Sardines in a Tin Can

Air Canada announced that their new discount carrier, Rouge, will start in July 2013.  Big whoo, I thought, until I came across this bit in the article:

Rouge will also try to keep costs low by squeezing up to 20 per cent more seats into its planes. "The configuration on both the 767 and the A319 will be more dense than what we have at mainline Air Canada," Smith said.

What's that... more seats!? Is it standing room only?

Now, I haven't flown via Air Canada for a long time, for reasons I won't get into here, but the last time I remember the seating being more than somewhat scrunchy.  I shudder how to think they plan on stuffing 20% more passengers/seats on international flights to Europe and the Caribbean.

United Airlines Breaks Guitars

I wonder if a different airline would have accepted liability. I'd hope so, but with airlines I've found 'hope for the best, expect the worst' to be the best attitude to have when traveling. A way to manage expectations and mitigate frustration.

United Breaks Guitars, by Dave Carroll.



United Breaks Guitars 2



Now it seems United has lost, temporarily, at least, Dave Carroll's luggage, too:

After famously breaking his guitar, United Airlines has managed to cause further trouble for David Carroll by losing his luggage — just as the Canadian singer-songwriter was en route to deliver a speech about customer service [...] --cbc.ca

Pets in the Passenger Cabin

So... I've read that Air Canada is now allowing pets (cats and dogs) on to passenger cabins during flights. I presume they'll arrange seats to accommodate anyone with allergies. While I accept having to sit beside crying babies and toddlers, as a non-pet person I'm much less willing to accept pets and potentially barking dogs.

There was a time when the mere thought of having to make trans-Atlantic or -Pacific flights twice a year would not have irritated me. That time is long gone, squeezed out of my system by cramped seats, security, and airport delays. Traveling by plane used to be an adventure... when I was eight. Since then it's been more something needing to be endured and suffered in order to get to my destination. The single best thing about moving back to North America? Not having to endure more than five hours per flight.

I could make a list of all the things that irritate and annoy me about flying but they all can be distilled in to the same issue, stress. Flying is stressful. I've posted before about some of my pitiful experiences with various airlines. The cost of a ticket, overbooking, missed transfers, long lines, security, immigration, cramped quarters and more, all contribute. I wish airlines would do more to alleviate that stress, in the name of humanitarianism if nothing else.

I've read that British Airways recently asked its employees to volunteer to work for a month without pay, and I gather many airlines are still having trouble staying out of the red after 9/11 and the more recent increase in fuel prices last (?) year. So... it's not easy for everyone involved, airlines included. I just wish that the airlines' solution to all their financial woes didn't feel so much like trying to stuff ever more sardines into a tin can.

Air Travel Hassles Cost $26 Billion

I couldn't help but feel a little schadenfreude when I read this article. A survey found that frustrated travelers avoided taking flights 41 million times over the past 12 months, costing the economy $26 billion.

"NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The dysfunctional air travel system is causing many Americans to avoid air travel and the economy is suffering as a result, according to a survey released Friday. [...]

"Many travelers believe their time is not respected and it is leading them to avoid a significant number of trips," said Allan Rivlin, a partner at Peter D. Hart Research Associates, which interviewed 1,003 air travelers for the survey. [...]

"The air travel crisis has hit a tipping point, " said Roger Dow, president and CEO of TIA. "More than 100,000 travelers each day are voting with their wallets by choosing to avoid trips."

[...] inefficient security screening, flight cancellations and delays were the top frustration among air travelers surveyed.

[...] 60% of respondents think the air travel system is deteriorating. But travelers are most irritated with the air travel process, not the airlines. [...]"

The airline industry has been progressively putting out a poorer and poorer product, and they're now reaping what they sowed. The majority of survey respondents mostly blame the air travel process and not the airlines per se, but I don't think the airlines have been doing anything to help the situation. American Airlines is now charging $15 for the first check-in luggage -- how many more passengers are now going to board with multiple over-sized carry-ons? The overhead bins are already crowded enough. I have no doubt airlines will continue to pile fees upon fees.

Expensive, crowded, cramped, over-booked and delayed flights have been my recent experiences with air travel. I normally fly a single round-trip once a year, and during that one trip, 50% of my flights were canceled due to mechanical problems.

With that kind of record, no wonder people are avoiding air travel.

And don't get me started on the inefficiencies and hassles of airport security; that deserves another post all on its own.

United Airlines

During the most recent Christmas holidays I booked a round-trip ticket that consisted of four flights on United Airlines. I booked several months in advance to get a cheaper price and to obtain the travel dates I wanted. To my annoyance as the departure date approached United canceled my outbound connecting flight not once, not twice, but thrice. Each time they did so they automatically moved me to a different flight, but do you know how I found out about these changes? Did United tell me via an automated e-mail that my itinerary had been altered? To my disgust that's a big fat negative - despite having signed up on United's own website for e-mail notifications. I only found out because I happened to book my flights via Travelocity, and Travelocity, not United, sent me e-mails informing me my itinerary had changed, again. Ugh.

That's not all. On my outbound trip, my original connecting flight was canceled due to mechanical problems (the plane never even arrived at the airport). On my return trip my connecting flight was also canceled - during pre-flight the captain took the plane out of service because the brakes didn't work properly (I should express my appreciation for the captain's decision, and once United found a replacement aircraft to applaud an extremely smooth landing in very turbulent, windy conditions - I've had bumpier landings in perfectly calm weather).

Anywhoo, 2 out of 4 United flights were canceled - that's 50% - due to mechanical problems on the aircraft. This does not exactly instill me with confidence. Is this a normal failure rate for United aircraft?

I'm not sure whether I'll fly United, again. On one hand I consider a 50% failure rate very troubling. On the other other hand, United did identify the problems before the flights took off - gotta give them that much, right? Also, I was impressed by the service on United. The flight attendants and crew made the trip pleasant. They didn't do anything drastically different like offer free food or more leg room - it was all in their attitude towards the passengers. I felt like they sincerely wanted the passengers to enjoy the flight as much as possible. I'd forgotten what that was like, and I don't recall ever feeling that way before on a North American airline.

TSA put travellers at risk of ID theft

Scary but true:

A scathing congressional report released Friday confirms that security flaws in a Transportation Security Administration site put thousands of Americans at risk of identity theft [...].

In October 2006, the TSA launched a Web site to help travelers whose names were erroneously listed on airline watch lists. This site had a number of security vulnerabilities: it was not hosted on a government domain; its home page was not encrypted; one of its data submission pages was not encrypted; and its encrypted pages were not properly certified. Furthermore, the site was filled with typos and other errors, causing some to wonder whether TSA's site had been taken over by phishers [...].

For the four months that the site was up, thousands of people visited it, and 247 travelers submitted highly personal information (including their Social Security number and place of birth) through an insecure, non-SSL encrypted form. TSA's lax security practices resulted in thousands of Americans being put at a direct risk of identity theft [...].

The TSA official in charge of the project awarded the contract--without competition--to one of his former employers, a company owned by one of his high school buddies [...] the report notes that "neither Desyne nor the technical lead on the traveler redress Web site have been sanctioned by TSA for their roles in the deployment of an insecure Web site. TSA continues to pay Desyne to host and maintain two major Web-based information systems. TSA has taken no steps to discipline the technical lead, who still holds a senior program management position at TSA." --Surveillance State

Follow the link if you'd like more background to this story and a link to the actual report.

Homeland Security To Limit Saliva On Airlines

On the web:

WASHINGTON---Airline travelers may feel a little high and dry over the Thanksgiving holiday, thanks to new Transportation Security Administration guidelines unveiled this morning that will limit saliva to no more than three ounces per passenger on domestic and international flights.

"We just don’t want to take chances," said TSA spokesman Ted Bonner. "If terrorists can make a bomb out of hair gel, it's only a matter of time before they move on to Spit."

Bonner said that travelers should stop drinking fluids of any kind at least three days prior to their departure date, and to "seek hydration treatment at the closest emergency room" once they arrive at their destination.

According to the new TSA rules, passengers who go over the three-ounce limit will be able to have the excess removed from their glands, bottled, and placed in their checked luggage. New Sahara3000 saliva extraction machines are being provided by Halliburton, which won a no-bid $50 billion contract for the equipment last May.

Bonner refused to comment on how saliva—of which the average human produces 32 ounces daily---could be used to create an explosive device. "For national security reasons we want to keep the terrorists guessing about what we know or don't know."

Homeland Security director Michael Chertoff said the new policy was part of an ongoing effort to protect the homeland during the six year-old war on terror. "These measures will continue to assure that our aviation system remains safe and secure. Travelers should go about their plans confidently, while maintaining vigilance in their surroundings and exercising patience with screening and security officials."

Chertoff added that future restrictions on blood, urine and bile were "not likely, but also not out of the question."

Some passengers won't be afffected by the new rule. Bonner said that helper monkeys will be able to travel with full saliva levels, but only after going through the normal security screening process.

Meanwhile, in an effort to boost airline security even further, the amount of air cargo that's inspected will increase from five percent to six percent.

Customer service, what's that?

Northwest Airlines - cheers for giving me a good price, jeers for not informing me that they changed my itinerary. I purchased my e-ticket months ago, and NWA clearly states that flight confirmation is unnecessary. Less than a week to my departure, and being a paranoid sort of fellow, I go online and discover that NWA had changed both my flight and departure time. What the heck!?! Okay, no biggie, it just would have meant I had to unexpectedly spend more time at the airport - I wouldn't have missed my flight, this time.

A few years ago, I had a ticket with a different airline. Less than 24-h to departure, as the airline recommended, I phone to confirm my seat and to my horror discover that my flight was cancelled, and that they changed my ticket to a flight leaving four hours earlier.

Ignoring the hassle and stress of trying to get to the airport at the dead of night, what really upsets me is that in neither case did the airline feel it necessary to inform me of changes to my itinerary. How difficult could it be to send an automated e-mail to customers when changes are made?

Sure, you should always confirm your flight, but I purchased a service, and I think it's only common courtesy that the service provider take the initiative to inform a customer when that service is altered as soon as reasonably possible. You don't wait for the customer to find out all on his own, if ever.

Oh yeah, and why is a round-trip ticket cheaper than a one-way ticket? This can only contribute to over-booking: airlines must realize that passengers only traveling one-way buy round-trip tickets to save money - so airlines/agents book excess passengers to fill up the seats. Only, they have no idea exactly how many no-shows there will be... hence, over-booking.