I don’t know if everyone else is experiencing it too, or if I have just been lucky lately, but airline competence seems to have taken a dive. Fees are going up, service is going down, and apparently it is not just limited to Continental.

Last month I had a trip combining business and pleasure royally screwed up by Continental. Back-to-back flights with maintenance problems, re-routing which cost us a day on the beach in Greece, and lost luggage to boot – causing me to have to give a presentation to a prospective client in jeans and a tee shirt that I had been wearing for three days. And that was just the outbound. On the way home, they topped it off by damaging my luggage.

It wasn’t just me who was in the crosshairs either. The whole fiasco was so bad that at my layover in EWR, a Redcoat had to board the plane to apologize to the passengers for the actions of a gate agent. At least they bought the plane a round of drinks – we sure needed it.

I was so mad about the keystone cop routine and the pitiful 5,000 mile comp they gave me that I decided that KLM would get my business this month when I went back to Europe. Unfortunately, they don’t appear to be any more capable and my luggage didn’t survive the apparently complicated transfer from one KLM flight to another in AMS during a scheduled two-hour layover.

I am running out of airlines to fly out of IAH and don’t know which of these dolts to select for next month’s trip. It reminds me of the presidential campaign.

However, I am not just here to moan, but to also offer a Modest Proposal regarding compensation for such screwups.

As I mentioned, when Continental blew it on so many levels last month, they felt that 5,000 miles was suitable compensation. It struck me as comically inadequate, especially considering that they charged me $200 for a minor change in my ticket from one flight to another at pretty much NO inconvenience to Continental.

Now, while lurking on the boards today (and waiting for my luggage) I see that CO Insider has given us the heads up that fees will soon increase.

Soooooo, I would like to suggest the following: How about if Continental and the other airlines simply give us the option to use Miles to pay for the horrible inconveniences we occasionally cause them – like using their computer to schedule a move from a full plane to an empty one, etc…

Seems reasonable to me. In compensation issues, they are the ones who established Miles as the currency of choice.

miles to pay sounds good to me, but what are you packing your luggage in used walmart bags? either that or you have incredibly bad luck

You do have a point. But then, keep in mind that airlines will charge you a $100 to change your flight while they can just cancel without giving you any compensation.

Same for doctors and dentists.

Mileage redemption for fees sounds very attractive to me, but I do wonder whether it would eat into the "profits" from orphaned miles or low-value trip redemptions?

What fee`s are increasing?..If you think this is bad look at whats posted on Spirit Airlines post under other north american airlines post..someone mentioned that Spirit charges a fee for telephone reservations and chrages a fee for online reservations..@:-)

Spirit pulled the "web convenience fee" earlier this week. Allegient still charges one ($11.50/person) unless you buy the ticket at an airport ticket counter. AA now charges $5 for an online reward booking and $20 via the phone; there is no way to get one for "free."

Qantas's new reward scheme will let you redeem your miles at a penny/point for any revenue seat in their system, including all taxes and fees on the ticket. Delta has something similar as well. Both are horrendously bad values.

The problem with the "pay with points" scheme is the valuation. Do you value them at the rate that CO does selling them retail (3.2 cents each, plus tax), a penny/point or some other value? No matter what, the valuation is going to upset people.

Plus, there is a difference between fees (CO initiated charges) and payments to a 3rd party (taxes or other) that might skew the numbers, though I don't know how big a deal that part of it is.

I don't mind if CO wants to put a number on the points and let people use them as pseudo-cash as long as they don't cut the other options for redemption. But if they went to saver/standard rewards or $0.01/point I think that would be a horrible development in the program and would almost certainly cease earning in the program at that point. It is just not competitive considering the alliances and number of carriers out there.

CO has charged a phone fee for reward tickets for some time now. I would like to see this waived if there is a routing that cannot be booked online -- like an open-jaw route, etc. (I'm not holding my breath! )

I just paid this fee to book a reward ticket....if CO.com would have been working correctly and showed the same availability as the agent had, I could have done it myself online!!

I was once able to talk them out of the reward ticket fee for a reward ticket that couldn't be booked online. YMMV

i thought i read US charges $6 online??

also, spirit charges to reserve a seat, even $6 for the middle!