Originally Posted by
PresRDC
The thing about airlines is that they are "compensation whores" and are wlays looking to get money out of airframe and powerplant manufacturers for performance shortfalls. It's just the way the game is played.
You'd be hard pressed to find an airframe or powerplant, no matter how successful, that has not been the subject of airline compensation claims.
In other words, I wouldn't base your opinion on the merits of the 346 on the fact that airlines are complaining that it underperforms.
If a manufacturer of >anything< contractually promises a set of performance values to his potential buyers, they buy on that basis, and then are financially damaged when the manufacturer fails to deliver what he promised, are you not being quite disingenuous in calling the buyer a "whore"? Fuzzy-haired, perhaps? And although the airline passenger may or may not share some of that suffering, this passenger at least would like to know when an airplane manufacturer seems to habitually over-promise. In some circles it's called lying, and humans quickly develop a distrust for persons/entities who engage in that.