We know terrorists are still targeting airplanes, not Starbucks! Therefore, if you are a criminal, you can’t be trusted with the safety of passengers and have access to sensitive info about terror threats. I don’t care how smart your diploma says you are, or how carefully you drive your kids in a minivan… By the way: Don’t we have people dead or injured on car accidents every second? How about airline accident death related? Get the point? Wasn’t it a Flight Att that busted Richard Reed(the shoe bomber) trying to blow up AA flight and saved all those people‘s lives and probably the company as well?
Don’t some terrorists have diploma and are very educated as well? Some are doctors… there is a high demand for that! Some doctors/terrorist were busted, in England not too long ago (i guess the night club bombing event?!)…
It’s not about a “diploma”; it’s about safety in a terror targeted environment. Just look up the word “different”. It means, NOT THE SAME THING! While you’re at it, research an event known as 9/11. It involved Airlines not Starbucks!

Airline employees are carefully selected and well qualified.
To work at starbucks, you don’t need to pass drug test, medical exams, background check ( past 10 years), and be fingerprinted/investigated by the FBI. Airline employees do!

To work at some places, You can even be an illegal immigrant. Not for an airline…They do check!
So, stop the ignorancy! Flight crew are responsable for people’s lives and safety. I wouldn’t say anybody can do that! Get a life people! To work a coffee house or store is a respectfull thing to do(anybody that works and is not lazy deserve respect for that) but to qualify for an airline job is a lot more dificult than you think.
For all of you out there that have crimminal convictions(dui for example)or use drugs, have certain medical issues, bad appearance/bad higienne habits, and are illegal immigrants, you would never even be considerated for an interview. Besides that, if you do have what it takes, and pass a few interviews, you can start trainning. And it’s intensive! More than 40 hours a week for 6-7 weeks. A lot of it, is computer application SABRE, medical, safety, and many other things that passengers don’t see. If you make it(A lot of people don’t) , you have to make it through the probation period (several months) and then you have to make sure you can handle the lifestyle. Not to mention that you have to have money saved for those weeks that you attend trainning,(you don’t get paid for that) and also to relocate usually to the most expensive cities in the US, and they tell you where at the end of trainning. Also you have to buy your Uniform and Luggage just to start working. It’s very different than work at a restaurant or a store. So, stop comparing things that are completelly different because you look like an ignorant and clueless person!

Stop the ignorance people! The part of the job that you do see: Serving drinks, it’s a very small part of the job. It’s just like saying: Police officers are stupid and deserve to make little money because all they do is to write speeding tickets!

I hate ignorance! Stoooooooooop it!

Also, after you invest all that money, relocating, and start climbing the seniority list, it’s just difficult to just simply quit. Because you can’t take your experience or seniority with you. So, you loose everything you invested for all those years.

It’s NOT as simple as you may think!

Your frustration flying today’s airlines is no longer anything new. It’s my opinion this -frustration- carries over to airline employees as much as it does to the customers.

While your well written article this morning identifies some of the -problems- of today’s airlines. You either ignored the cause of what’s wrong in the industry or you have not accomplished the research to understand -why- the US Airline Industry has fallen so far in customer service.

Here are some startling details of what has actually occurred in the Airline Industry yet is virtually never recognized by the media.

The following data is from SEC filings and the most recent BTS reports and recognizes the 7 largest US Airlines which account for 72.4% of the US Airline market share [mainline data].

Since year 2000, the -last annual report prior to 911- and through 2007:

* Total passenger revenues were up by less than one percent.

* The average passenger fare increased from $137 to $153 [+13%]. After accounting for inflation, there has been no real increase in passenger fares.

* There are over 34% less employees for the 7 Major Airlines.

* The average number of passengers to employee ratio has increased by almost 36%.

* Average wage/salary [W2] expense is down by 29% before accounting for inflation.

* While all of this financial loss to the average airline employee has occurred; The employee revenue productivity has increased by an astounding 52%.

* The average labor cost per passenger one way fare has dropped from $60 [39%] to $37 [22%].

(fares noted above do not include government taxes and fees that are not included in airline revenues).

* At the same time rank and file employees worked more for less, management salaries [W2] increased by nearly 108%.

Mr. Bing, respectfully, the US Airline Industry use to lead the World. We now trail most foreign airlines in every measurable metric, especially, customer service.

The above is for information and not meant to provide a blind defense for rude, albeit frequently over-worked and underpaid employees.

One only has to consider the increased cost to drive your car across the state today compared to year 2000 to realize how low airfares really are today.

I suggest before the industry can improve, recognition of exactly what the problems are must occur first.

Then we must be willing to pay a relatively small additional amount per ticket at the same time well paid airline managements are encouraged to return this industry to what it use to be.

Sincerely,
Robert Herbst
Airlinefinancials.com

Bing – I wouldn’t want you to walk… or drive from NY to CA. It is much more dangerous… and who would write this blog if something happened to you?

Jessica – where’s the “it’s so nice, it feels like summer and I can drive with my windows down” in St. Cloud today??

If you want to get the best read on the airline, investigate the morale of the pilot group. Sure there are other groups, but the airline won’t be on time if this group is unhappy. And right now, they’re all quite pissed.

If the state of things continues much longer, most of the skilled pilots will quit and be replaced by the industry equivilent of trained monkies. The airline accident rate will spike.

The good news is you’ll no longer be so concerned with service or on-time performance. You’ll be happy just to have arrived alive.

Note: I read your “I’m open to any suggestion. As long as I don’t have to walk.” as a double meaning. You are open to talk about rants, and bash back at people, but aren’t willing to actually do anything to make a difference. If you talk about being “human” and all, be ready to back it up with your own deeds. Elsewise, its just air talk.

Bing – that’s a sharp comment. Good job.

Airline “leadership”, airport “management” and the FAA disgust me.

I’m no fool. I understand that regulation is essentially a price floor. The effect of price floors is to increase supply and decrease demand. Sure, that will mean more seats available. It will also mean higher prices for seats, which means fewer people schlepping off to grandma’s for Thanksgiving. That, however, is a trade-off that I would be willing to make.

And while, too, I am not an economist, Ihave to wonder if htere truly is a net positive economic befit to our current long distance transportation structure —essentially flying.

At my airport, a hub, most passengers are flying short distances that could easily be served by other means like rail and bus, if thye truly wanted cheap transportation and if it had the capacity.

In fact, for the mearly 20% of pasengers at my terminal who are travelling to destinations within 200 miles of us, the total travel time between air, road, and rail is about equal.

I can’t but wonder if those families that fly with us, struggling to keep children entertained and under control, might not prefer a mode of transportation that allows the kids to stretch and play instead of being strapped down in a narrow seat.

The rail trip between here and the state capital is a joyful adventure for the dozens of schoolkids who make the trek daily.

I believe that air travel does have a vital social and economic place in the US, but I can;t but wonder if that economic interest is being misread.