If you’ve ever flown on a bunch of different airlines, you know, they’re not all the same.
Southwest does an excellent job of herding passengers into their seats and helping them put luggage in overhead compartments. They’re like packaging engineers from Apple; they fit everything in neatly with attention to how it's getting out.
Southwest makes a huge effort to help passengers follow their instructions. Passengers, whom given the opportunity, would throw everything except the clothes on their back into the overhead. It’s like a study in human behavior.
US Air, American Airlines, and AirTran are completely laissez-fair when it comes time to board. They ask passengers not to put jackets and smaller carry-ons into the overhead, but everyone does it anyone. The flight attendants don’t make any effort to change this. They stand at the front, chatting with each other, and spacing out.
I’ve been noticing more and more how terrible customer service is becoming lately. As the ‘entitlement’ generation continues to enter the workforce, I predict it’s only going to get worse.
Feel free to leave comments about the crappy customer service you’ve experienced lately.
I don't know if the entitlement generation is too blame for the boarding process. I think it's more a byproduct of the greedy airline industry. Think about it nobody really used to carry on until they started charging for baggage and the customer service went in the toilet. Now every will do everything humanly possible to not check bags to avoid the extra scratch (we're in a recession) and nobody wants their luggage lost.
ReplyDeleteThat's true. I was probably too quick to blame the entitlement generation.
ReplyDeleteThose excess baggage fees suck (none on Southwest, I swear I don't work for them). It doesn't cost the airlines incrementally more to put another person in a seat or another bag in the haul.
Still though, why can't people listen to the announcement and put some smaller bags by their feet, even though it's a little uncomfortable. It's pure selfishness, and disregard for other people.