I’ll trade slippery leather seats for more leg room any time.  I like Jet Blue, but I’m glad I wasn’t flying them a couple of months ago when they had their meltdown.  I hope they’ve learned and gotten it together by now.

Cheers–

MRE 

So far I’ve been lucky with those two I guess.  Hope it keeps up.

Cheers–

MRE 

Thanks.  I’ll take all the good karma I can get.

Cheers–

MRE 

We are flying from St. Louis to Vegas on Wed. morning with America West. This will be the first time we’ve used them and I’m not looking forward to it. We usually fly Southwest, which has always been a good experience, even if the seats could use more room.

I know what you mean about being uncomfortable unless you have the exit seat. My husband is 6′ 3 1/2″ and always tries to get an isle seat (so he can stick his legs in the isle when no one needs through) or over the wing where he can stretch out. He requested isle seats on this flight, but it doesn’t look like we got them. So I’m sure he’ll be uncomfortable the whole way. Poor guy looks like a pretzel while he’s crammed in one of those seats.

I can only hope this flight goes through without too many issues. I hope I have absolutely no stories to tell when we get back. But if we do, you can be sure I’ll be sharing them with everyone. :0)

Is it true you can’t take snacks on the plan anymore? I want to take some protein bars with me. The last thing I want is to spend airport prices on food I shouldn’t be eating to begin with.

Hi Amy–

We took some nuts and jerky with us with no problems.

I hope your flight goes well.  I’ve flown American West/US Air a number of times without hassle, so it can happen.  It’s just that when it has happened to me it has been nightmarish to a much greater extent than cancellations on other airlines have been.

Good luck.

MRE 

Thanks for the info! RR

I hope you have better luck.  I have had decent US Ari flights–I hope yours is one of those.

Cheers–

MRE 

Sorry to hear about your holiday debacle with this airline. On the Eastern Seaboard where we live it was not that long ago folks gave this airline the nickname “Useless Air.” I think they tried to improve for awhile after that, but went way downhill again and obviously the recent merger has made things even worse. (Maybe their new nickname should be “Completely Useless Air.”) Makes me nostalgic for the days when airlines were still regulated and it was an exciting and glamorous experience to fly, albeit more expensive.

Seems like some of the offered pricing you experienced trying to get booked on American is in fact approaching the level of the days of regulation, but of course without the benefit of getting decent service; and as noted in other comments, the airlines are packing us on the planes like sardines (or maybe beef cattle in a pen is a more apt analogy).

Where and when will it get better? Here’s one idea: Boeing should start designing their planes to prevent the airlines from being able to reconfigure passenger seating to position them too close together. Maybe FAA could tweak their airframe design regulations for passenger aircraft?

Until these issues are fixed, I for one will try almost any alternative for travel needs. The train seems like a good possibility in places where service is available. And in cases where the holiday is just too short to justify driving or taking the train, I may give serious thought to video conferencing, even for family get togethers! Well….., maybe that’s a bit over the top (except for business meetings), but the CEOs of the airlines ought to be shaking in their boots over the customer enmity they are earning. (Rant now concluded.)

Happy holiday to you and MD.

Wil

Hi Will– 

Thanks for the good wishes.  Happy holiday to you and yours.

When America’s worst airline (America West) merges with Useless Air (US Air) I guess the worst should be expected.  What bugs me is that the airlines spend big bucks to advertise in an effort, one assumes, to attract more customers.  Why don’t they instead spend their money on keeping the passengers they have by improving customer service.  It appears instead that they are in a battle to attract more customers through advertising than they’re running off with their shoddy service.

Cheers–

MRE 

Hi Jay–

I forgot to mention the luggage.  At least it did get there on time, although there was one last aggravation with it.  We checked three items–MD’s bag, mine and a box of stuff for the kids for Easter.  When the luggage finally came out on the conveyor belt, MD’s bag and the box came out almost immediately.  My bag came out almost last.

Cheers–

MRE 

Sorry to hear about your airline woes, what an awful start to the holiday break My hubby is flying in today from Australia, Easter Sunday flying into London was the only one he could get. Singapore Airlines – now that is what you call an Airline! Qantas has gone right down the tubes, British Airways think everyone are midgets. Singapore is just brilliant service is wonderful and there is a good 3″ more legroom than the others what a difference that makes even though it doesn’t sound a lot. If you are ever on one of those long-haul flights they are the one to use.

Hope the rest of your easter takes the pain away.

Glenice

Hi Glenice–

Thanks for the sympathy.  I’ve heard great things about Singapore Airlines.  Too bad they don’t fly between Santa Barbara and Dallas.

Cheers–

MRE 

I haven’t flown anywhere since May of 2002. I’m not scared, I just decided I would NOT continue to spend my money for such ridiculously awful customer service as the airlines generally provide. I’m talking about pitifully poor, generally uncaring service at ticket counters, the fact that they’ll let you and the plane sit there for hours with no reasonable explanation or end in sight, and that the design of the plane is physically quite uncomfortable, almost cruelly so, for most people. They don’t HAVE to have such crowded seating and it didn’t used to be that way — they redesigned the planes at some point in the past to hold more people and therefore make more money. “More legroom” — pah.

Most of what I hear makes me think things are not much better than they were in 2002; in fact they may be worse. So far my life has not been impeded by not flying. I drive and allow more time, or I don’t go. –Anne

Hi Anne–

It’s called ‘invoking the rule’ and I invoked the heck out of it.  But, the guy at the counter told us that all the other airlines were fully booked on the earlier flights as well.  I don’t know if it was true, but there was no way I could find out short of jumping over the counter and manning the computer myself.  I suppose I could have started calling other airlines to see, but I didn’t.

MD and I drive as much as we can, but the drive to Dallas takes 2 days, and 2 days there and 2 days back is a little too much driving for a 4 day visit.  So, we are left to the tender mercies of the non-customer service oriented airlines.

Cheers–

MRE