Open Letter to Airlines (United Airlines et al)
By Steve Poland • March 12, 2009
I’m disgusted. I’ve been disgusted. I can’t believe how low the bar is that your industry works towards. You suck. Every single one of you, except Southwest and JetBlue. You’re never on-time. You don’t care that you’re not on-time. When you’re not on-time, you piss everyone off that’s involved (passengers; people waiting to pickup passengers at destination; flight attendants & crew because passengers are cranky; desk clerks; etc).
Your planes are always undergoing “mechanical failures”. Why? And OK, so this isn’t news — it happens to you, how many times per day? Either get more mechanics, or get more planes that sit idle, waiting for your planes to fail, so that you can use them with your customers. You all have your main “hubs”, just keep extra planes there.
And stop booking so many flights; because you obviously can’t keep up with them.
You wonder why you’re all bankrupt and going out of business? It’s because you SUCK. The only reason I use you, is because killing 13 hours of my day in airports (today) is faster than 26 hours in a car (Buffalo -> Austin). [Ideally it was supposed to be 6 hours, but you don't care about me, so I don't know why I'm writing this]
I’m done with you. Forever. I slacked and got cheap; I started using Orbitz. I got hooked on their SMS text reminders; so nice to know when your gate changes and when flights are delayed. (BTW, why do you delay a flight 8x in 15-min intervals? Seriously, you don’t know when you do the first delay, that it’s going to be longer than 15-mins? Delay it 2 hours, and just do it. Also, why do you change the gate like 8x? Just make up your mind, this gate or the other. I was on crutches at O’Hare when you literally switched the gate 8x, I have all the SMS texts to prove it. That’s not cool for someone that’s handicapped in a wheelchair [on crutches, they give you wheelchair service, so your armpits don't bleed walking miles at O'Hare]).
I’m going to spend whatever it costs to only fly Southwest Airlines and JetBlue. That is my pledge. I have loved Southwest for years; they are on-time 95% of the time; they leave on-time; arrive on-time; don’t delay (although 20min delay currently for my flight out today); they don’t charge for your 1st checked bag; etc.
Southwest, I’m sorry I flirted with a cheaper date; I’ll never leave you again.
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4 Responses to “Open Letter to Airlines (United Airlines et al)”
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Great post Steve. It is way past due that we all call bullshit on fat horrible companies. Too many executives getting richer as they ruin companies and their employees.
Do you fly with such crews?
http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1904098
ROTFL! You are so right. BTW – Didn’t the airline industry get bailouts back before bailouts were cool? What does this say about those getting the $ now? Guess we’ll wait 15 – 20 years to find out.
North America needs a high speed train network.