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American's regretable decision



 
 
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  #1  
Old March 3rd, 2007, 08:19 PM posted to rec.travel.air
Mike W.
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1
Default American's regretable decision

I've been a frequent flier for a long time. There is a process that has to
take place in the lifetime of all services and products for them to remain
commercially viable. This process centers around making all
products/services/technologies "accessible" (more easily usable,
affordable, "understandable", etc) to "the masses". Talking haircut/MBA
types call it "crossing the chasm" but once you own the company, it's ok to
call it what it really is... "slob enabling". When I began flying in the
80's, I heard then-frequent fliers tell of a time when people dressed up to
travel and everyone was treated as special. In their minds, at that time,
the airlines were catering to "the slobs in the back". To me, it was pretty
nice but it did sound nicer back in the day.

Today, I'm where they were. The make up of the back of the plane is getting
more and more and more like the crew you see at bus station. And now,
American has decided to invite this mixture of NASCAR pit whores, crack
addicts and other mutants with their plastic garbage bag carry-ons,
sub-marginal hygiene, and their bottomless unfiltered supply of exceedingly
obvious observations of the world around them up into OUR head in FC. ****
that. Yea, I know there are good guys back there too but as I hear how this
works, there isn't going to be an air marshall at the curtain deciding who
gets in and who doesn't. So screw them ALL then. It should be just like the
rest of real life works. I don't pay $1800 to hang out at the bus station
at midnight, or to have random samplings of the bus station crowd deposited
on my front lawn. I pay more for FC for a bunch of reasons, like being able
to get more work done (so I can pay disproportionately more taxes to keep
these ****s in the lap of luxury).. and not be entertained by the really
deep remarks of visitors from "back there" about how it's different. We
know it's "different", asswipe. That's why we pay more to be there.

United... I give you a bunch more business than American though until that
came up, I was thinking of jumping ship because frankly, you're sliding in
the FC and service roles MUCH faster than you need to. I swear to God if
you guys start courting the NASCAR crowd up front, I'll just start over and
take my average $1800 (plus 2 to 3 changes of my back end... another
$2-300) per flight someplace else. Please don't even think of going where
American just went.. I have a feeling the guys with the cardboard suitcases
aren't giving you as much dough as we are.


  #2  
Old March 3rd, 2007, 11:17 PM posted to rec.travel.air
hummingbird
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 174
Default American's regretable decision

On Sat, 03 Mar 2007 14:19:30 -0500 'Mike W.'
posted this onto rec.travel.air:

I've been a frequent flier for a long time. There is a process that has to
take place in the lifetime of all services and products for them to remain
commercially viable. This process centers around making all
products/services/technologies "accessible" (more easily usable,
affordable, "understandable", etc) to "the masses". Talking haircut/MBA
types call it "crossing the chasm" but once you own the company, it's ok to
call it what it really is... "slob enabling". When I began flying in the
80's, I heard then-frequent fliers tell of a time when people dressed up to
travel and everyone was treated as special. In their minds, at that time,
the airlines were catering to "the slobs in the back". To me, it was pretty
nice but it did sound nicer back in the day.

Today, I'm where they were. The make up of the back of the plane is getting
more and more and more like the crew you see at bus station. And now,
American has decided to invite this mixture of NASCAR pit whores, crack
addicts and other mutants with their plastic garbage bag carry-ons,
sub-marginal hygiene, and their bottomless unfiltered supply of exceedingly
obvious observations of the world around them up into OUR head in FC. ****
that. Yea, I know there are good guys back there too but as I hear how this
works, there isn't going to be an air marshall at the curtain deciding who
gets in and who doesn't. So screw them ALL then. It should be just like the
rest of real life works. I don't pay $1800 to hang out at the bus station
at midnight, or to have random samplings of the bus station crowd deposited
on my front lawn. I pay more for FC for a bunch of reasons, like being able
to get more work done (so I can pay disproportionately more taxes to keep
these ****s in the lap of luxury).. and not be entertained by the really
deep remarks of visitors from "back there" about how it's different. We
know it's "different", asswipe. That's why we pay more to be there.

United... I give you a bunch more business than American though until that
came up, I was thinking of jumping ship because frankly, you're sliding in
the FC and service roles MUCH faster than you need to. I swear to God if
you guys start courting the NASCAR crowd up front, I'll just start over and
take my average $1800 (plus 2 to 3 changes of my back end... another
$2-300) per flight someplace else. Please don't even think of going where
American just went.. I have a feeling the guys with the cardboard suitcases
aren't giving you as much dough as we are.


Think yourself very lucky that you at least you travel FC. Many of us
who also suffer from exactly the same problems as you, cannot afford
such relative quality and find ourselves suffering the insufferable.
Flying today has become an endurance test for respectable folks.

As you say, every product/service eventually gets driven down to the
lowest level of quality/price to draw in the masses and raise profits.
  #3  
Old March 4th, 2007, 01:05 AM posted to rec.travel.air
Frank F. Matthews
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,362
Default The good old days

Ah yes the wonderful good old days. The defining roar of the engines.
The eternal shaking as you tried to sleep. Arriving 16 hours late.

Things are so much worse today.

Oh, I forgot the baggage limits that drove passengers to add pockets to
their clothes. Ah well, at least that is coming back.


Mike W. wrote:
I've been a frequent flier for a long time. There is a process that has to
take place in the lifetime of all services and products for them to remain
commercially viable. This process centers around making all
products/services/technologies "accessible" (more easily usable,
affordable, "understandable", etc) to "the masses". Talking haircut/MBA
types call it "crossing the chasm" but once you own the company, it's ok to
call it what it really is... "slob enabling". When I began flying in the
80's, I heard then-frequent fliers tell of a time when people dressed up to
travel and everyone was treated as special. In their minds, at that time,
the airlines were catering to "the slobs in the back". To me, it was pretty
nice but it did sound nicer back in the day.

Today, I'm where they were. The make up of the back of the plane is getting
more and more and more like the crew you see at bus station. And now,
American has decided to invite this mixture of NASCAR pit whores, crack
addicts and other mutants with their plastic garbage bag carry-ons,
sub-marginal hygiene, and their bottomless unfiltered supply of exceedingly
obvious observations of the world around them up into OUR head in FC. ****
that. Yea, I know there are good guys back there too but as I hear how this
works, there isn't going to be an air marshall at the curtain deciding who
gets in and who doesn't. So screw them ALL then. It should be just like the
rest of real life works. I don't pay $1800 to hang out at the bus station
at midnight, or to have random samplings of the bus station crowd deposited
on my front lawn. I pay more for FC for a bunch of reasons, like being able
to get more work done (so I can pay disproportionately more taxes to keep
these ****s in the lap of luxury).. and not be entertained by the really
deep remarks of visitors from "back there" about how it's different. We
know it's "different", asswipe. That's why we pay more to be there.

United... I give you a bunch more business than American though until that
came up, I was thinking of jumping ship because frankly, you're sliding in
the FC and service roles MUCH faster than you need to. I swear to God if
you guys start courting the NASCAR crowd up front, I'll just start over and
take my average $1800 (plus 2 to 3 changes of my back end... another
$2-300) per flight someplace else. Please don't even think of going where
American just went.. I have a feeling the guys with the cardboard suitcases
aren't giving you as much dough as we are.


  #4  
Old March 4th, 2007, 01:06 AM posted to rec.travel.air,alt.nuke.the.usa
Sarah Czepiel
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 758
Default Larry Handjob - Mental Patient Has A Hissy Fit

On Sat, 03 Mar 2007 23:56:14 GMT, Larry in AZ
wrote:

:Dickless Ricky Mathers licked the area of his
:missing penis and squealed:
:
: Squeak, Squeak - Here I am..!
: Squeak, Squeak - Can you see me..?
: Squeak, Squeak - I have a new nym.
: Squeak, Squeak - Please read this..!
: Squeak, Squeak - Has anyone found my penis..?
: Squeak, Squeak..!!!!

Sheesh but that crazy Denthead's wound up this weekend...

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

  #5  
Old March 4th, 2007, 04:14 AM posted to rec.travel.air
George Max[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 40
Default American's regretable decision

On Sun, 04 Mar 2007 00:04:42 GMT, Larry in AZ
wrote:


aircraft are busses with wings...


That's bad?

  #6  
Old March 4th, 2007, 12:11 PM posted to rec.travel.air
hummingbird
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 174
Default American's regretable decision

On Sun, 04 Mar 2007 00:04:42 GMT 'Larry in AZ'
posted this onto rec.travel.air:

Waiving the right to remain silent, hummingbird
said:

As you say, every product/service eventually gets driven down to the
lowest level of quality/price to draw in the masses and raise profits.


Wouldn't it be easier and less of a hassle to serve a smaller market at
higher prices..? It worked well before.


Running the market for a smaller subset of society would place a
ceiling on potential corporate growth and profits and that's very
un-American.

I can't think of many products/services which haven't eventually been
dumbed down to make them accessible to the slobby masses. A potential
market of 70% of the population is much more attractive to an airline
than 30%. The effect that these masses have on their original customer
base is brushed aside because it's compensated for by the huge growth
in flying numbers.

I think it's obvious that airlines will not upgrade their own customer
service and legal obligations on their own. But we can see that the
unregulated free market does not work.

One possible solution is for governments to impose a legal framework
of rights and responsibilities onto airlines *and* passengers in terms
of a passenger's rights when he buys a flight ticket and of the
minimum behaviour required from passengers when flying. Govts are
reluctant to do this in a meaningful way because of the risk that
their own national airlines lose business to those who continue as-is.
Difficult global agreement would be required to get over this.

I recall that British Airways used to have a dress code (nobody was
allowed onboard wearing shorts/flip flops/vests etc) but I'm not sure
if this is still enforced.


Of course, that'll never happen, now that the aircraft are busses with
wings...


Indeed.
  #7  
Old March 4th, 2007, 05:16 PM posted to rec.travel.air
[email protected]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 10
Default American's regretable decision

In addition to all of the slobering masses that you have to deal with
in coach now, I also hate when there is a crying kid near me. It just
ruins the whole flight. They screach at the top of their lungs, and
their mother just laughs and shrugs it off..."Oh, he's normally much
calmer than this.." Well, why don't you give him a sedative or
something, or don't bring him on the plane. That is one of those
aspects that really makes the plane feel like a bus with wings. And I
like the idea of a dress code. Also, I think that people should
shower at least within the 24 hours leading up to getting on the
plane. Sometimes the people that are sitting around me in coach look
like they just came from under some highway overpass, where they had
been sleeping in a cardboard box.

  #8  
Old March 4th, 2007, 05:35 PM posted to rec.travel.air
hummingbird
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 174
Default American's regretable decision

On 4 Mar 2007 08:16:01 -0800 '
posted this onto rec.travel.air:

In addition to all of the slobering masses that you have to deal with
in coach now, I also hate when there is a crying kid near me. It just
ruins the whole flight. They screach at the top of their lungs, and
their mother just laughs and shrugs it off..."Oh, he's normally much
calmer than this.." Well, why don't you give him a sedative or
something, or don't bring him on the plane. That is one of those
aspects that really makes the plane feel like a bus with wings. And I
like the idea of a dress code. Also, I think that people should
shower at least within the 24 hours leading up to getting on the
plane. Sometimes the people that are sitting around me in coach look
like they just came from under some highway overpass, where they had
been sleeping in a cardboard box.


I know exactly what you mean...

When I booked a flight from Dubai to London some while ago on
Emirates (not one of the cheaper airlines) I specifically requested
not to be seated next to or close to young children.

But they seated me next to a young Bangladeshi woman with a young son
and before we had even taken off, she told me that her son was unwell
lately and suffering from diarrhoea. She demonstrated this by taking
him to the loo during the meal.
Two rows in front was an Indian family with two young kiddies who
spent much of the flight running up/down the aisle causing a nuisance.

During the meal, the FA didn't come round with the drinks trolley.

I now realise that Emirates flights in/out of London are popular with
folks from the Asian sub-continent and British Indians because of its
many connections in Dubai with many Indian cities.
  #9  
Old March 4th, 2007, 08:15 PM posted to rec.travel.air
Patrick Danville
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 19
Default American's regretable decision

On Mar 3, 3:54 pm, Larry in AZ
wrote:
I remember fillet mignon, shrimp coctail and such, served on real
flatware, with real silverware and glasses and free wine and beer in
coach. There were almost always two choices of entres. And that was on
half-filled 747s between LAX and BOS.


What you are describing is the difference between government control
and a free market. In those days, the governement the prices for air
travel (high), and the only way for airlines to differentiate their
product was to offer shrimp, steak, china, etc. The price structure
also guaranteed that flying was a major expense for middle-class
Americans.

I'm not arguing which system is "better". That depends on what you
value.

  #10  
Old March 4th, 2007, 08:20 PM posted to rec.travel.air
Patrick Danville
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 19
Default American's regretable decision

On Mar 3, 3:54 pm, Larry in AZ
wrote:
I remember fillet mignon, shrimp coctail and such, served on real
flatware, with real silverware and glasses and free wine and beer in
coach. There were almost always two choices of entres. And that was on
half-filled 747s between LAX and BOS.


What you are describing is the difference between government control
and a free market. In those days, the governement set the prices for
air
travel (high), and the only way for airlines to differentiate their
product was to offer shrimp, steak, china, etc. The price structure
also guaranteed that flying was a major expense for middle-class
Americans.

I'm not arguing which system is "better". That depends on what you
value.

 




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