So, I flew back to school from spring break yesterday, therefore, it’s time for a new pit thread. A few minor complaints:
If I book a ticket on Northwest, I want to fly Northwest. I don’t want my return trip to be with fucking Delta. Would’ve been nice to tell me this before I paid for the ticket, dipwads. I don’t give a fuck that you’re “chair partners” or whatever the fuck, Delta blows.
The Philadelphia Airport can kiss my ass. Is it too much to ask to, for once, not sit out on the runway for a goddamn hour? Seriously. Join the twentieth century and get some digital clocks or something. Jerks.
Also, if you change the fucking gate a flight leaves from, make a goddamn announcement. Assholes.
So, I get to Cincinnati late, and dash across the airport. I think that my nice hour-long layover, in which I planned to eat dinner, has been ruined. I arrive at the gate, and…hey, my 8:30 flight is leaving at 10:10! Great! You could’ve told us this when you announced gate info on the arriving plane, no? Idiots.
If you delay a flight by nearly two hours, could you please have someone at the gate to answer questions? Or at the very least, have someone at the information desk who can give you information? I wandered forlornly from gate to gate for half an hour, trying to find someone who’d tell me the reason for the delay, to increase my chances of getting them to pay for a cab ride back to school, since I had no hope of making my shuttle. Half a fucking hour to find someone who knows more than flight numbers? Thanks, assmonkeys.
Dear pilot: I know you have a very stressful and demanding job, what with the sitting in front of the mostly-computerized controls and chilling out for several hours. But could you please learn to fly well enough so that it doesn’t feel as if we’re on a fucking roller-coaster dotted with speed bumps for two and a half hours? I’d appreciate it. Loser.
“Okay, but we need to take care of everyone with lost luggage first” is not what I want to hear when I present you with a slip for a transportation voucher. Miserable corporate-programed drones, the lot of you.
Yeah, after you make me miss my shuttle by over an hour, tell me “Just go outside and hail a cab, it shouldn’t take more than half an hour for one to come by” is really, really not what I want to hear. In fact, some people would consider you a total dick for telling a young woman “Go wait outside, mostly alone, in the dark.” Thoughtless pigs.
So, rather than getting back to my dorm at about midnight, I got back at about 2 AM. Thanks, airlines! I love the way that I pay you to get me from point a to point b at x time, and I pay the entire fare, but you don’t hold up your end of the contract.
Air travel: the only consumer industry in which, apparently, the seller has no obligation whatsoever to do what you pay them to do. :mad:
For what it’s worth, write an email to the customer service department. I had a miserable flight with United this past summer (sat on the runway for 5 hours only to be sent back to the gate because the plane RAN OUT of fuel- and then they RUINED my suitcase…huge gashes, stuff falling out, covered in oil or some other black substance. Then their stupid employees actually got angry at me when I calmy asked where I could get my luggage- he stood up, threw up his arms, cussed me out and walked away from the desk…yeah) and I wrote them a letter about how miserable of a time I had. They sent me $400 in vouchers that I could use anywhere in the world. I hate United now and will not fly them so a friend got the vouchers, but at least I got something for my troubles.
Unfortunately, there is no incentive for change. People are hardly going to stop flying. A person may switch carriers he typically uses; but, in my opinion, carrier service is universally poor and price reductions will always garner fares. The industry, collectively, operates under pretty poor operational and customer service doctrines because they know people have few alternatives. A stretched analogy: Only one physician in the world can perform the life-saving coronary bypass surgery you require; and he performs it exceptionally. But he keeps fondling you during appointments under “examination” guise, seemingly luring at your body parts and calling you a degenerate asshole retard. Are you going to allow yourself to die because the only man who can save it is an unredeemable prick?
You sound like every spokesperson for every major airline that’s been on the brink of financial ruin. You’re wrong. Those that turn around do so because they prove you wrong, and those that fail do so because they believed you. The new breed of airlines suceed because you’re everything they regard as meaningless.
Yep, those pilots have got nothing better to do than slide that aircraft all over the sky just to piss you off. I suppose it didn’t cross your mind that weather conditions might have played a part in your “fucking roller-coaster ride”.
What a whinging plonker you are.
Delays are a fact of life in the airline industry. They’ll happen for any number of reasons including weather conditions, broken airplanes, and slow airport functions. When you have a few delays it can easily start a domino effect on other planes and you end up with countless other delays throughout the whole system.
Nobody hates delays more than the flight crew. Don’t blame them.
Yes, and that’s what the problem was. I’m not a pilot and I don’t know for certain, but on almost every other turbulant flight I’ve been on, the pilot makes an announcement along the lines of “Sorry for the turbulance, I’m working on finding an altitude where it’s not as bad.” This did not happen, and I’m doubtful that it was an entirely unavoidable problem.
Sometimes the pilot is really good with announcements, and sometimes he isn’t. I’ve heard pilots say, “there’s turbulence at X altitude, we’re going to go to Y altitude.” That doesn’t always work, though. They sometimes explain that Y was turbulent, too, and other times they don’t. I’m pretty sure they aren’t just sitting back and enjoying the rough ride. If nothing else, it makes the flight attendants’ job harder.
I’m not a pilot either, but hopefully someone who is will comment here. I’m sure there are a number of factors involved in avoiding turbulence or not, but none of them is to chap your ass.
The pilot may have been unable to find a smooth ride at several altitudes.
The pilot may have been restricted to certain altitudes due to traffic concerns.
The pilot may have been restricted to certain altitudes due to performance concerns.
The pilot may have been restricted to certain altitudes due to weather concerns.
You chose to belittle the flight crew’s job and flying skills just so you could have one more thing to bitch about. Pilots like a smooth ride too, you know. They would get you a smooth ride if they were reasonably able to.
Maybe they were too busy adjusting the air conditioning system to compensate for the large mass of hot air in the passenger cabin.
I think your first problem was going to Philadelphia for spring break.
Beyond that, being two hours late on a 2,000 mile journey with connections is not all that bad. About ten years ago, I had to wait 4 hours for the next flight when my flight was cancelled due to mechanical breakdown. Of course, this last leg was a 45-minute flight.
Other than being nice to the staff, there’s absolutely nothing you can do to improve the situation when flying. Pretend you’re a box, be glad you weren’t tossed into the hold and enjoy the ride.
I can just imagine a distant future where teleportation is the norm:
“So I’m expecting to go to Mars in 0.5 seconds and the stupid operators made me late! I arrived on Mars in 2 seconds! What is wrong with them? What, is it too hard to just push a button? They stand there having nothing better to do, push the button! Not only that, but they didn’t even let me know about the delay. Ever hear of a clock? Losers.”
I concur heartily with both sentiments.
My favorite Philly airport stunt involved the late-flight that inevitably was routed to the remotest gate on the concourse, so that you had to hike what seemed like several miles to reach baggage claim - passing innumerable empty gates that could have been used if someone had the slightest interest in making your trip less strenuous. But no.
Be thankful. In the old days the turbulence would always start just when I got served dinner. Nowadays you don’t have to worry about such things.
And you’re mad about not being on a Northwest flight? I have been booked on 4 Northwest legs in my life. The first was late. The second, from Minneapolis, was way late, because they screwed up in buying deicers and had one for all their planes in their major hub in January. The return legs were cancelled. The woman at American, where I wound up, was surprised that I almost kissed her for not having to make any more trips on Northworst.
Oh - and be delayed over 12 hours and then you can complain.
Perhaps you should wear your tiara in public from now on, Princess, so that the people will treat Your Grace in a manner more closely resembling that which you deserve.
