Originally Posted by
WestCoastPDX
Minor rant, but I don’t understand at all the glee and delight people take in demanding compensation for every inconvenience they are faced with.
It’s often the first question breathlessly out of people’s mouth ‘how much compensation can I get!’
I don’t pay the airline extra when they get me there early.
I don’t tip them or pay the fare difference when they upgrade me to F.
When there is a delay, I accept it as a part of travel. The airline wants to get me where I am going as much as I want them to. I don’t understand the instant desire to be compensated for everything.
Not trying to pick on you OP, I’m sure you stressed yourself out knowing a part of your son’s trip didn’t go as planned.
But, just a macro question.
I find it really unseemly that everyone has their pitchforks up at every misconnect / delay / diversion.
(and then of course, these people wonder what happened to the golden age of aviation...)
At least to speak from my POV:
-A good portion of upgrades to F, at least domestically, serve to allow airlines to accommodate overbooks in Y. An unpaid bump up to F is nice, but in a very strange way I'm actually helping the airline in a sense.
-On the other hand, I think we've (collectively) become mercenary because the airlines have as well. I tend to see there as being a collective indignity at things such as Basic Economy (which in many places didn't provide a lower fare but rather resulted in pax paying more for the "old" non-BE fare), bag fees, reduced legroom, airports with problems, and so on. I once explained this to the head of an FFP (I will
not say which one it was at the time): Due to how things have evolved, passengers and airlines fundamentally have an adversarial relationship in many respects.
--And of course, there is
definitely a feeling that if I'm thrown off my flight because the airline sold too many tickets (as opposed to an "Act of God" situation), they rather get what's coming to them.