Washington Post: Gripes about air travel have...people swearing off certain carriers
Aug 23, 2015, 8:18 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 68
Washington Post: Gripes about air travel have...people swearing off certain carriers
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifes...5d8_story.html
Headline should read - "People continue to remain ignorant or have unrealistic expectations about flying"
A few of the complaints highlighted about this article:
having to repack after luggage was deemed overweight
charged $2 for coffee on a budge airline
Spirit airlines adding "hidden fees"
I don't have any connections to an airline, but I do get aggravated when a story is so slanted - still coming to grips that the Washington Post is not labeling this story an "editorial" given the author's background - and the complaints fall into the "Really?" category (I think everyone knows that there is some type of weight restriction on checked baggage).
Headline should read - "People continue to remain ignorant or have unrealistic expectations about flying"
A few of the complaints highlighted about this article:
having to repack after luggage was deemed overweight
charged $2 for coffee on a budge airline
Spirit airlines adding "hidden fees"
I don't have any connections to an airline, but I do get aggravated when a story is so slanted - still coming to grips that the Washington Post is not labeling this story an "editorial" given the author's background - and the complaints fall into the "Really?" category (I think everyone knows that there is some type of weight restriction on checked baggage).
Aug 23, 2015, 8:15 pm
#2
Join Date: May 2000
Location: Houston, TX, USA
Programs: UA 1K, AA Lifetime Platinum, DL Platinum, Honors Diamond, Bonvoy Titanium, Hertz Platinum
Posts: 7,971
I didn't even have to click on the link to know who the author was. I've said it before and will say it again: why someone that apparently hates travel and despises travel providers is paid to be a travel writer, I will never understand.
Sep 15, 2015, 3:18 pm
#3
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: USA
Programs: DL PM
Posts: 195
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifes...5d8_story.html
Headline should read - "People continue to remain ignorant or have unrealistic expectations about flying"
A few of the complaints highlighted about this article:
having to repack after luggage was deemed overweight
charged $2 for coffee on a budge airline
Spirit airlines adding "hidden fees"
I don't have any connections to an airline, but I do get aggravated when a story is so slanted - still coming to grips that the Washington Post is not labeling this story an "editorial" given the author's background - and the complaints fall into the "Really?" category (I think everyone knows that there is some type of weight restriction on checked baggage).
Headline should read - "People continue to remain ignorant or have unrealistic expectations about flying"
A few of the complaints highlighted about this article:
having to repack after luggage was deemed overweight
charged $2 for coffee on a budge airline
Spirit airlines adding "hidden fees"
I don't have any connections to an airline, but I do get aggravated when a story is so slanted - still coming to grips that the Washington Post is not labeling this story an "editorial" given the author's background - and the complaints fall into the "Really?" category (I think everyone knows that there is some type of weight restriction on checked baggage).
"A subset of the American population continues to exhibit a lack of basic reading comprehension skills."
This isn't even a case of the info being buried in the T&C. The LCCs make it very clear that they will charge you for everything. All carriers describe weight and size limits for bags.
Sep 16, 2015, 10:44 am
#4
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Baltimore, MD USA
Programs: Southwest Rapid Rewards. Tha... that's about it.
Posts: 4,332
I have always been amazed at the audacity some people have, trying to get something they didn't pay for or earn by complaining about how it should have been given them free.
It goes far beyond airlines. I've seen people in stores arguing with managers that something should be given to them at a ridiculous discount because it was sitting on the wrong shelf (some customer moved a $300 TV to the shelf where the $100 TVs are and the store is supposed to give it to whatever customer finds it for 66% off?) I've seen people in restaurants order something, eat more than half of it, and send it back as "inedible" and demand something else - then demand that the replacement be taken off the bill entirely.
One of my favorites was a family of four who went into a cheap Chinese buffet (nice little neighborhood place, I ate there about once or twice a month), paid for ONE person, and all four tried to eat a meal. The manager was summoned by the poor waitress (who had very little English and had difficulty understanding the screeching of the family), and eventually they settled on paying for one extra person - essentially getting two meals for the price of one. But while the mother went to the register to pay the extra fee, the father was loading a plastic bag with steamed crabs, despite the fact that no all-you-can-eat buffet in Maryland allows take-out from the buffet, unless you buy the per-pound box. Naturally, the kids of this family were busy trashing the buffet and sticking their hands in the chocolate fountain while all of this went on.
"I'm Entitled" seems to be the new American motto, especially when it comes to a large corporation. And airlines get an unfair share of that attitude.
I've read one or two of his pieces in the past and had the same reaction.
He's of the same mindset as one of the movie critics on USAToday who never met an action movie she didn't despise, yet was unfailingly assigned to review all of the action movies for several years. She couldn't get past her own dislike of the genre enough to judge a movie on its own merits. I only read her reviews because it was amusing to compare them to the reality.
It goes far beyond airlines. I've seen people in stores arguing with managers that something should be given to them at a ridiculous discount because it was sitting on the wrong shelf (some customer moved a $300 TV to the shelf where the $100 TVs are and the store is supposed to give it to whatever customer finds it for 66% off?) I've seen people in restaurants order something, eat more than half of it, and send it back as "inedible" and demand something else - then demand that the replacement be taken off the bill entirely.
One of my favorites was a family of four who went into a cheap Chinese buffet (nice little neighborhood place, I ate there about once or twice a month), paid for ONE person, and all four tried to eat a meal. The manager was summoned by the poor waitress (who had very little English and had difficulty understanding the screeching of the family), and eventually they settled on paying for one extra person - essentially getting two meals for the price of one. But while the mother went to the register to pay the extra fee, the father was loading a plastic bag with steamed crabs, despite the fact that no all-you-can-eat buffet in Maryland allows take-out from the buffet, unless you buy the per-pound box. Naturally, the kids of this family were busy trashing the buffet and sticking their hands in the chocolate fountain while all of this went on.
"I'm Entitled" seems to be the new American motto, especially when it comes to a large corporation. And airlines get an unfair share of that attitude.
He's of the same mindset as one of the movie critics on USAToday who never met an action movie she didn't despise, yet was unfailingly assigned to review all of the action movies for several years. She couldn't get past her own dislike of the genre enough to judge a movie on its own merits. I only read her reviews because it was amusing to compare them to the reality.