Could be...then again the only thing I KNOW about the airline business is that if I ran one, I would lose my shirt in no time.

I don't know which is an easier way to lose money: farming, insuring Mars probes or the airline business.

Easy:
- Credits based on miles flown
1 - 500 miles - 1 credit
501 - 1000 - 2 credits
etc...
- Bonus credits for full fares
- 3 fare classes - Full fare, discount fare, and el-cheapo fare
- 1 roomy class for everyone (like Midwest Express).
- NO middle seats (I guess that means I'd buy 717's)
- Big Overhead bins
- At least 5% of seats can be bought with credits - untill the flight sells out
(about 4 - 6 seats per flight).
- No blackouts, rule buster, etc...
(you snooze, you lose)
- Decent food on flights over 3 hours
(I'd comp the 1st drink too).
- No elite status - everone gets treated like people instead of cattle.
- PTV's like JetBlue with on-demand movies
(some free, some PPV)
- "Airplane" ALWAYS a free on-demand movie
(Surely you can't be serious - I am, and stop calling me Shirly)
- Credits could be used to buy drinks, PPV movies, etc...

Aren't the rules spelled out pretty well with existing airlines? Or do you mean that the carry-on rules would never be bent?

(FT edited out "sleuth" because you misspelled it, and it thinks you typed a word that means selling oneself )

But the whole point of First Class being in the front of the plane is so F passengers don't have to walk all the way to the back when boarding, and they don't have to walk all the way to the front when deplaning, waiting for coach passengers to deplane first. Look at how much trouble some people go to just to sit in the forward section of coach. Putting F in the back makes no sense at all. You can keep out coach passengers just as easily regardless of where the F cabin is located.


What's the point of First Class, then? Who would buy an F ticket and carry a meal on board?

How can you have a seating section that purports to serve working (alone) or sleeping passengers at the same time as talking passengers? Some adults talk loudly.

You really need to have a work alone/sleep section and a talking section within the no-kid section (I take it the kid section is a free-for-all w.r.t. talking vs sleeping?)

If someone books a seat in the work/sleep section and strikes up a conversation with the adjacent passenger, they will have to get up and move to the talking section. If the flight is full, they'll have to negotiate with talking passengers to trade seats. Or, you can block off a quarter of the seats in each subsection of the 'no-kid' zone so people can switch between sleeping and talking sections more easily.

That's a waste of space. People spend most of their time in their seat, not on the toilet (unless you get stuck in it by not standing up before flushing ). Use extra space for seats, not lavatories.


Buy DC-9's, MD-80's, DC-8's, or 727's. Problem solved.

Why? Seems like a waste of law enforcement training, unless you anticipate a marketing campaign towards recently released felons.

Sounds OK.

With your 'no-kid' zones and mandatory safety seats, why don't you simplify matters and call it Club Airline? (adults only)

Apparently you have a disdain for children, so rather than having your narc FA's kick-box parents who take their infants out of their seats for breastfeeding during cruise, follow the K.I.S.S. principle and make your airline adults-only.



[This message has been edited by JS (edited 02-28-2002).]

Dear JS, I respect the amount of time you spent reading my post. Thank you!

For several years I worked for an oil company. I had the task of organizing the use of the corporate jets. If someone wanted to ride, I had to sign off their 'ticket'. Talk about popular! Birthdays were a blast.

We had an assortment of aircraft. The most popular among the big wigs were the ones which had the passenger compartment in the rear and the boardroom/meeting facility/staff areas forward. The big guys liked having their privacy.

The most favorate was a concerted 727. The bathroom actually had a bath tub, but that's another story. The 'little people' rode up front, chiefs in the rear.

We also had an assortment of smaller jets. Those were the good old days. My office organized the cattering, flowers etc.

So I have a little history with planes. I'll give you that flying commercial is a fish from a different ocean, but I think if you gave FC pax more privacy on narrow bodies, they would be willing to buy more tickets.

As it is now, unless you wait back in a secluded holding area, and you board with everyone else--on narrow bodies being in FC is 'show and THEY tell'.

As for the extra room in the lav--obviously you have never tried to pull up a pair of Sheer Energy panty hose in an airplane lav!!

As service declines on most airlines, I believe that a service-determined company will find a market.

I'm not anti-kid--I like kids to be safe. It's the elder woman in me.

Niche airlines are the only ones that have much of a chance of being profitable in all markets. Unfortunately, from the customer's standpoint, niche airlines can't really service the needs of travelers who want or need to visit a variety of places.

I wouldn't want to start my own airline for that reason. Owning WN would be fine, but as the owner, living in NYC, I'd never be able to fly my own airline since they don't service the major airports here. Furthermore, unlike a Star or OW alliance which can get me anywhere in the world, WN can't even get me out of the country.

To me, it would be like owning a local chain of fast food restaurants, but having to eat at McDonalds or Burger King all the time.

d

Forget the hot pants...

Hooters Airlines! Can't you see the owl on the tail of the airplane?

I have never actually gone to Hooters but the concept sounds valid. All the airline food could be purchased from the local Hooters. $$$$

Doppy, you always make a lot of sense! Yes, a nitch airline is a huge risk. Now that my chances of catching a ride on an executive jet are slim to none, I've learned to fly the so-called friendly skies.

What we lack now is 'civility', a word my mother loved to use.

Flying is now a chore!

That is so darn sad. WN does make it better if you can deal with their system, but WN can't take me to Europe.

Not long ago I was on an AA flight where a mother was flying home in a rush because her son had been killed. From time to time she was sobbing. A kind FA offered to help and got the whole story. (The woman was seated behind me, I couldn't miss the story). By the time we landed in ORD, the FA had arranged that the woman be escorted from the plane through customs etc. The FA offered to drive the woman herself if other arrangments didn't turn up!

I waited with the woman at baggage claim (there's no getting around that) and watched AA people take her in hand and make the situation as smooth as possible.

It is entirely possible to fly in a civil atmosphere where we are if not nice, polite to each other!

I am tired of flying in situations where people argue over who gets overhead storage space and the ARM REST of all things!

I think you're on the right track oldpenny16 with civility.

If I started a new airline, I'd focus on it. Only nice FAs, pilots, gate/ticket/res agents AND customers.

Rude businessmen who push other people out of line because they're "flying first class" (especially when the people they push out of line are also in FC) would be asked not to fly with us again. Pax who are rude/drunk/belligerant would be asked not to fly again. Pax who yell at the gate agent to get an upgrade, pax who upgrade themselves by sneaking into FC seats, etc.

Unfortunately, I run into so many jerks when traveling, I'm worried that 90% of my customers would be asked not to fly with us again.

Instead of blaming the FAA for taking the fun out of flying, most people should blame themselves. If it were the FAA's fault, once you got in the air everything would be fine and you'd have a great time, since the FAA is only involved in ground security. That's not the case, there are way too many rude pax and FAs. The FAA can't do much about that.

If only people would try not to be such jerks when they fly.... I'm not even asking for people to be nice, just not be jerks.

d