It may be a comfort to take the bus
By Chuck Doud
The Madera Tribune
Airline officials are beginning to talk about re-regulation of their business, because under deregulation they are all going broke. Why don’t they just charge more for their services?
Well, they are, in a way. They are charging us to check bags, which they used to do for free. They are selling us soda and coffee, instead of giving it away. Most free meals on airlines are things of the past. If airplanes had wheels, they would be Greyhound buses.
The airlines would like to raise their prces and give better service, but none of them dares do this. Today’s airline passenger is cheap, and will take the cheapest flight unless airliner seats become too small to sit in, or an airline’s planes start falling out of the sky.
Or, unless taking the Greyhound turns out to be quicker, as well as cheaper.
Flying used to be something to which people looked forward, but now they mostly can’t wait for the flight to be over.
As if discomfort in too-small seats and deteriorating service weren’t enough, now we hear that on many airplanes, the restrooms may not be cleaned between flights and the pillows may be left over from use by previous passengers. Airport workers in Los Angeles are complaining they don’t have enough time or supplies to get planes clean between flights.
That doesn’t appeal to me, nor does finding dirty napkins and even used gum in the pouches on the backs of seats, which I have discovered on occasion.
You can’t blame the airlines for wanting to raise their prices under the umbrella of deregulation, because they have squeezed about all they can out of their “product” without having passengers revolt. A price hike would send a lot of airline passengers back onto buses, but they’re close to that now, anyway, on the planes.
