|
August 1st / 3rd, 2008
"Fly the Friendly Skies"
A few weeks ago I happened onto a TV show titled, “Airline” (BRAVO
channel).
It is not a typical reality series. No one auditions. No one wins a trip
to Hollywood and a recording contract. No one is forced to eat live bugs,
or live with strangers in a strange place filled with hidden cameras (well, I
might be wrong about that). And though “Airline” is clearly a promotional
vehicle for Southwest Airlines, the series remains an unrehearsed looking
glass into our society.
Videotaped at LAX, Chicago Midway, Baltimore/Washington, Dallas, and
Atlanta, “Airline” chronicles the trials and tribulations of air travelers. A word
of warning: If you’re over 40, viewing just one episode will make you yearn
for the pre deregulation era. Before I tell you why the warning is
necessary, let’s review how things used to be.
In the old days, flying was a privilege, not a right. Yes, it was
expensive, and that’s why my family never flew anywhere together. But later, as I
made a career in broadcasting and business, I became a frequent flyer in the
friendly skies, and, with the exception of occasional turbulence, the experience
was always enjoyable. Stewardesses were attractive, friendly, and
compassionate. And most airlines had a dress code for passengers. Former TWA
employee Dolores Hadsall recently told the Kansas City Star, “I worked for TWA in
the ‘70’s where the dress code for traveling first class was suits for men,
and women wore dresses, or pant suits that required jackets”.
In addition, passengers were well behaved. No one was loud and profane,
and everyone practiced good hygene. But all that (and more) began to change in
1978 when the Airline Deregulation Act was signed into law. One provision
of the Act lifted restrictions on air routes. That allowed start-up,
discount carriers as well as smaller existing airlines, to fill the skies with
flights, making air travel more available, and fares more affordable through
increased competition. At the same time, the ADA helped to encourage air service
from smaller airports. No longer would the Feds set fares, and the Civil
Aeronautics Board disappeared altogether.
But it wasn’t long before the ADA started to backfire. According to the
Air Transport Association, by 1990, 91% of all passenger miles traveled, were
on discount tickets at an average discount of 65% from the posted coach fare.
The handwriting was on the wall.
Between 1978 and 2001, nine major carriers (including Eastern, Pan Am, and
TWA), and 100 smaller airlines went bankrupt, including dozens of new carriers
that had sprung up as a result of the Act. And of those that survived,
nearly all are now in deep trouble. U.S. Air, who took over the highly
profitable, highly efficient Piedmont in the 1980’s, is now searching for a merger
partner who can keep them out of the poor house. United has laid off so many
pilots that airport janitors may have to start flying the planes, and American
and other carriers have drastically cut the number of flights from every
size airport.
Meanwhile, on-time arrivals and departures are almost non existent, and
in-flight services have been cut to the bare bones.
And what of the people who benefitted from the fare wars which caused this
chaos in the first place? How have they shown their collective appreciation
for the privilege of flying? For that answer, I refer you back to the TV
show “Airline”. In the few episodes I’ve watched, here’s a small sampling
of behavior by people whose demand for low fares have plunged the entire
nation into a transportation disaster:
- Passengers arriving at the gate intoxicated
- Passengers who are loud and use obscene language in public
- Families traveling together causing departure delays by demanding adjacent
seating when they were too stupid to reserve seats together in the first place
- People who arrive late and then cause a scene because they can’t tell time
or don’t own an alarm clock
- Parents trying to pass off their 3 year old as a 2 year old so they won’t
have to buy another discount ticket
- Passengers who dress like they’re going to a barbeque at a hippie brothel
- People who travel without having bathed in the past month, so the airline
has to provide them with a change of clothing
- Passengers who show up coughing and sneezing so that everyone else can share
their disease, including one man who wanted to board the plane while
vomiting. He later admitted that he had a history of passing out
- People who bring dirty baggage on board which is filled with everything
from cockroaches to snakes
- Travelers from foreign countries who think it’s OK to pack rotten food from
the old country into their pocketbook
- A woman who held up a flight for nearly an hour and refused to de-plane,
finally explaining that she was upset about the temperature in the cabin
- Passengers who lose their tickets, then complain to the airline because they
only carried $20 with them, and can’t afford to purchase a replacement ticket
- A man who is irate because he can’t carry-on his knife which he will need
when he arrives at his destination to attend a biker funeral.
The examples are endless, and not atypical. Just last week, on another
airliner, a man proceeded to strip down naked in mid flight and attempt to open the
emergency door at 30,000 feet in the air.
Forgive me if I sound elitist, but prior to deregulation, stupid,
inconsiderate, crude people didn’t used to fly on planes. The fare was prohibitive
enough so that those folks either took the bus or drove with a friend.
When, as an adult, I could finally afford to fly, I knew how to behave, and
I was considerate of my fellow travelers. Sure, I’m an old curmudgeon and
this is a different era. But common sense and common decency have never gone
out of style, and should never be optional in our society.
The undeniable truth is that the skies were safer, less congested, and more
pleasurable to travel when fares were higher and airlines were regulated.
But beyond that, the air carriers back then were profitable, and provided
thousands of stable, high paying jobs. Today, 30 years after passage of the ADA,
every airline is struggling and every passenger is inconvenienced. And
guess what else? Fares are going up anyway. True, fuel prices have recently
skyrocketed, but the grand experiment didn’t work from the very beginning.
In fact, it has left us in worse shape than ever before.
The solution is simple. We must go back to a system where airlines are
regulated, and where passengers are classy regardless of what class they are
flying.
It is a simple matter of economic common sense, and better attitudes at
higher altitudes.
|
|
