Some are morons, some are ignorant and some are just tired of being hustled. Charging X for the ticket, but if you want to check a bag add $50 each way. Oh, you have a carry-on, pay up for that too.
The industry has helped create the problem as well. The rules of the game have been changing for all involved. Seems few, on either side of the cockpit door, are happy about those changes.
PS, I try to say thanks to any aircrew, cabin or otherwise when I'm leaving the aircraft. I know they are not the ones changing the game. They are simply trying to play it successfully, just like the flying public.
I am so grateful I no longer travel extensively for work. Last trip from STL to DEN, I drove. Took longer, but knocked out a couple of books on tape during three days of driving there and back.
Originally Posted By: Astro14
You would, as would I, but the traveling public is ignorant of the pay and working conditions at the regionals. They simply shop for cheap, and then complain when they don't have overhead space.
I fly a lot as an employee, generally in civilian clothes. I flew over 100,000 miles on Delta as a paying passenger and over 800,000 miles on United as a paying passenger, with a few flights on US Air, American and Southwest thrown in for good measure.
The ignorance of the traveling public has to be experienced to be believed.
For example, on our delayed flight from SAN - IAD last night, I was riding back in row 32, in regular clothes, and everyone was concerned about connections (I am certain many were missed).
As we were taxiing in, a guy (in his 50s, so he should know better) in row 33, right behind me, stood up and started getting his bag from the overhead. I said, "Hey! we're still taxiing, sit down before you get hurt" He yelled at me, I am not kidding, and said "we aren't moving!" I said, "Yes, we are, and if you fall and hurt me, you're going to be in trouble." He yelled even louder, "Chill, dude! What's your problem!"
Then the flight attendant got on the PA and told him to sit down, along with the others who started to jump up before we were at the gate (a quick peek out the window revealed that the airplane was still moving...but this guy wasn't the type to let the facts sway his opinion...).
He was unable to distinguish between a moving airplane and a stationary one, and unable to think beyond his own desires...as were his fellow passengers who jumped up before we were parked.
The seatbelt sign was on ("But it doesn't apply to me! I'm entitled"). The door was still closed (so, no one was going anywhere) and the flight attendant had asked those without connections to remain seated (so, they were going to get off as quickly as was possible, but that still required the plane to be parked and the door to be opened).
Do you think that moron had any clue about the regionals? What the pay was like? What he was getting for service? He's but one example, of thousands that I've witnessed, of the ingorance of the traveling public. They can't find a gate without help (because the signs are in English?), they can't find their seat, they don't know to look at a monitor to see if things have changed, they can't read their own ticket, they ignore the gate agent who tells them that their bag won't fit in the overhead of the RJ (and then delays the flight as they wrestle it back up the aisle), they can't even find the bathroom without help (again, that would require reading a sign, can't be bothered), I've even been confronted and accused by a passenger who told me that I was lying about the weather in Chicago, when I was in uniform, with the weather print-out in my hands that I had just finished showing her!
Nope, the traveling public is largely morons. They couldn't care less about the crew, the pay, the working conditions because it would distract from their complete focus on themselves.
The industry has helped create the problem as well. The rules of the game have been changing for all involved. Seems few, on either side of the cockpit door, are happy about those changes.
PS, I try to say thanks to any aircrew, cabin or otherwise when I'm leaving the aircraft. I know they are not the ones changing the game. They are simply trying to play it successfully, just like the flying public.
I am so grateful I no longer travel extensively for work. Last trip from STL to DEN, I drove. Took longer, but knocked out a couple of books on tape during three days of driving there and back.
Originally Posted By: Astro14
You would, as would I, but the traveling public is ignorant of the pay and working conditions at the regionals. They simply shop for cheap, and then complain when they don't have overhead space.
I fly a lot as an employee, generally in civilian clothes. I flew over 100,000 miles on Delta as a paying passenger and over 800,000 miles on United as a paying passenger, with a few flights on US Air, American and Southwest thrown in for good measure.
The ignorance of the traveling public has to be experienced to be believed.
For example, on our delayed flight from SAN - IAD last night, I was riding back in row 32, in regular clothes, and everyone was concerned about connections (I am certain many were missed).
As we were taxiing in, a guy (in his 50s, so he should know better) in row 33, right behind me, stood up and started getting his bag from the overhead. I said, "Hey! we're still taxiing, sit down before you get hurt" He yelled at me, I am not kidding, and said "we aren't moving!" I said, "Yes, we are, and if you fall and hurt me, you're going to be in trouble." He yelled even louder, "Chill, dude! What's your problem!"
Then the flight attendant got on the PA and told him to sit down, along with the others who started to jump up before we were at the gate (a quick peek out the window revealed that the airplane was still moving...but this guy wasn't the type to let the facts sway his opinion...).
He was unable to distinguish between a moving airplane and a stationary one, and unable to think beyond his own desires...as were his fellow passengers who jumped up before we were parked.
The seatbelt sign was on ("But it doesn't apply to me! I'm entitled"). The door was still closed (so, no one was going anywhere) and the flight attendant had asked those without connections to remain seated (so, they were going to get off as quickly as was possible, but that still required the plane to be parked and the door to be opened).
Do you think that moron had any clue about the regionals? What the pay was like? What he was getting for service? He's but one example, of thousands that I've witnessed, of the ingorance of the traveling public. They can't find a gate without help (because the signs are in English?), they can't find their seat, they don't know to look at a monitor to see if things have changed, they can't read their own ticket, they ignore the gate agent who tells them that their bag won't fit in the overhead of the RJ (and then delays the flight as they wrestle it back up the aisle), they can't even find the bathroom without help (again, that would require reading a sign, can't be bothered), I've even been confronted and accused by a passenger who told me that I was lying about the weather in Chicago, when I was in uniform, with the weather print-out in my hands that I had just finished showing her!
Nope, the traveling public is largely morons. They couldn't care less about the crew, the pay, the working conditions because it would distract from their complete focus on themselves.
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