Your story really tied in well with the new issue of “The Screaming Eagle” about the importance of positioning. Pretty much all the airlines have earned the mean and nasty position for themselves. I think the little jets like Express Jet have a real shot at making it big in the travel industry. The only thing holding them back at this point is they only fly to very limited locations.

Anyway there is a real opportunity for one company to step up to the plate and earn the friendly and we really care about you position. I would gladly pay $500-$700 to fly on a plane where the seats are really roomy, I don’t have to go through TSA, I’m not hassled about my carry on bag, I actually get a nice beverage and meal when appropriate, and the flight attendants treat you like they would a friend.

If I wanted cheap and highly unpleasant I could take the bus:-)

There were always young children (as young as three or four) skiing and having a blast. Most skiied better than I did. So being four would not be a hindrance to her attending snow bunny school and quickly learning to ski. I’m pretty sure that being close to the ground, as a four year old would be, makes it easier to ski.

When you have kids, you can’t cheat them out of a vacation just because there’s extra stress when they coma along. We annually visit Anna Maria Island, Florida or Gulf Shores, Alabama, and my six-year old and eight-year old are always with is. You’d swear both are half fish as they’ll stay in the water all day if you let them.

Sure, it’s more work to have to keep an eye on them and they can get cranky as the day wears on and they get tired, but I wouldn’t dream of leaving them behind because of their age and the fact that there’s extra work involved in bringing children on the trip.

As to the airlines, I live in the Dallas area and American Airlines dominates DFW Airport. So when I fly it’s often with them. Customer service is always hit-or-miss with them, in part because management and labor are constantly at odds with one another.

Southwest, whose employees are always friendly and helpful, wasn’t a viable option for years because of the Wright Amendment, which restricted where flights from Love Field could go without passengers having to change planes (and, consequently, forcing passengers trtaveling outside the restricted areas to pay for two flights).

Thankfully, the Wright Amendment is being phased out, much to American’s chagrin since doing so makes them even less competitive than they already are with Southwest.

I’ve got two frequent flyer tickets left with American. When we use them up, I’m probably going to use Southwest almost exclusively.The airline industry is in a very odd place. Most airlines are losing money hand-over-fist because of high fuel costs and the inability to raise prices because of fear of losing customers to lower cost airlines. As you probably know, three airlines have sought bankruptcy protection in the past weeks, with one totally shjutting down.
This has in turn led many airlines to cut back on customer service, leaving a chunk of the population ready to jump ship when an alternative turns up. American has never been known for friendly, customer-centric staff, and it’s only going to get worse.
When your management and your employees are at each other’s throats, the customers inevitablely get caught in the cross fire.
James Sadler 

Boy sounds like you had a trip!

Reminds me of my trip via London to Los Angeles in 2006 - Coming from South Africa.

I was going into Heathrow twelve hours after the big bomb scare. Oh Joy I though! The flight to LAX was the next day. And yes, you guessed it - my business partner and I were flying AA.

Same story - Phone and check web sites - all clear, we’re flying out! And we get there only to learn out fate. For the next - oh I forget - 5 hours - I try not to remember - we get shifted from one flight to the next. Each one over-booked. And we didn’t have the luxury of sitting around - NO - we had to go round and round, “booking in” each time. This included the usual search. It was usual by the seventh time. Shoes off and so on and so on.

I’ll keep it short - because of security, we had to put our laptops in our luggage. When we eventually got to LAX, AA lost our luggage! Talk about a Stranger in a Strange land. No one could tell us where our bags were - some said Chicago, some said London. 5 Days later we got everything back. AA is on my [bleep] list since then.

Sorry - did I go off there! Must try and get over it

PH

"please remember that if you leave any belongings behind in your seat pocket, we’ll sell them on eBay"; "fit your own oxygen mask first before assisting with small children and your husband"; "smoking is not permitted on this flight including in the toilets, which are fitted with smoke detectors and video cameras. -pause- Oh, yeah, no video cameras, just seeing if you were still listening."

Last flight we had one of the cabin crew was introduced as the karaoke singer; the guy in charge of the announcements was hilarious. They’re funny enough to be memorable!

Even when the flight is delayed, or the plane changed and seats reallocated etc, the staff generally do a good job at reminding us they’re only human and they’re trying to make it fun.

They also showed their true colours recently when a late flight was cancelled at Sydney Airport – a competitor had done that the week before and abandoned their passengers; Virgin Blue dragged the catering trolleys off the plane, fed passengers for free, had staff mingle with passengers and assist them, and find transport/accom for overnight stays.

They’re a little "no frills" in terms of no free meals etc (you pay extra for anything you want to eat or drink, although pricing is good; and you even pay if you want the exit row for extra legroom) but their service and attitude is first class.

Internationally I found British Airways very nice (but it was business class upstairs with only about 6 passengers in the whole section) and Air Pacific (Fiji’s airline) to be nice and friendly too. But if I could I’d look for a Virgin service based on Virgin Blue here.

I’ll be keeping an eye out though when it comes time for US travel!

To me, having the attitude right is what counts the most: even when it comes time for a problem to arise, the Virgin Blue staff are empowered to deal with it better than other airlines I’ve seen.

It was Sir Richard Branson that said: "Mistakes are inevitable. Dissatisfied customers are not."

On every flight the flight attendants have been extremely friendly. One time when we were snowed in in New York City, I went to the counter and asked what was happening, where the flights were, etc. Just to get an update. And rather than push it off with a typical B.S.  answer, they actually told me the expected delays, what was causing them, etc.

I wasn’t pleased about the delay, but what can you do about the weather?

I flew Delta and had a horrible experience, the same with US Air which I avoid.

International to Asia, Singapore is number 1, followed closely by Cathay Pacific. Superb service and friendliness on both.

In fact, it seems to me (I have flown European based, USA based, and Asia based airlines), with the vast majority of USA based airlines all you get is cheapness, combined with piss poor attitude.

They act as if they somehow feel since they are pricing themselves for less than they want they need to hire people who get their jollies from abusing customers, and they find every way to cheapen their service. Though Jet Blue, TED, SouthWest and some others maintain high profits and high levels of service, with reduced prices.