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United Airlines' Quest to Be Less Awful

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Re: United Airlines' Quest to Be Less Awful

#31

Post by ghaff »

rconti wrote: post #19
ghaff wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I imagine I'm the minority opinion--and Asian airline meals are generally better than US ones but that probably just reflects my preferences--but I actually don't especially regret the general demise of hot meals on most flights. They were always horrible in coach to the degree that I can recall joking cartoons about them. Serving the meals was disruptive and often stunk up the cabin. Now, when it comes to passing ou…

Yeah. To be honest, I almost looked forward to layovers during air travel for my once- or twice- yearly McDonalds visit. The food options in airports, as dismal and overpriced as they tend to be, are gourmet fare compared with what's served on the airplane. I'd just as soon not have to shuffle my laptop or book around to make space for lousy food.

Many airport options have improved quite a bit--though most are still hardly cheap. At some point, the message seems to have gotten out--for at least some terminals--that very few people want pseudo-fine dining at airports but many want good, relatively fast food.

Re: United Airlines' Quest to Be Less Awful

#33

Post by martinald »

What I can't understand is why United (and tbh most airlines) put such ludicriously short connection times in going from international to domestic in the US.

I've literally had them quote a 42 min connection at me getting from IAD international to domestic. This is literally impossible unless the flight was very significantly early/they put me on Concorde by mistake. I phoned up when I noticed and asked to change flight. Nope, some huge change fee + additional difference in airfare due.

Gave up and sure enough I missed the flight. They just stuck me on the next one anyway, but probably lost the revenue for the flight I was meant to be on. This has happend multiple times (I've it take as much as 4 hours at EWR to go through immigration -> go through TSA-> get bag -> recheck bag -> go through TSA -> board plane.

It must cost them millions of dollars. And as far as I can see there is no option on the scheduling system to say I want a longer layover. Not crazy long, just some room to breathe. Annoying.

Re: United Airlines' Quest to Be Less Awful

#34

Post by Zigurd »

scottkduncan wrote: post #26
Karunamon wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Very many little things" is a great way of describing how bad air travel is. None of the issues are all that bad taken individually, but taken together, the experience is worse than the difference of its parts. * Security (a stressful PITA) * Boarding (never goes smoothly) * Environment (tiny seats, loud, sick passengers, babies, etc) * Service (rude/inattentive FA's, overpriced small extras that feel insulting) * D…

There are also a few great things about modern air travel. For one, it has gotten considerably cheaper (and thus more accessible to a broad spectrum of consumers) over time. It's also amazingly safe for travel in a metal tube at 550 MPH 35,000 feet above the earth. There are market-based products that would address many of your concerns if you are willing to pay. Prefer a larger seat or priority boarding? Try economy…

Making a product horrible in order to sell "less horrible" is not a great example of a market success.

Re: United Airlines' Quest to Be Less Awful

#36

Post by jcranmer »

ghaff wrote: post #13
rezashirazian wrote: post #8

The airline industry needs to be disrupted. Lets hope for a day when building safe and reliable planes is cheap and fueling them even cheaper.

The problem is that people complain but many then go ahead and book the cheapest flight whether it's to save their own money or to comply with corporate travel policies. I'm not sure what "disruption" you have in mind that isn't available to existing carriers.

One major problem is that the comparison sites that people use to determine this stuff don't make it easy to figure out if you're saving $10 to get a massively more uncomfortable situation.

Re: United Airlines' Quest to Be Less Awful

#37

Post by ForHackernews »

Zigurd wrote: post #34
scottkduncan wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are also a few great things about modern air travel. For one, it has gotten considerably cheaper (and thus more accessible to a broad spectrum of consumers) over time. It's also amazingly safe for travel in a metal tube at 550 MPH 35,000 feet above the earth. There are market-based products that would address many of your concerns if you are willing to pay. Prefer a larger seat or priority boarding? Try economy…

Making a product horrible in order to sell "less horrible" is not a great example of a market success.

Sure it is. It's a great example of market segmentation to recapture consumer surplus.

Re: United Airlines' Quest to Be Less Awful

#38

Post by peteretep »

martinald wrote: post #33

What I can't understand is why United (and tbh most airlines) put such ludicriously short connection times in going from international to domestic in the US. I've literally had them quote a 42 min connection at me getting from IAD international to domestic. This is literally impossible unless the flight was very significantly early/they put me on Concorde by mistake. I phoned up when I noticed and asked to change fli…

    > And as far as I can see there is no option on the
    > scheduling system to say I want a longer layover
A travel agent can help you with that.

Re: United Airlines' Quest to Be Less Awful

#39

Post by Zigurd »

[deleted] wrote: post #23

[deleted]

I would not tag "low IQ" as the problem. Airline employees are mismanaged. Every working day they experience the same cheap-ass approach to stakeholders their customers only experience when flying. Then the bad ones take it out on the customers.

Re: United Airlines' Quest to Be Less Awful

#40

Post by ghaff »

rconti wrote: post #27

I think the airlines have had a bit of a race to the bottom in a few ways: * Fees. Charge baggage fees, everyone else does the same, nobody's any better off. Boarding is slower and passengers crankier. I was HAPPY to not have to tote my bag around every single layover until they started charging for bags, now I'm another unhappy customer lugging a bag everywhere, walking up and down the aisles looking for space, havi…

A typical domestic flight has very few upgrade seats (e.g. on a 757). As one of those "frequent flier" business travelers on United (Gold--50K mile/yr status), I hardly ever get upgraded.

>would 'only' cost them 33% of seat capacity

So, on today's planes, they'd have to increase fares accordingly given that utilization on most flights is pretty high. I get your point. But the market dynamics are more or less "lowest price" vs. business class is OK.

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