These days airlines SUCK!!!!

[Nauty]

Recently I've began to do a lot of traveling for work and I'm quickly getting to the point to where I'd rather drive the 3-4 hours to get where I'm going instead of taking a 45 minute flight.

Since when did they (American Airlines) do away with standby? Today I finish up a little earlier than expected, so I decide to head the airport and try to get on standby for the earlier flight. After doing 80-90 mph through most of greater Houston, I arrive about 30 mins before the plane is scheduled to leave only to be told that AA no longer does standby. Oh they have plenty of empty seats on this flight, but I must pay a $50 fee to get one!

Apparently standby is only free to those with platinum priority status. WTF??? What's more is now they are also charging a fee to board early. Because the bastards already charge for checked bags everyone and their mother is now carrying on their luggage. Therefore, the sooner you board the better your chances of finding space for your bags. Now you can pay up to $19 for the luxury of boarding early. Heck, if you're going to do that you might as well pay to check your bags!

Things in the airline industry are starting to get out of control!!!

[Faust]

Southwest ftw

[Sinkoumn]

^Southwest = turning a 45 min flight into 5hr's of travel time because of connections

[Nauty]

[fish6942]

The airlines absolutely need to enforce their maximum size limits for carry on bags. If your trip requires a larger or extra bag then check the damn thing(s). No reason for the rest of us to suffer for your situation.

Until newer planes come out with additional self-service storage, either pack light or pay the baggage handling fees.

FWIW - Delta just took my family of 5 from MSP to SFO and back and I have no complaints.

[Faust]

I don't think anyone is complaining about maximum size limits for carry-on bags...

[STPHNSN23]

as the son of an airline employee, i have no sympathy for anyone who complains about airlines. look at the cost of your ticket today versus the cost of a ticket 15 years ago. ticket cost has gone down while every expense to the airline has gone up. fuel prices, labor costs, maintenance, hell even peanut costs have gone up. of course you're going to have to start charging for some services if ticket prices are going to go down. if you didn't have to pay for luggage fees, snack fees, and the like, you'd be paying more for your seat, and god knows no one would stand for that.

it's the same concept as the people who bitch about all the jobs leaving the US but who would also bitch about the cost of products that are made in the US had the jobs stayed.

[Neognosis]

On delta: flight to wisconsin through chicago: 243.00

fligt just to chicago: 1100 dollars. Anyone want to guess why? A friend of mine did research on this for his mba recently and we talked about this today....

[_bruky]

I wasn't actually aware people took flights as a replacement for driving 3-4 hours. By the time you park, go through luggage, et cetera, there is no way in dollars you come ahead - time wise or dollars spent directly with travel.

[JV]

[Canucked]

_bruky,

I assumed you would avoid these things by flying private.

[K-dub]

Canucked, you have Bruky confused with Ky1e

[brew]

[Neognosis]

Their pricing analysts know that most people flying from certain cities to chicago are flying for business, and therefore will not bargain hunt as much as someone who is paying out of their own pocket. They know that more people flying to wisconsin for pleasure, and will be willing to pay as much.

So they stick it to corporations who have more of a need to fly there than people flying to another destination for pleasure.

While I dont' think they should do away with carry ons, I think they should decrease the allowed size and actively enforce it. You HAVE to allow carry ons because some people MUST have access to medication or small, expensive items (like a laptop) that they either are not willing to trust to baggage or that they are unable to. My computer has a lot of sensitive info on it, there is no way I'm checking it. If I needed a daily medication, I would never check that either.

But I'm tired of seeing people spend 4 or 5 mins wrestling a bag that is too large into and then out of the overhead baggage compartment. If you can't throw it up and take it down quickly, you should not be taking it carry on.

[holdsworth]

My carry on is always my backpack with laptop, chargers, and school books. Anything else goes underneath the plane out of mine and everyone elses way for a solid $15 on AirTran. Never had a problem with them and I fly with them a few times out of the year to go home/back for breaks.

[ChrisG]

Just flew round trip from Oakland to Oahu on Hawaiian Airlines with no complaints.

The four tickets only cost me $1400 total.

[_bruky]

[Nauty]

[pyrocasto]

[Lop]

I flew Airtran last week. My only complaint is that online check in does absolutely nothing if you have to check a bag and the lines at their ticketing counters are ridiculous.

[fish6942]

[Canucked]

[hammy]

I like SW for intrastate. I can catch a red eye to Austin/Houston/SA, do what I do and be back home by 5. Making that drive same day drains me and usually puts me home by 7 or 8.

I flew mostly American last year. Carry on bags are out of control, wish they would enforce the size limits..... Fares where I went were reasonable, even with baggage fees.

[Aubs]

HATE Southwest. JetBlue all the way

[8824]

[jason_ssr]

Flights should charge by the pound, period. Ticket price should be set at X dollars per pound. You and all your crap get on a scale, you are weighed, and charged accordingly. Then it doesnt matter about checked bags, etc. Families with small kids would fly cheaper, etc.

Another cool trick Ive heard about is to pack a pistol everywhere you go. Im thinking of going to a pawn shop and buying a cheap broken one. A gun in a checked bag is guaranteed not to be lost. They are all tagged and watched at every transfer.

[DRAGON88]

[ChrisG]

[USMGolfer]

[ridininmd]

I despise flying SW, assign me a damn seat instead of having everyone sprint and elbow to get on the plane. Oh and quit it with the stupid ass singing. For some reason I always get stuck next an annoying person who feels the need to tell me their life story or who has the screaming kid with them when I have to fly SW. Have some damn consideration for others people, you know if your kid is capable of sitting reasonably still and being quiet for an extended period of time, if they are not then drive!

I fly JetBlue whenever possible, the seats are great and TV in the headrest? Yes please!

I wish MidWest Express was still around, I was lucky enough to fly them a few times back in the day. They had amazing food, and for afternoon flights they baked cookies during the flight and served them hot with milk. So awesome.

[Tbonez]

People complain about the airline industry but you get what you pay for...Maintenance is up, wages are up, aircraft cost are up, gate fees are up yet the price of a ticket is virtually the same as it was in the late 70s early 80s. With inflation in the mix its actually cheaper to fly today than it was in the 1960s. People want a greyhound in the sky but want limosine service to go with it.

[8824]

Tbonez,

Since you are in Atlanta. Check out Delta's surfboard policy compared to other airlines.

I no longer fly Delta or United. I will pay more on other carriers just to avoid these two.

And if AA keeps up their lack of service, I will be switching again shortly.

I have called AA to get mileage added to my account from two recent flights. After three calls, and 5 months later no mileage posted. These flight were from Jan and March.

If any other business provided service like this, they would be out of business.

[8824]

[jt09]

who the hell goes to hawaii and forgets boardshorts?

[GnarShredd]