continental) has left the United States with an airline oligopoly. For many hub cities, you are stuck with one airline (at Atlanta, Dallas-Fort Worth, Newark, etc.). It’s the same reason Americans hate cable companies yet oftentimes have only one choice.