radonc1

I flew the red eye home from LAX-CLE Monday night and discovered that even in F, they only supply blankets, not pillows. I also discovered last weekend that in UA first each passenger on every flight receives a wrapped blanket and a large pillow. So, what I discovered to my dismay is that it is difficult for me to get comfortable and fall asleep without the pillow (However, there is little that interferes with my sleep ). So, this is a plea to CO to bring back the pillows in F, at least for the night flights. I would suggest that the amount of money saved by this eliminating this small amenity is far less than the image it creates in regards to the product.

In fact, I would suggest returning pillows and blankets to the entire plane. Passengers in coach could "rent" a pillow and blanket for a nominal fee (say $5 or a continental currency coupon) and pick them up on the way into the plane. You could just do it at check-in and the boarding pass would be marked, somewhat like what UA does when it sells upgrades for boarding, etc. The passengers would just leave the used blankets and pillows on the plane at the end of the trip for recycling. CO would gain some revenue and we would get pillows and blankets back. I bet that they would sell a lot more blankets and pillows on a red eye than TV buy ins and they would keep the money. You could even give the elites free pillows ^.

I do not have room in my carry on to pack a pillow. I would certainly like to make CO a customer friendly airline. I think that the above idea would both pay for itself and improve the image of CO.

dlen111

you must have gotten a bum flight. each CO flight has a folded blanket (sometimes wrapped in plastic) and a pillow on each seat in F and a large number of each in the overheads for the Y cabin.

the cleaners must have ran out, or neglected to bring them on board. im surprised the FA's did try to rememdy the situation before departure.

Steph3n

First has them, coach only has some blankets now on red eyes, but not many.

This was a cut 'due to H1N1'

sdm1130

Pillows have been cut completely. Blankets should be stocked at 50% in F and no blankets in Y unless it is a red eye flight, in which case there should be blankets for every seat in F and Y.

Well said.

Critic

More likely a cut due to weight. We don't think about pillows weighing anything, but when you've got a couple hundred crammed into a plastic sack, the weight adds up. And the airlines are trying to shave weight wherever they can, because weight = fuel = lost profit.

Laughable

This is what a FA told the pax next to me on a flight when he asked about a pillow (we were seated in F).

JDS@LAX

Aaaah remember the days when Gordon welcomed you on the CO safety video and mentioned items such as "pillows and blankets and meals at meal times... things that make customer satisfaction rank so high here at Continental"?!

I get it if its just b/c of H1N1, but otherwise it surprises me that an airline like CO who claims to have amenities that are a cut above the rest would do this...

TWA Fan 1

When AA cut pillows and blankets in 2006, they reported this resulted in an annual savings of $600,000.

In 2006, AA's operating expenses were about $22 billion, and the savings realized by cutting pillows and blankets was approximately 0.00003%.

AA realized that the cut made them seem petty and hurt their image with customers and have since brought back blankets (although not pillows) in some flights in Y.

The savings are obviously trivial. And I also can't understand why, if the motivation is the H1N1 virus, why blankets remain in FC. Don't people in FC also get sick?

Perhaps it is an attempt to free up as much space as possible on the overhead bins, now that the checked baggage fees have increased the number of bags being carried on.

controller1

The blankets in FC are laundered and wrapped in plastic between uses.

TWA Fan 1

That makes sense.

And clearly, this expense is far in excess of the way blankets were traditionally used on airliners, namely used and reused without ever being cleaned until they were stolen or replaced.

bocastephen

I hate these types of service cuts which reduce the quality of the product (like the magazines being suspended due to a vendor problem, then never coming back) - but - ask yourself these questions:

A) would you eat your dinner off plate someone else just finished eating from?

B) would you drink from a glass the FA took unclean from another customer?

C) would you wipe your face with a hot towel that was never cleaned or disinfected?

If you answer no to any of these questions, it's worthwhile to invest in your own travel kit with an inflatable pillow and small warm throw that you can keep clean.

Swine flu or not, resting your head on a pillow that is probably crawling with lice or other unsightly critters is not the best way to experience a good airline product.

pptp

Along those lines, what kind of h*ll would you raise if you found out that the hotel you've been staying in only changed pillow cases every other guest??


(In fairness to CO, I don't think that any vendor currently exists to supply magazines to airlines)

TWA Fan 1

All those examples are powerful and unpleasant, agreed.

On the other hand, would you:

1. Sit on an airline seat thousands of people have sat on before you and which has never been disinfected?

2. Use a lavatory hundreds of people have used before you?

3. Breathe the recirculated air that is carrying vectors of disease from any other sick passengers in the cabin?

Of course, the asnwer is you have no choice.

While I'm certainly no big proponent of those horrible airline pillows (not only because they're unhealthy, but also because they're horribly uncomfortable), the fact is that the health risks addressed by removing pillows remain on each a/c because you can't fully disinfect seats after each flight, you can't not use the lav, and you can't not breathe the air.

Finally, as far as lice being present on the pillows. Perhaps. But one might imagine that by removing pillows, the result would be simply that lice would now be more prevalent on the seats themselves, since most people will not bring their own pillow.

pptp

1. I didn't know it was possible to catch something via the seat of your pants.

2. Do it all the time in theaters, malls, restaurants, airports etc. Pretty easy to avoid contagions if you use common sense (the old paper-towel-on-the-door-handle trick).

3. Modern aircraft air is some of the cleanest you can breath in a public place. It's HEPA filtered and flows from the top of the cabin to the bottom. What other public places use HEPA filters?



With a pillow, you have a direct mode of transfer -- mouth to mouth, saliva to face, rear end to face --- blech!!!!

bocastephen

I always check it for leftover debris - plus it's not touching my skin.
I rarely use the lav, never sit on the seat without laying down copious amounts of protective paper and always wash thoroughly, not touching a surface or door handle after cleansing. As to the people I spot walking into the lav wearing only their socks or bare feet - gross!

The air is not recycled on newer aircraft (which CO flies) - it's mostly fresh with a highly filtered mix. The 787s (if they ever show up in my lifetime) will improve the air even further.

On the fabric coach seats, perhaps (and I didn't think of that, so thanks for the grossout moment), but not the leather F seats. I have an inflatable neck pillow that keeps my face and head off the seat - and I've invested in a super-comfy self-inflating seat pad which will keep my rear off the seat bottom.