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148 Comments
- ScottMcIntyre, on 10/26/2008, -2/+65Dump the pilot and flight attendant? Seriously?! I've heard of flying light... but they're kinda essential, in my opinion :-)
- Trekhawk, on 10/27/2008, -7/+65No fat chicks.
- awseft, on 10/27/2008, -1/+33Stupid.
- chas46, on 10/26/2008, -5/+31 Bring on the flying car....problem solved.
- a1cd, on 10/27/2008, -0/+22They should get rid of all those snakes
- jimmies, on 10/27/2008, -2/+20Buried for being a lame "article." Airlines suck. Have for many years. We get it.
- ncc74656m, on 10/27/2008, -1/+18Things the airlines have already jettisoned:
- Their sense of decency and morality
- Most of their customers (which is even starting to include business passengers)
- Any respect for either their employees or their clients (I work for a company who has/had several airlines as clients, I should know)
What they need to dump are the snarky employees who give them an even worse name and reputation, the bad PR flaks who make their dirty business practices "just go away," and the repeated government bailouts. I believe this is one area the free market would do well to heed. Make an announcement that all existing arrangements will be completed (at least to the extent that won't hinder competition) and that from now on, no airline will recieve a government bailout.
Also, establish a legally binding passengers bill of rights, start opening up some of the restricted airways (listen, if I have to hear airliners go overhead, so does Chappaqua), replace the half-dead air traffic control system, and establish different definitions of terms so that "pulling away from the gate" no longer means an on-time departure. - inactive, on 10/27/2008, -0/+16Buried 'cause this links to an article that links to the original article. The original article's pretty good, and probably Diggable.
- FlyingPhotog, on 10/27/2008, -2/+17Every time the airlines remove something from the aircraft, it comes at the expense of the passengers' comfort or convenience. It's always a big F. U. to the people who give them business.
However, I do work in the airline industry, and nearly all of the authors' suggestions are impractical. - geneusutwerk, on 10/27/2008, -0/+15And for those of you that want to read the original article instead of a summary of the original article here you go:
http://www.elliott.org/the-travel-critic/dump-this ... - glockops, on 10/27/2008, -1/+16I imagine only having one pilot would cost them more in insurance than the pilot's salary.
Pilots make crap-for-crap salaries... (starting around $27K for entry jobs - after $60K or so of training [on the pilot's dime]) - lex0nyc, on 10/27/2008, -2/+14Sorry, Heather.
- awseft, on 10/27/2008, -1/+12Airlines are regulated on anything and everything.
Crew duty, crew rest, mechanics, maintenance, procedures, logbooks, noise levels, flight routes, number of crew required (pilots and Flight attendants), safety equipment (and its maintenance) the list goes on and on.
After 01 the government helped bail them out. Some still had to declare bankruptcy. Pilots took pay cuts to save their jobs. Are the airlines making money? Not all of them (some are). Have the pilots gotten their paychecks back? No. Are the executives still making really good money? Yes. Who's paying for all of it? The passengers. - redfan, on 10/27/2008, -2/+11"Crew duty, crew rest, mechanics, maintenance, procedures, logbooks, noise levels, flight routes, number of crew required (pilots and Flight attendants), safety equipment (and its maintenance) the list goes on and on."
Most of those are safety regulations. Are you saying that there shouldn't be safety regulations that the airlines have to adhere to? People are nervous enough about flying as is.
Only Southwest is still making money, and that's because they locked in their fuel costs several years ago at a much lower price. They took the gamble that oil would continue to rise, and it paid off for them. - geekbrit, on 10/27/2008, -1/+10Too damn right - I've spent too many flights staring at the top of someone's head or having my laptop pushed literally into my lap.
- redfan, on 10/27/2008, -2/+10"over-regulated"
You keep using that word, but I don't think you know what it means.
The airlines were heavily deregulated in the 1970s, leading to more competition and lower prices but also increased cost-cutting due to fewer economic protections from the government. Airlines have been nailed by the rising cost of oil--jet fuel is their number one cost. And obviously when hard times hit economically, fewer people are flying. - Slade605, on 10/27/2008, -1/+9No you didn't you're just saying that because I accidentally your comment.
- geekbrit, on 10/27/2008, -1/+9Favorite flight ever - sitting on the aisle seat in the last row of the plane with the President and Vice President of the Big Galoot Society of America sitting next to me. They did leave me half my seat for me to sit in, which was nice of them - I was almost able to avoid getting thwacked by the passing drinks carts and line of people using the increasingly stinky toilet.
Actually, what made up for it was that these two guys had obviously never been on a plane before, and their exclamations over the crap in the Sky Mall magazine were priceless! - MeatPlow, on 10/27/2008, -1/+9It's just there to make people feel better. How would you feel if they told you if we crash into the water, we ain't got ***** for ya?
- awseft, on 10/27/2008, -0/+8Then why comment?
- Slade605, on 10/27/2008, -1/+8wuwu
- Altotus, on 10/27/2008, -0/+7There are a number of incidents of water landings where flotation devices (and bits of plane) played a part. For a partial list, one need travel no farther than Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_landing#Surviva ...
Actually, I was at LaGuardia just a few hours before that that plane cited in the article rolled into the East River on take off. It was kind of freaky landing in Boston and listening about it on the radio on the ride home. - lex0nyc, on 10/27/2008, -1/+8Fat people are often the people who can only afford to buy the groceries high in carbohydrates that make one fat. Fresh fruits and vegetables are expensive compared to a bag of flour or rice. Everythign that is advertised to them is made from high fructose corn syrup. Taxing the overweight might have been fair in 1600, but in 2008 it would be a tax on those who can least afford the expense.
- digifuzz, on 10/27/2008, -0/+7Can you imagine everyone standing up to get their own cups of water shuffling down the narrow isles, bumping into everyone else, spilling things. Eh... flight attendant please. Can I have another pillow?
- billizm, on 10/27/2008, -0/+7All this penny pinching and almost all the airlines are still reporting quarterly losses this year. I'm sure they would rather be reporting profits. Its a rough economic time and airlines, historically are one of the first industries to get hit.
- cwalton, on 10/27/2008, -6/+13Remove the reclining facility from the seats, so that the idiot in front can't recline into your lap. That should allow for thinner and stronger seats.
- sleze, on 10/27/2008, -0/+6They need to eject the screaming kids and the people that think the seats in front of them are some sort of jungle gym to grab onto as they get into and out of their seats.
- r0b1, on 10/27/2008, -1/+7This is a summary of an article on another website of which that article was lifted from MSNBC...
Buried - raleel, on 10/27/2008, -0/+6Talk to some frequent business travelers and they'll you about traveling light. You don't need to bring a pile of crap. Here's some things that I did for myself to keep it in line... I recently did a week long trip to Taiwan on 1 carry on bag
1) pick appropriate clothes - I found that when I went from t-shirts and jeans (jean shorts really) to business/business casual, I saved a pile of space. The business clothes are generally a lot thinner than the casual stuff. If you aren't doing anything that requires something super durable (like jeans), wear a nice trouser. I went with Tommy Bahama silk trousers and some light weight business casual shirts. I can fit 3 of the trousers into the space of 1 Levi's 505's.
1.1) I bring a comfortable more formal set of shoes and perhaps a casual one that I might wear for comfort, or a pair of tennis shoes for exercising.
1.2) a key point here is interchagability. With clothes that all match each other, you can get a lot more mileage out of your clothes.
2) consolidate devices - I got an iphone when I knew I would be traveling a lot. This does not remove the need for a regular desktop computer, but it does make it so that you don't need to remove it from your bag while you are on the flight. I just leave the computer in my carry on (outside pocket, easy removal for security), and use the iphone for weather, flight info, music, movies, games, etc.
3) think again about what you are going to be doing. reconsider all of the "might be's". probably not going to do them.
4) don't forget the hotels often provide things for you. You can easily get soap, razors, etc from the front desk. - tonicboy, on 10/27/2008, -0/+5I actually agree with you about the life vests. However, they take up almost no space on the plane and are a fairly cheap one-time investment. The evacuation slides, on the other hand, have been used quite a few times in aviation history.
- LacY, on 10/27/2008, -1/+6I actually had my laptop screen get stuck under the hinge of the seat tray when a guy reclined suddenly. I asked if he could sit back up briefly so I could get it out, and he just looked at me for a second and then turned his head to the side and closed his eyes. People are such *****.
There's no freaking reason you need to recline for a 2-hr flight. The only time I put my seat back is if there's no one behind me, or if the person behind me is asleep and won't care. - redfred18t, on 10/27/2008, -1/+6so what happens when the autopilot blue screens?
- cawpin, on 10/27/2008, -2/+7Nice job contradicting yourself.
"The last time I flew was in December 1999, and I know from experience that air travel has been hell since at least then."
How would you know from experience if you haven't flown since then? - brucer69, on 10/27/2008, -1/+6First off, i know your not a pilot. People have no idea what we do up there. The Autopilot would do anything i told it. Its dumb, its only as good as the pilot using it. People really forget so'metimes that there is actually someone up there flying! I hate airline stories,it just brings the "I know it alls" out of the woodwork.
- protodon, on 10/27/2008, -1/+6Let's get rid of cocky flight attendants that tell you to go sit down when it's the first time you got to stand up in 16 hours!
- brucer69, on 10/27/2008, -1/+6As an airline pilot all I can say is you get what you pay for. Airline travel is entirely too cheep. You want bus fairs well you get bus service get over it. If you want better service you are going to pay for it. Remember you are flying in a MULTI MILLION dollar piece of equipment that flies 7 miles in the air at 500 miles an hour. If you don't want to pay for the convenience TAKE A BUS! It takes years of training to get in the seat of a commercial airplane, no one wants to pay the pilots until something goes wrong. Next time your on an airplane with an emergency ask how much your pilot makes, you may not want to know.
- lex0nyc, on 10/27/2008, -1/+6They have their own jets. Or inbred sisters with wings.
- awseft, on 10/27/2008, -1/+5You've obviously never worked for an airline. They treat you like crap. I couldn't think of working for them without a union.
- inactive, on 10/27/2008, -2/+6You call "banning smoking" a bad thing? That is the smartest thing the airlines have ever done! Catering to nicotine addicts was the greatest imposition on the health and safety of the majority of passengers who do not smoke. Taking 25% of the passengers, sticking them in the back of the airplane and letting them have open flames in their hands and smoking up the entire airplane in order to free base their drug was the most ridiculous insult to common sense and safety in the history of aviation!
I remember setting in the row ahead of smoking - having these white trash illiterate scumbags unapologetic blowing their second hand smoke right between me and the passenger next to me, chain smoking the entire flight, and some even grinding out their disgusting cigarettes into the carpet of the aircraft. That just goes to show you what losers nicotine addicts really are. - drewpost, on 10/27/2008, -0/+4It's a safety regulation to have flight attendants. They are responsible for getting people off of a plane rapidly in the event of an emergency. Remember that plane that crashed on the runway in Canada a few years ago and burst into flames? Remember all the news commentators that thought that everyone must be dead? Well it turns out those flight attendant's training led to everyone getting off the plane alive. I'll GLADLY keep my flight attendants. Thanks.
- MindStalker, on 10/27/2008, -3/+7Why, AI flying is already here the pilot is just a backup. But yea sure a pilot.
Flight attendant? For a quick 1 hour jump from say Atlanta to Charlotte do you really need the attendant? - nikki2300dk, on 10/27/2008, -2/+5People who are grossly overweight should have to buy two seats. I once got stuck next to a woman so huge that her ass squeezed under the armrest (which looked like it would snap) to take up a quarter of my seat! Of course she ate an entire bag of kettle chips before the plane left the ground. It was a 10-hour, full-capacity flight. Thank god they serve booze. She rendered my seat nearly useless (if i was fat it would have been completely useless) She should have had to pay for two seats simply because that's how many she took up.
- inactive, on 10/27/2008, -0/+3Count the number of fights that are in the air ever-day and then multiply that times the number of air marshals (two on every flight) and come up with a number taking in to consideration time off - training days and vacation. It would be physically impossible to have that many air marshals in this country airplanes.
The air marshal program is a deterrent. There is never in the history of the program, an air marshal that has ever stopped or prevented a high jacking. There has been ONE shooting of a mentally ill man in Miami who said he had a bomb - and that was in the Jetway outside of the aircraft.
Armed pilots area much greater and effective program since there will ALWAYS be at least two pilots on EVERY airplane.
The air marshal program has become nothing more than an entry level job into Federal Law Enforcement for local yokel cops who want to become FBI Agents or DEA or something. - protodon, on 10/27/2008, -0/+3There are nice ones and there are cocky ones.
- inactive, on 10/27/2008, -0/+3Actually since deregulation the airline industry has been in a steady state of decline in service and profits. The airline Industry needs some Economic Re-Regulation and less Governmental oversight from the FAA and lower taxes. The Airlines are probably the most taxed industry in the country. Taxing a business is how you limit their use. Like sin taxes and alcohol an gasoline and tobacco. The taxes on aviation are somewhere in the neighborhood of 25- 35% of the price of your ticket. Even as much or more than the cost of the wages that it takes to pay the personnel who make the operation of the airline possible.
- awseft, on 10/27/2008, -0/+3I fly the CRJ-900. Engines are high-mounted in the rear. =)
- LacY, on 10/27/2008, -1/+4I think it's odd that the original article was bitching about how airlines are lowering the size limit for carry-ons. Hell, I'm ecstatic. Nothing makes it take longer to board/deplane than people who insist on taking a huge rolling suitcase as a carryon (yes, I know that checking bags sucks/can be risky/whatever, but jesus). There's always several people with huge carry-ons that are so full that they can't even *lift* it into the overhead, so someone else has to help them (which of course means now there's like 10 people backed up in the aisle trying to get past them, and someone's going to have to help them get it down once the plane lands).
Then there's the people who are unfortunate and have to board in the last zones of a full flight--no way is there going to be carry-on space for their huge suitcase. What sucks is when you're seated in a bulkhead row and you board last. Half the time I end up boarding and seeing that there's no overhead space for at least 10 rows, and of course I can't put my laptop bag at my feet since bulkhead's have no under-seat storage. With so many people carrying full-size carry-ons, there's just not enough room for everyone's bags (especially not in smaller planes), so I have no problem at all with airlines asking people to carry smaller ones. (and notice that not all of the airlines doing this charge for the 1st checked bag). - brucer69, on 10/27/2008, -1/+4 /sigh where do i begin. First emergency exit doors were never designed to be used in flight. If you could open one in flight i would give you every dollar i own. Seriously, i would write you a check and give you every dollar i own if you open the emergency exit in flight. when you figure out why you couldn't then you know why they are only for use on the ground.
Second, www.ntsb,gov Search for water landings. I think there is "a few" there.
Third..... dont take every thing you see in the movies to heart, i love fight club but i don't think tyler durdan is a great source for all your aviation facts, but you end up looking stupid. - 4NDr01D, on 10/27/2008, -2/+5please name one successful water landing from a commercial jet I dare you
"an exit procedure at 30,000 ft, its the illusion of safety
faces as calm as hindu cattle" - spaceyraygun, on 10/27/2008, -0/+3same plane? not necessarily.
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