David J.
Danto
Business travel
thoughts in my own, personal opinion
eMail: ddanto@IMCCA.org Follow Industry News: @NJDavidD
Time Travel
I boarded the flight on
time, early of course because of my status.
I did not get an upgrade, so I made my way to the aisle seat I selected
(27D.) I put my roll-aboard bag in the
bin above my seat – where there was plenty of room, and then took the things I’d
need for the five or so hour flight out of my briefcase, then shoved that bag next-to
my roll-aboard – there was plenty of room.
As I settled into the seat I started to scroll through the seat-back
entertainment system. I found two
recently released movies I had not seen before, and started playing the first
one – even before we took-off. The seat
in coach was not luxurious in any way, but there was actually plenty of
legroom.
About forty-five minutes into the flight the FA came by and asked if I
wanted “chicken or pasta” for lunch. I
chose the pasta, which was a very tasty lasagna. It came with some fruit and a small, brownie
sized piece of chocolate cake…and some pretzel sticks to munch on later during
the movie.
With about an hour to go before landing – while I was well into the
second movie – the FA came by again and gave me a power-bar snack to eat before
we land. We landed early. The bags came out within 20 minutes of me getting
to the carousel.
What I’ve described above is just about on par with any coach flying
experience in the 1980s. It is the kind
of service that air travelers should expect when hundreds of dollars are spent
to receive the service of transporting us from our home city to another one.
What we have to stop and realize however, is that the situation above is
the far exception from today’s standard service. Room for bags – ha! Unless you’re one of the first to board a
flight those bins fills-up very quickly, and checking bags instead comes at a
price. Legroom? What are you thinking? The airlines have learned that if they take
away everyone’s legroom and reduce the number of aircraft flying they can fill
their planes with more paying customers.
Forget any comfort, it’s not a factor in the decision. In-flight entertainment systems with movies –
almost never. The norm now is airlines just
buy their aircraft without any kind of IFE system. You’re on your own to carry your mobile
device with either content you can connect to or content you bring. If you happen to connect to an airline
provided system, your choice of movies may include few new release films, mixed
with TV show repeats and titles that are dozens of years old. Food on board – for free? What are you thinking? The airlines have long since removed that
service. You can buy a “snack-box” or in
rare cases a fresh meal for about $10.
You have to use a credit card though, as cash in not permitted on the
flight.
Oddly enough, all of the things we used to take for granted with air
travel are now considered part of a premium service. It is in fact United’s “Premium Service” (PS)
that I described above. As a United
million-miler / elite flyer I am allowed to select seats in the Economy Plus
cabin when I fly on a PS enabled flight, but most travelers have to pay more
for it.
Think about that. We airline
customers have to pay more for service deemed to be “premium” when it is
actually on par with what used to be standard years ago. It is hard to think of any other service
industry where the standard service has declined to the extent that you have to
pay more for what used to be the bare-minimum level of quality. Airline management has increased revenue by “unbundling”
what used to be included, and selling it back to you for more money.
Airline analysts like to talk about how fares are generally stable or
lower than they were years ago. What
they don’t include is the costs for these unbundled services. It’s like going car shopping, agreeing on a
price for the purchase, but then having the dealer ask you if you’d like to include
the steering wheel, tires, engine, lights, radio, etc. – all of which you have
to pay more for.
In this reality, my coast to coast travel always seems like time travel. The airlines are very competitive on these
premium service flights between the New York area and San Francisco or Los
Angeles. You can find just about hourly
flights on this route (a true throwback to the past) all configured with an
expensive (international quality) first class cabin, and often a decent-sized
premium economy section. Because of the
frequency of the flights and the competition on the route, you can often find
coast-to-coast fares at far lower costs then flying a few hundred miles on an
awful regional jet. And – if you happen
to be elite on the airline you’re flying – you can experience a reasonably
priced coach fare that may make you feel just like you’re flying in 1980
again. It’s proof that time travel is actually
possible.
This article was written by David Danto and contains solely his own, personal
opinions.
All image and links provided above as reference under
prevailing fair use statutes.