Dawgfan6291

yeah but no. not at all actually.

If lines and crowds were anecdotes Delta wouldn't be changing policy. But they have. Several times.

Adam1222

I will assume you are in good faith misunderstanding what I plainly said. Of course I agree there are lines at times at certain skyclubs. What I questioned was whether anyone has actually experienced being denied access every time they visit a Skyclub because they exclusively travel with 40 minute layovers and have lines everytime they visit, thus making the benefit of the card worthless. Kind regards.

Dawgfan6291

Okay. Nope you are right. I'm dumb today.
I thought you just were kinda using the 40 minutes thing as an example but now I get your point and I agree. Sorry about that.

Goodoldflyer

No, they're not the only ones. There is plenty to go around.

I'm OK with letting the market set prices. And salaries. What I object to is well-meaning but disastrous interference in the markets. A certain amount of government aid really helped us get through the pandemic. But there was opportunism in the last covid aid package, and it went straight to the inflation line of the balance sheet, while destroying some folks' initiative. That's a tragedy. We don't need to pay off people's debts. We need to increase job opportunities.

To be clear, though, there is still plenty of demand for airline services. Airlines are short on workers for multiple reasons. We're right to demand they do some hiring, and they'll have to pay market wages in order to accommodate our needs. There is a lot of opportunity there that should be good for both the airlines and workers.

troyintn

Without getting too political as to the why's I just want the level of service I paid for and at the moment I am not getting it. I hear a lot of false promises from Ed and the executive team but have only seen small minor improvemnts. I can maybe get some one at the Diamond desk in under 30 minutes, but then they need to call someone to help them and are put on hold for an hour.

drminn

Sounds a lot like the airlines to me - oh, you want to bring a bag, that'll be extra, you want a seat - that'll be extra, you want some water - you get my drift. I guess what's good for the goose is good for the gander.

Goodoldflyer

What does "make things right" even mean?

Please provide the source of these hard numbers. I'm willing to entertain your premise if you can show me where you got the numbers, so I can give them the attention they deserve.

Goodoldflyer

The airlines did that because people shop on trip price, not amenity. Consumers need to shop for what they want. If the consumer shops by cheapest price (and doesn't care if the price includes bags, or seat selection), then they should be prepared to pay extra for those things. The European airlines seem to have this down to a fine art. They charge for bags, seat selection, etc.

O'Leary at Ryanair wanted to charge for toilets. Thank gosh he got a lot of pushback on that.

As far as workers go, we need people to work for society to function. So we need the government to lay off the "Every good and service is a human right" concept, which gives people an option not to work for a living. We can't pay people's rent, health care, and food and still expect them to go to work.

emma dog

I feel we’re going full OMNI now. It really isn’t possible to not work and have government support allowing one to remain alive, let alone live comfortably. Unemployment benefits last only so long and they money you get isn’t enough to even pay my grocery bill in Georgia. Forget about rent being paid —and homeless shelters have been torn down in most major cities and not been replaced.

Airlines faced a pilot shortage long before COVID for a variety of factors, including higher requirements for being hired, diminished pipeline from the military, and decreased entry into the pipeline due to the high training cost and job security uncertainties. Other employee groups have reasons they are having difficulty attracting folks, including decreased benefits (ground worker jobs are now outsourced reducing the value of flight benefits) and insufficient wages.

If you had a choice between earning $15/hr working at a local McDonalds or driving to the airport, parking away from the terminal, going through security, etc, and earning $15.50 at the airport McDonalds, what would you do? The difficulty finding workers is the essence of what fiscal conservatives always say they want: the free market is speaking. Employees are collectively saying they don’t want to work for the collective package they’re being offered. Now it’s time for employers to figure out how to meet these folks in a place that works for both parties.

Goodoldflyer

Part of the reason we have a problem is because the government attempted to give people support, and overdid it, triggering inflation. This continued after COVID. We were literally paying people to stay home. Guess what? People are staying home. There's too much money chasing too few goods/services.

As for your McDonald's example, I've noticed that the airport McDonald's charges significantly more than other McDonald's. As they're basically printing money, yeah, I'd expect them to pay more.

I'm all for a market solution. I believe we've stopped giving people lucrative reasons not to work, but for some reason, now they want to pay off student loans, even for those making plenty of money. Stop trying to help, and let the markets work. Let people pay back the money they borrowed.

Here's part of the problem: https://time.com/6111245/young-workers-quitting/ People have decided they don't want to work, and have figured out how they don't need to. Hard to create a consumer out of someone who doesn't think they need anything.

People want shorter lines at the clubs? STOP GOING! Don't buy membership, and don't get a credit card. Poof! They'll be less crowded. But if every time airlines propose a solution people say "But wait, that might affect MY access!" guess what's going to happen?

It's hard for me to blame the airlines for trying to stay in business. But I do think we need to hold them responsible for planning flights. They should know if they have pilots or not.

emma dog

Per-capita federal COVID spending was roughly $5000-8000 depending on the state. This includes outlays to individuals, businesses, and hospitals. Source: https://www.usaspending.gov/disaster...?publicLaw=all This money is long gone for most individuals. And inflation is multifactorial. Yes, federal funds definitely played a role in this. However, other items playing a role are:
-Supply chain shortage
-Less money was spent during covid and so people had savings and are spending now
-Ukraine war
-Other countries spending on their own covid relief
-Decreased labor force participation/people retiring early
-Rising wages
-Lower production/availability of commodities
-Tariffs on Chinese goods
-Anticipation of rising costs leading to preemptive price increases
-Companies raising prices to juice their balance sheets (because they can/the market will bear it)

inflation isn't causing people to stay home from work. People are staying home because they like staying home... I know many two income households where one person is now staying home because they discovered they can afford it and they think it improves their family's quality of living. Similarly, like many parents, I've told my teenagers to not get jobs because they don't need the money and I don't want the household getting exposure to COVID through a minimum wage job.

DLASflyer

Goodoldflyer

The Federal government printing $7 trillion without revenues had an effect on inflation. And now, like you said, it is combined with other world events (Ukraine, flush savings accounts, supply chain). Too much money chasing too few goods is the recipe for inflation.

Your example (telling your kids not to get jobs) is exactly what I'm talking about. A lot of the money the government was sending out last year helped make people feel pretty flush. Yes, the effects will outlast the money and most people's savings (which have, by the way, diminished in value). The government has a habit of solving a problem with a bigger problem.

emma dog

Except... I didn't get a dime from the government. The only reasons my teenagers would need to work are to learn the lessons of work... how to get along in the workplace, living with structure, and how to make the boss happy. I'd rather them not work at the local fast food joint and be exposed to COVID. I figure they can learn similar lessons volunteering online.

physicsdude

At this point, I think we can move this thread to DL continues to weaken operationally (Summer 2022 Meltdown) since people are talking about the operational issues and their thought process behind it.