BearX220

Exactly right. Airlines blaming their horrible standards on "what customers have told us they want" is like abusive spouses blaming their behavior on things their partners did to set them off. "Customers get what they want" is one of the silliest, most provably false canards in this business.

Excellent post. ^ That last taunt, BTW, generally comes from fully subsidized corporate travelers who, to paraphrase Ann Richards, were born on third base, status-wise, and think they hit a triple.

HMPS

All I want is airlines stop using algorythms to "manupilate" fares !

airplanegod

Mine unfortunately won't happen, but here they are:

1. Throw us in economy a pack of peanuts/bag of chips or something. If Delta, Jetblue, and Southwest can do it, AA/US, UA, VX etc can do it.

2. While I understand times are changing and it is more economical, the aviation geek in me is sick and tired of seeing nothing but A320's and 737's at airports. What ever happened to some variety in aircraft choices? The 757, 767, MD80, 747's etc will all be missed when they are gone.

3. The US airlines are already behind in the world domestically with food offerings, fees, and seat comfort. Why do they feel the need to continue to make everyone in back miserable? Try to stand out from the others instead of following every one else off the cliff...

usafwso

In addition while not the airlines responsibility, lets get rid of those annoying TSA safety announcements over the PA system.

Calchas

It's not what I'm demanding.

Markets aren't perfect.

simpleflyer

I appreciate that people are doing a lot of complaining, but your comparison isn't apt.

When one buys and drives a car, one chooses who will be one's companions and how many for the trip. That same Hyundai is a lot more comfortable if it carries 2 rather than 4, since in the former case one can push back the front seats to the max for maximum legroom, whilst using the remaining rear seat area for luggage and yes, snacks and treats for the journey. Whereas I may have to commit to buying an seat on a flight, long before I know how full the plane will be at actual departure.

I can no more influence what my fellow passengers will settle for in the way of price and service than I can influence them not to do any number of comfort-destroying things once they board (if you spend any amount of time here this point will be made many times by any number of people.) The actions of the group as a whole might have influence on what the airline's product and price point will be, but it's a group of independent individuals, not a synchronized team. In other words, the decisions of the general public are not something for an individual to control. As individuals, we don't decide a ding-dong thing, except 'yes' or 'no' to buy one of a very fixed number of choices. Again, the car analogy isn't apt, because with cars, one has many more graduations of price point between Hyundai and Porsche, than exist between economy and business class.

simpleflyer

Calchas, you said in eight or so words what I took many more to say and not as well.

Indeed, that is it: markets aren't perfect, and definitely not the market for economy seating. "You get what you pay for" cannot apply in a situation where the relationship between product and price is not a straight line (If I call up and offer to pay 25 per cent more, the airlines will not put me on hold whilst they configure the seat and seat space to be 25 per cent bigger, the line to get in 25 per cent shorter, my bag allowance 25 per cent bigger, and so on, and so on.)

sky303

LOL. Reminds me of the time I was on a MX turned WX turned CX flight from LGA to ORF. The agent kept making announcements saying that our flight to Norfork was delayed by "x" minutes.

relangford

All I want for Christmas is for airlines to…

Allow ME to choose my fare class on all airlines' websites (thanks, DL, you do).

Make redeeming mileage awards at least less complicated that the Income Tax Regs.

Force passengers farther back to take their carry-ons with them and not put them in First Class overheads.

Prevent seat backs from moving into the comfort zone (e.g., food or computer on the tray table) of the passenger behind.

No more advertisements in the PA announcements.

IMHO, the airlines mostly do the first part; the second is the unions cause the adversarial relationship by petty "demands" in each contract renewal. How about, just extend the existing contract without trying to "get more" without "doing more"?

AA_EXP09

release more Z/U space

pinniped

Can you explain what you mean by that? I use both of those sites and have never seen that type of interface.

(Since we're quite a few posts later, I took this to be a response to a post about having a blank text box where you'd enter an airfare you were willing to pay. Closest thing I've seen to this is the Travelocity Dream Map, and I'm not really sure if that exists anymore. You can also input a specific string of airports into Google ITA with the "+300 miles" setting to *kind of* generate the same effect for a given country or region.)

clg7996

The foot rest idea is great! I would love that. When I flew Air France back in the 1990's in coach they had those.

pinniped

But generally in the auto industry, if a $12k Hyundai jumped to $15k, you'd get a better car. There would be *something* to that $3,000 increase besides Hyundai using lobbyists and political clout to eliminate competitors and arbitrarily raise the price by 25% and deliver a worse product.

Industry reviewers may love or hate the $3,000 worth of new baubles on the car, but there would be *some* explanation for it.

The auto industry has its own problems, but I will give them credit for this: the Hyundai you buy today is a lot better in every regard from the Hyundai you bought 20 years ago. (Whether this holds true for high-end cars, I don't know. No offense intended to the 1994 line of Lambos... ) If a comparable model now costs more, there is at least some justification behind it. Totally the opposite of air travel...

NYCRuss

Serve decent whisky. Is Elijah Craig 12 and Highland Park 12 really too much to ask for?

Tchiowa

Sorry, but you're wrong. The airlines offered better service. At a higher price. The consumer turned them down. If I offer a flight that includes a decent seat, decent food, no charge for bags, and another airline offers a smaller seat, no food, charge for bags, but charges $100 less for the ticket the customers stream to the lower costs. So my airline has a choice: adapt or close the doors.

You can get a better seat now. Just pay for it. People won't do that.

If an airline, or any other business, responds to competition you can only blame the customer for that.

You got out-voted by the majority of customers.


They also had arm rests in Coach that went up all the way to the seat back, on all seats. So you could dash to the back of the plane, find 3 empty seats together, and have yourself a bed.