http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/10/08/just-one-of-the-reasons-why-i-hate-the-airline-industry Comments On: Just One of the Reasons Why I Hate the Airline Industry by Goldy en-us Copyright 2013 The Stranger. All rights reserved. This RSS file is offered to individuals, The Stranger readers, and non-commercial organizations only. Any commercial websites wishing to use this RSS file, please contact The Stranger. webmaster@thestranger.com (The Stranger Webmaster) Sat, 25 May 2013 00:00:01 -0700 Sat, 25 May 2013 10:00:00 -0700 Foundation http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Posted by anon1256]]> Thu, 11 Oct 2012 17:53:55 -0700 The Stranger Posted by anon1256]]> Thu, 11 Oct 2012 17:36:33 -0700 The Stranger
what the hell does that mean? Planes cost millions and your ticket cost hundred(s)
Posted by Doot]]> Wed, 10 Oct 2012 12:06:57 -0700 The Stranger
Posted by bigyaz]]> Tue, 09 Oct 2012 10:14:20 -0700 The Stranger
Alaska has a contract for services that limits their ablility to recover damages - generally these terms set the limit at the pro-rated cost of the OOS time itself. So if they were paying $10k per day and incurred 5 hours of outage time the damages would be ~$2100.

The WA UTC has no juristiction to fine, since they only regulate telephony. And as long as the outage is reported to the FCC, there would not be any action from them. Worst case with the Commission would be a relatively cursory exchange of regulatory documents.

Alaska may decide to drop Sprint, but they certainly will not profit from this.
Posted by Action Slacks]]> Tue, 09 Oct 2012 09:08:39 -0700 The Stranger
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pla…
Posted by Mike]]> Tue, 09 Oct 2012 08:48:39 -0700 The Stranger
Yes it is! You're paying them. You can complain if they are abusing YOUR customers' luggage. So I have a completely clear conscience about avoiding their checked bag fees and cramming my weirdly-shaped luggage in the overhead bin.
Posted by ScrawnyKayaker]]> Tue, 09 Oct 2012 08:28:45 -0700 The Stranger Posted by sall]]> Tue, 09 Oct 2012 08:23:06 -0700 The Stranger Goldy, I'm with you on this. I've only ever been slightly screwed by an airline and it was regarding my baggage but the idea that a person might miss a funeral, a job interview, or dare I say a vacation, and receive no compensation pisses me off.

I go out of my way to be a pleasant customer but as a customer I expect decent service. If an airline wants my business they should have a contingency plan for ensuring customer satisfaction.

As for the critics, Goldy is not some high highfalutin elitist for taking a vacation or being disgruntled by the prospect of missing a vacation. Everyone should be able to take a vacation and not enough people are able to.

This country does not value concept of vacationing properly.

Posted by sall]]> Tue, 09 Oct 2012 08:20:53 -0700 The Stranger
The point is, when you mess something up, you get screwed, when the airline messes something up, you get screwed, despite paying for a service.
Posted by Theodore Gorath]]> Tue, 09 Oct 2012 07:54:32 -0700 The Stranger Posted by kevin11]]> Tue, 09 Oct 2012 07:53:02 -0700 The Stranger
if he's upset that modern technology is not perfect enough to get him on a flight he wasn't scheduled for maybe he can give somebody some vegetables while he brags/masturbates about it.

goldy is an asshole.
Posted by whateversandthensome]]> Mon, 08 Oct 2012 23:34:51 -0700 The Stranger
There's such a thing as striving to be the best. It's kind of an American thing. Perhaps you've never heard of it. We know we can do better, but the same Randian/Libertarians who feel that industry should be completely unfettered also are quick to defend industry's shoddy & lazy practices. Gov't regulations aren't designed to hold industry back, but to force them to act in a proficient & excellent manner.

No, of course that doesn't always happen. But if the wingnuts really wanted "government off our backs," then why do they continue to act in such a way that demands oversight for the system to run smoothly?

Posted by Some Old Nobodaddy Logged In]]> Mon, 08 Oct 2012 22:52:17 -0700 The Stranger Posted by Up all night]]> Mon, 08 Oct 2012 22:40:55 -0700 The Stranger
I am surprised Sprint couldnt fire up some pre-arranged reciprocal deal to route around the fails quickly using other networks.

Posted by david]]> Mon, 08 Oct 2012 22:39:04 -0700 The Stranger Posted by watchout5]]> Mon, 08 Oct 2012 22:11:50 -0700 The Stranger Posted by PoliGeek]]> Mon, 08 Oct 2012 22:06:57 -0700 The Stranger
Getting old is a bitch, ain't it?
Posted by dak7e]]> Mon, 08 Oct 2012 22:00:37 -0700 The Stranger Posted by DOUG.]]> Mon, 08 Oct 2012 21:59:00 -0700 The Stranger Posted by dak7e]]> Mon, 08 Oct 2012 21:55:15 -0700 The Stranger Posted by Andy Niable]]> Mon, 08 Oct 2012 21:45:17 -0700 The Stranger
On the other hand, air travel is now disturbingly affordable. That's pretty fucking asymmetrical. Any asshat who can't even read the boarding pass to figure out when to board gets to fly.

I fly around 100k miles per year. I have been fucked over by airlines in ways most people can't imagine. This incident, while bad in Alaska's hub, doesn't even rank.
Posted by Tyler Pierce]]> Mon, 08 Oct 2012 21:30:58 -0700 The Stranger
The Virgin people were total dicks about everything. Sure, it was the weather, so "not their fault" but they yelled at us when people asked for blankets and pillows. Then the supervisor came by and she was even nastier. I think it's because people asked for meal coupons.

It's true Virgin didn't owe us anything beyond flying us out eventually. But I'm never flying Virgin again and I tell people about our stupendously awful experience with them whenever the conversation turns to airlines. If they had been nice to us I would probably fly Virgin all he time and talk about that one time they went above and beyond and earned my loyalty.

It's called customer service: spend a little money to make your customers happy, and they will buy your services more often. It's pretty simple in theory, but often so difficult to execute correctly.
Posted by emor]]> Mon, 08 Oct 2012 21:19:24 -0700 The Stranger Posted by prompt]]> Mon, 08 Oct 2012 21:09:44 -0700 The Stranger Greens: I'm pretty sure Goldy considers himself somebody who cares about climate change

Seattlites: most of us reading this live in Seattle

Europe: The "airline industry" most certainly has one or two flights there, and Slog readers comprise higher percentage of folks who board those flights.

Sorry @8 and Goldy, I just can't fucking stand people bitching about how awful flying is. Very few people on Earth get to fly. Getting treated like a terrorist, Goldy? Really? Even Noam Chomsky accepts as legitimate the TSA's authority to search his shit when flying.

Posted by ScruffyBallardMan]]> Mon, 08 Oct 2012 20:58:01 -0700 The Stranger