In other words, the airlines have now off-loaded most of the work of picking through routes and fares onto would-be passengers, saving labor costs (a good thing) but making the professional travel agent business unviable for most (probably a bad thing). The on-line reservation portals do a good job for simple out-and-back trips, but more complex international iteneraries can be nightmarish. I’d gladly pay a travel agent’s commission (also now off-loaded to me) for professional help in such a case – a good agent can often more than save the value of the commission.

Disclaimer: no, I’m not a travel agent! :-)

BP

http://blogs.zdnet.com/crm/?p=874

His experience doesn’t exactly support the proposition that airlines have ‘amazing customer service.’

“The nation’s outdated, inefficient air traffic control (ATC) system is the primary culprit, allowing poor weather to wreak havoc on flight schedules…”

I was unaware that modern, efficient ATC systems can control the weather.

They cannot — but ‘modern, efficient Air Traffic Control systems’ — and controllers — can so much more efficiently effect air traffic management and separation as to minimize the delays caused by all traffic having to operate under Instrument Flight Conditions.

(Captain) B A

Look, when there are 2 runways that together can handle 180 operations an hour [90 takeoffs and landings] and the airlines schedule 90 arrivals and 100 departures then 10 flight will be delayed that hour – guaranteed. NONE of this are the result of ATC delays.

When ATC slows down arrivals or puts a meter on arrivals – it does so for safety – not to piss off the airlines. It needs to limit the arrivals so that the instrument approaches the aircraft are using can handle the flow. In good weather you can have an airliner adjust speed visually for aircraft in front of them – and they can brake more effectively meaning they get off the runway sooner – meaning the runway and approach have a higher capacity.

This is not brain surgery. Its common sense – but its easier for the airlines to blame someone else for overscheduling – since overscheduling makes the delay THEIR fault – meaning potential compensation to passengers.

Next – the airlines claim they need ‘new GPS routes’ – so – install the GPS direct equipment in your aircraft – total cost – about $20k per aircraft. Then they can use the same technology the guys in the little prop planes have been using for decade. I can fly direct from just south of NY to my destination in SC when I fly. Saves about 3 gallons every trip – times 7 RT a year = 42 gallons or $172 a year in fuel. But then I spent the money. Its not ATC that stops them from flying direct – its their technology which is mostly stuck in the 1990′s.

But he certainly wasn’t speaking up the customer service qualities of the airlines, in any sense of the word…

Yes, “amazing” certainly describes my recent airline interactions. Along with “cramped”, “unpleasant”, “inconvenient”, and occasionally “Kafkaesque”.

“Isn’t it amazing that you can be sitting ‘in a chair in the sky’ – which may not recline quite as far as you’d like – but which carries you across the country in just four to five hours and allows you to read, relax and even surf the Internet along the way?”

Yes, and I did all of that back in November 1975, too, except for surfing the Internet. And with roomier seats and delicious meals that came with the ticket.

If this is what airlines provide as a big bag of “amazing” thirty-four years later, I can’t wait until 2043. We’ll probably have flight attendants lashing us with whips and demanding that we pedal faster. Also, when I get to baggage claim, my walker will have been sent to Venus.

At least they acknowledge that delays are infuriating both themselves and customers.