Airlines insanity

[Animal02]

I fly a lot......as in about 200 segments a year, mostly on Delta. I run into these similar situations all the time.....it is incredibly frustrating.
In Des Moine IA.....got done with the job early. I had booked a late flight out, connection through ATL and getting back to DTW at 12:30 am. I booked this late so the RT ticket was almost $900. I got upgraded to First class for all legs since the ticket price was high and I am Diamond level.
Now there happens to be two direct flights back to DTW one a 2 and one at 4:30.....each will have empty seats.....Delta would want almost $300 additional....to fly in the back of the plane, leaving them the possibility to sell two upgrades ( or upgrade another frequent flyer).
Once those planes depart with empty seats, that money is lost forever. Freeing up later seats allows the possibly of selling them at the last minute.
And airlines wonder why people hate the airlines.

 

[RonJohn]

Add to that the "empty leg" controversies. It is often more expensive to travel to/from a hub city than to travel through the hub city. 19 years ago I flew from Atlanta to Grand Rapids frequently. It was $1,200 for a last minute ticket. It was also $1,200 for a ticket two weeks in advance. It was also $1,200 for a ticket two months in advance. I could have driven to Birmingham, walked to the ticket counter, and purchased an immediate ticket from Birmingham to Grand Rapids for $650. If I had done that, I would have flown from Birmingham to Atlanta, and then caught a connection with my coworkers who paid $1,200 for the flight from Atlanta to Grand Rapids.

 

[RonJohn]

BTW. I don't fly as much now. However, with Delta and especially with late notice tickets, I will purchase one way tickets so I can be flexible with the return ticket. Quite frequently the price of a round-trip or two one-way tickets is identical or almost identical.

 

[Deleted member 2897]

In business school a long time ago one of the many case studies we did was around Southwest Airlines. There are a lot of reasons like these where some companies get too cute, and a more simple transparent business model results in much happier customers and much higher profits.

 

[Animal02]

Add to that the "empty leg" controversies. It is often more expensive to travel to/from a hub city than to travel through the hub city. 19 years ago I flew from Atlanta to Grand Rapids frequently. It was $1,200 for a last minute ticket. It was also $1,200 for a ticket two weeks in advance. It was also $1,200 for a ticket two months in advance. I could have driven to Birmingham, walked to the ticket counter, and purchased an immediate ticket from Birmingham to Grand Rapids for $650. If I had done that, I would have flown from Birmingham to Atlanta, and then caught a connection with my coworkers who paid $1,200 for the flight from Atlanta to Grand Rapids.

I have to fly to Minneapolis a bit from Detroit.....both Delta hubs......they run me about 1200 rt. Took a flight to Rhinelander WI, via MSP.....it was 300 RT.

 

[Animal02]

In business school a long time ago one of the many case studies we did was around Southwest Airlines. There are a lot of reasons like these where some companies get too cute, and a more simple transparent business model results in much happier customers and much higher profits.

I get a lot of why they do certain things....but the mentality of letting seats fly empty is crazy.
BTW...I have seen SWA do the same thing.....they will have a flight every two hours to a destination.....the last flight of the day is full/ oversold....yet they won't let people go on the earlier flight with empty spaces unless they pay an additional fee. It makes no sense.

 

[Deleted member 2897]

I get a lot of why they do certain things....but the mentality of letting seats fly empty is crazy.
BTW...I have seen SWA do the same thing.....they will have a flight every two hours to a destination.....the last flight of the day is full/ oversold....yet they won't let people go on the earlier flight with empty spaces unless they pay an additional fee. It makes no sense.

Yes, in unfairness to SWA, they have changed a lot. I never fly them, because everytime I look, they are more expensive than the other airlines. But 15-20 years ago they were the bomb. No games, you can change flights without a fee, all the pricing was predictable and flat. No pre-seat assignments. So they weren't paying for tons of seat-driven software, all the pre-boarding ordering, no buildings full of hundreds of bean counters trying to analyze and model pricing, the same model of planes so all flight crews and maintenance folks are cross trained on everything and parts inventory is kept much lower, the flight crews stick with 1 plane circle for their shift and are done instead of hopping all over the place, and so on and so on.

 

[Techster]

They're all in collusion!

Ever wonder why every airline has identical operating rules for charging you for fees? It's not a coincidence.

 

[Animal02]

Yes, in unfairness to SWA, they have changed a lot. I never fly them, because everytime I look, they are more expensive than the other airlines. But 15-20 years ago they were the bomb. No games, you can change flights without a fee, all the pricing was predictable and flat. No pre-seat assignments. So they weren't paying for tons of seat-driven software, all the pre-boarding ordering, no buildings full of hundreds of bean counters trying to analyze and model pricing, the same model of planes so all flight crews and maintenance folks are cross trained on everything and parts inventory is kept much lower, the flight crews stick with 1 plane circle for their shift and are done instead of hopping all over the place, and so on and so on.

Overall I think they have a good business model....they seemed to switch from a "leg to leg" to a hub system.
One of my last flights on SWA last year....this happened at 30k ft to my window

 

[kg01]

Overall I think they have a good business model....they seemed to switch from a "leg to leg" to a hub system.
One of my last flights on SWA last year....this happened at 30k ft to my windowView attachment 6491

Who are you 007 and were you wrestling a gun away from a terrorist when it suddenly went off shattering the glass?

Then the window somehow sucks the terrorist out while the pilot struggles to descend to lower elevation.

Then, once the terrorist is gone, cabin pressure normalizes just in time for you sit back in your seat next to the hawt stewardess who has a chilled martini, that was shaken (not stirred) during the hulla-baloo?

 

[Deleted member 2897]

Overall I think they have a good business model....they seemed to switch from a "leg to leg" to a hub system.
One of my last flights on SWA last year....this happened at 30k ft to my windowView attachment 6491

Nice arrow foreshadowing - you 'bout to go <== that way.

 

[sidewalkGTfan]

I give lots of credit to people that are willing to fly a lot for their work/careers. I've flown back and forth to probably 15 destinations in my adult life (I'm in my late 30s) and while the actual flying part doesn't bother me, I always dread being in an airport and dealing with airlines.

 

[Animal02]

Who are you 007 and were you wrestling a gun away from a terrorist when it suddenly went off shattering the glass?

Then the window somehow sucks the terrorist out while the pilot struggles to descend to lower elevation.

Then, once the terrorist is gone, cabin pressure normalizes just in time for you sit back in your seat next to the hawt stewardess who has a chilled martini, that was shaken (not stirred) during the hulla-baloo?

Three of hit the call button....flight attendant saunters back and asks if we need anything. We are all pointing at the window......stammering...."the window........ It cracked". Now this happened a week after the woman got sucked out and died.
Flight attendant said...."well maybe you guys should move to other seats"
YA THINK?
The flight attendants actually we're very professional and calmly dealt with the couple of hysterical passengers.

 

[Animal02]

I give lots of credit to people that are willing to fly a lot for their work/careers. I've flown back and forth to probably 15 destinations in my adult life (I'm in my late 30s) and while the actual flying part doesn't bother me, I always dread being in an airport and dealing with airlines.

I make 2-3 trips a week. Mostly in the Midwest but also all over the country. With pre check, clear and a Delta sky club membership, it is not too bad. Down side is when bartenders at the clubs in various cities recognize you.

The perks are the miles and upgrades. Was able to fly 5 of us in premier class to Oz and back for free this year.

 

[Deleted member 2897]

 

[kg01]

Three of hit the call button....flight attendant saunters back and asks if we need anything. We are all pointing at the window......stammering...."the window........ It cracked". Now this happened a week after the woman got sucked out and died.
Flight attendant said...."well maybe you guys should move to other seats"
YA THINK?
The flight attendants actually we're very professional and calmly dealt with the couple of hysterical passengers.

Ha. Yeah I think I do want to switch seats now, ma'am. smh

I wonder if that happens often, considering they seemed a little nonchalant about it.

Also thank you for your service, Mr. Bond.

 

[Animal02]

Ha. Yeah I think I do want to switch seats now, ma'am. smh

I wonder if that happens often, considering they seemed a little nonchalant about it.

Also thank you for your service, Mr. Bond.

Pilot claimed it was rare. I think their training kicks in to remain calm and professional
Have only had one incident where the flight attendants reacted badly.....and it was only for a moment. (plane shook pretty bad and veered suddenly left.....left engine of an old 727 stalled out). It was a South American airlines.

 

[Jim Prather]

I was on one flight where the seal around the door began to fail and the plane started to lose pressure. It was a small plane and flying low relative to the really big jumbo jets, but the flight attendant just wet a paper towel and stuck it on the leak until we landed...
makes a great story...

 

[Animal02]

I was on one flight where the seal around the door began to fail and the plane started to lose pressure. It was a small plane and flying low relative to the really big jumbo jets, but the flight attendant just wet a paper towel and stuck it on the leak until we landed...
makes a great story...

Masks dropping and having to use the slides are two things that I have not experienced and hope never to have to.

 

[Jim Prather]

Yeah, luckily we were flying low enough (only about 14 K feet) that masks weren't necessary. And once they stuck the wet paper towel on the door, the plane re-pressurized right back to normal...