Why I hate flying commercial
Ever have a wonderful time ruined by an airline? Of course you have. It's a common enough complaint of millions of travelers every year.
My own sad tale hinges on the common issue of mechanical failure. Granted that nothing lasts forever, and that safety is a very serious concern when flying.
However, when one becomes a prisoner of a system with limited redundancy that copes with aircraft lost to mechanical problems, the salve of words one hears becomes quite meaningless.
Leaving San Diego this past Sunday afternoon, I had no idea what was ahead of me. I did know that I had to switch planes at Las Vegas, the one I left in going on to the east coast. However, an hour or so into my imposed layover at the Southwest terminal at the Las Vegas airport, I pushed myself to look at the monitors to check the status of my next plane.
The time had been pushed back one and a half hours. No explanation was offered. Fine. I returned to the boarding area and sat. And sat. And sat.
The terminal was stock Las Vegas. Alcoves full of digital video slot machines. Overpriced food courts and gift shops. Banners announcing services such as target ranges with machine guns. All close by.
Yet, I felt that I would not be comfortable leaving the 'green zone' of security that the homeland security people had imposed on the terminal. I hate having to go through security for dozens of reasons that I need not review here. Sadly, I continued my sitting.
The terminal was left a pig sty of a mess by thousands of travelers. The staff didn't bother to keep up beyond emptying the trash cans. And Southwestern remained silent.
Then I noticed the monitors in the loading area. The estimated time of arrival of the next plane was pushed back to after 10PM local time! And it only continued to grow longer as the hours progressed.
It finally stopped at 10:55PM when the poor representative swallowed hard and informed the 100 or so folks waiting to go onto Boise that there was nothing to do but wait. The plane was being diverted from Arizona after its last scheduled flight and would be in Vegas as soon as possible. No reasons given, nor any compensation offered.
Suggestions that anyone who wanted to could go and rent a room for the night and be rebooked in the morning. Yeah, right.
So, 3 hours stretched to 7 hours. No apology. No compensation. No food or drink on the airline. Just waiting.
Guess I should cut to the end at this point. I did manage to post a few Twitter comments in hopes someone from Southwest was paying attention. That too failed. No one from Southwest bothered.
The plane arrived with a handful of people at 10:30. Half the people were asleep or irritated. I was just quietly pleased to finally board the plane and fly the final hour to Boise. The pilot finally confirmed that the plane we were supposed to fly out on had a significant mechanical issue that could not be resolved in time. That they were flying overtime to help us get home.
Excuse me. I paid long in advance for my transportation. The airline is responsible for such issues within their control. Redundancy in flight must be maintained, even if it perceived as wasteful by management.
I got no satisfaction from Southwest. Please fly with us again and we'll make it up to you then. Fuck that. I want meaningful compensation in the here and now. I don't plan to take Southwest up on their empty offer. In fact, they'll most likely have forgotten the pain their mistake has cost their passengers, and want to go forward.
I'm flying US Airways next time. Goodbye Southwest.
My own sad tale hinges on the common issue of mechanical failure. Granted that nothing lasts forever, and that safety is a very serious concern when flying.
However, when one becomes a prisoner of a system with limited redundancy that copes with aircraft lost to mechanical problems, the salve of words one hears becomes quite meaningless.
Leaving San Diego this past Sunday afternoon, I had no idea what was ahead of me. I did know that I had to switch planes at Las Vegas, the one I left in going on to the east coast. However, an hour or so into my imposed layover at the Southwest terminal at the Las Vegas airport, I pushed myself to look at the monitors to check the status of my next plane.
The time had been pushed back one and a half hours. No explanation was offered. Fine. I returned to the boarding area and sat. And sat. And sat.
The terminal was stock Las Vegas. Alcoves full of digital video slot machines. Overpriced food courts and gift shops. Banners announcing services such as target ranges with machine guns. All close by.
Yet, I felt that I would not be comfortable leaving the 'green zone' of security that the homeland security people had imposed on the terminal. I hate having to go through security for dozens of reasons that I need not review here. Sadly, I continued my sitting.
The terminal was left a pig sty of a mess by thousands of travelers. The staff didn't bother to keep up beyond emptying the trash cans. And Southwestern remained silent.
Then I noticed the monitors in the loading area. The estimated time of arrival of the next plane was pushed back to after 10PM local time! And it only continued to grow longer as the hours progressed.
It finally stopped at 10:55PM when the poor representative swallowed hard and informed the 100 or so folks waiting to go onto Boise that there was nothing to do but wait. The plane was being diverted from Arizona after its last scheduled flight and would be in Vegas as soon as possible. No reasons given, nor any compensation offered.
Suggestions that anyone who wanted to could go and rent a room for the night and be rebooked in the morning. Yeah, right.
So, 3 hours stretched to 7 hours. No apology. No compensation. No food or drink on the airline. Just waiting.
Guess I should cut to the end at this point. I did manage to post a few Twitter comments in hopes someone from Southwest was paying attention. That too failed. No one from Southwest bothered.
The plane arrived with a handful of people at 10:30. Half the people were asleep or irritated. I was just quietly pleased to finally board the plane and fly the final hour to Boise. The pilot finally confirmed that the plane we were supposed to fly out on had a significant mechanical issue that could not be resolved in time. That they were flying overtime to help us get home.
Excuse me. I paid long in advance for my transportation. The airline is responsible for such issues within their control. Redundancy in flight must be maintained, even if it perceived as wasteful by management.
I got no satisfaction from Southwest. Please fly with us again and we'll make it up to you then. Fuck that. I want meaningful compensation in the here and now. I don't plan to take Southwest up on their empty offer. In fact, they'll most likely have forgotten the pain their mistake has cost their passengers, and want to go forward.
I'm flying US Airways next time. Goodbye Southwest.