The Sad Decline Of Service On Domestic Airline Flights
I must be spoiled. Over the past two years, the only airplane flights I’ve taken over 6 hours have been international flights in which the amenities, meals and service have been adequate to great. Moreover, I’ve been fortunate to travel business or first class.
By amenities, I mean the in-flight kits containing socks, toiletries, etc., given to business class and above passengers and little things like even audio headsets. By meals, I mean the quality and variety of the food and drink provided. And by service, I mean the attentiveness, attitude and efficiency of the flight staff.
If you fly internationally on non-U.S.-based airlines, you will realize immediately that the amenities, meals and service on U.S.-based carriers, particularly on U.S. domestic flights, in contrast, are noticeably and unequivocally worse.
Amenities on U.S. carriers are non-existent or minimal at best. I’m writing this post on a United Airlines flight to Boston, and the audio headset for listening to in-flight entertainment was loose, not packaged in plastic, with the cord coiled around it. At least the plastic packaging that used to be used provided the illusion of hygiene. Now, high-maintenance gadget geek that is am, I bring my own Bose noise reduction headset wherever I fly. Today, however, I can’t use it, because the headset jack in my seat is not just broken, it’s literally missing altogether.
But wait, there’s more! Meals . . . . I must have missed this in the news, but somewhere, somehow, sometime, domestic flights on United discontinued hot, included meals. Now, if you want to eat on a 6-hour flight, you can either bring your own food or you must pay $5 for a lousy assortment of cold crackers and snacks. United Airlines lists the “SnackBoxes” available.
Last, service ranges from outright rude to measurably dour. Southwest Airlines is a noticeable exception, but Southwest doesn’t offer long flights. (I haven’t flown Jet Blue yet).
Compare this experience to the experience you might receive on any Asia-based airline, say Cathay Pacific, Singapore Airlines, Asiana, Korean Airlines or Quantas, and you’ll know that American carriers aren’t even trying.
I have neither monitored nor studied the plight of U.S. carriers. I know that United Airlines has been in a world of hurt. Evidently, the failed economics and/or management of these carriers prevents them from providing even the service they provided in the past.
The only thing that keeps me with United is my accumulation of frequent flier miles, but, even were I want to switch, it is but as if American Airlines or any other U.S. carrier offers a superior alternative.
Yes, the domestic airlines must be some of the worst run businesses in the country, at least from the consumer’s standpoint; it’s just amazing how bad things are getting. I just spent two hours trying to figure out how to use frequent flyer miles to fly to Portland. First, the airlines hardly set any seats aside for frequent flyers, and so all the remaining available flights (even for a flight two months out) suck. Second, American Express no longer partners with as many airlines, and transferring miles from American Express if you’re short miles (as we are) inexplicably takes a week anyway. Third, purchasing a few thousand miles is a rip-off — you might as well just buy a whole ticket. Fourth, the US Air-United partnership is pointless, since you can’t transfer miles between their respective frequent flyer programs. Fifth, transferring miles between two accounts w/ the same airline is also a rip-off; they charge a $35 transaction fee, and even then, it takes forever for the transaction to be completed — completely ridiculous in this age of electronic communications and a transparently obvious way to gouge consumers by getting some float off them. Sixth, there’s no such thing as flying free, since you still have to pay the airlines a “handling fee” plus a shameful “9/11″ fee; how disgraceful that the airlines would invoke the greatest tragedy of recent times in order to justify gouging consumers. With all of these restrictions and pricing shell games, you really have to wonder what the point is. I hope JetBlue and Southwest drive the big domestic carriers into financial oblivion, where they belong. The sooner the better.