Hi. I am a Chairmans and have been flying US Airways for years. I have often wondered: Why do people act "normally" in shopping malls, movie theaters, and other public places, but when they are in an airport, act irate, belligerant, and boisterous? Has anyone noticed this? For instance, when people see planes, they just loose their minds! People, and I think CPs and Golds in particular, who typically are very gentle people, will often scream at gate agents because they did not receive upgrades; interestingly, I don't think anyone can recall the last time he saw another person yelling at a sales clerk at Best Buy for not having the latest must-have video game.

But it goes deeper than this. When people are in an airport, they start to think of airlines as something they really aren't; for instance, when passangers' flight are delayed or cancelled for reasons beyond control, they act as if they are entitled not only to being complimentarily rebooked, but also upgrades, hotel accomadations, meal vouchers, money, etc. Do these people EVER stop to think that maybe an airline is a company, and like all companies, trying to make money?

Just my 2 cents...

Please feel free to comment.

You may have a point, but I would suggest this is better suited to the OMNI forum.

You're right, there is a certain faction that does, essentially, just wig out once they are on airport grounds. It's always been that way, but as airline benefits have dwindled to the non-existant, the tantrums do seem to be more frequent and more visible.

One thing to keep in mind, however, is that the airlines trained most of us to EXPECT most of the things folks ask for these days, such as overnight accomodations, meal vouchers, upgrades, etc. Those were all standard giveaways back in the day if even the smallest of issues happened.

I well recall my father years ago approaching the podium (when our family's flight was changed) and asking if the new flight would be offering lunch. The agent punched several buttons on her computer, made a frowny face and immediately pulled out $50 in lunch vouchers for us to have lunch at the airport since the new flight had only a snack!!!! Dad was only asking -- none of us had any expectation that they would offer vouchers!!!!

And, anytime a pax got stuck due to a misconnect or even weather, if a pax was in transit, s/he was always given a quality hotel room for the night -- paid for in full by the airline. That wasn't a rare thing, either.

Not sure how old many of you FTers are, but if you're under, say 33 or so, you just might not know that this was standard practice for decades. For many of us who travelled back then, it is still a small slap in the face to get stranded in LGA (of all places) at 9pm and watch the last RJ bank of flights cancel for the night and have the carrier shrug their shoulders and tell you good luck finding a hotel for under $240!

Trust me. If I just paid $500 to $1000 dollars to see a movie or buy a dinner and some tells me I'm going to have to wait 3 hours because someone did not show up to the cook dinner, I'm not going to be one of the most enjoyable people to be around either.

The airlines want it both ways. The will not bend the rules for you, if you have a problem, but god forbid you expect them to be on time, etc. For what ever reason they think they can say something along the lines of "pardon our dust" and all is forgiven.

In other words, you reap what you sow.