Paying Customers are Grounded

I used to enjoy flying. As an adult, I came to love the excitement of travel and by the time I enjoyed traveling, flying was really pretty economical. And then 9/11 happened, and of course, everything changed. Granted, some things needed to change, but what I am going to address in this blog has nothing to do with terrorists. Simply, it has to do with an abuse of assumed and implied authority. The airlines are not going broke due to regulations or high fuel costs. The airlines are going broke because they do not treat their customers with respect. I traveled a bit after 9/11, but I discovered America was the only country in which every single person attempting to board a plane was presumed guilty until proven innocent. I am sorry for the people that lost loved ones in those planes on 9/11, but since our government did nothing to monitor the VISAs and PASSPORTs from the country that provided them, I just don't think this airport security is really about stopping terrorism. I think it's about pushing us right up to the breaking point and seeing just what we huddled masses will tolerate, while being told it's for our own good. And now when I read the headlines with the airlines doing something inane, it isn't any longer "for the good of the passengers," it's about some crew member being offended. Rather than worrying about terrorists, the airline employees have made judgment calls about wardrobe, children's behavior, and just this last week, cranky exhausted passengers were grounded. Big difference in less than 7 years!
Other than hating to see the loss of one more option in this country, which I have already opted out of, I think the airlines are bankrupting themselves, since they can't be nice.
A woman with four small children was simply left stranded because the crew thought her children were disruptive. No refund offered, no alternative accommodations, at the time, just stranded miles and miles from where she had boarded and her destination. I remember, clearly, the fashion incident. I thought then, it was simply a matter of jealousy. These flight attendants should be nicer and kinder. Most of them would not have met the criteria for flight attendants in the 60's and 70's, anyway. And this week-end, the crew was over an hour late, met with ill tempered customers that made a few choice comments. Considering, the fact that travelers have to arrive at least an hour early and endure every form of security check deemed necessary by some control freak with issues and a badge, the crew had the gall to say they were frightened. Of what? Airline passengers aren't allowed to have anything. Terrorists aren't bringing down the airlines, the airlines are doing that themselves.
A man that hath friends must show himself friendly . . . a Proverb of Holy Scripture