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By the late 1950's the airlines had seen the Railways "off" in a BIG way. People were traveling like never before and a coast to coast flight could usually be accomplished within about a ten hour window (westbound) (if they could keep all four engines going at the same time). But less than 1% of Americans had ever flown!

Then on January 25th, 1959 American Airlines inaugurated Non-Stop Boeing 707 pure-jet service on a flight from Los Angeles to New York in about four and a half hours, and the race was on!
The airlines could not get deliveries of jetliners quick enough and the traveling public could not wait to fill their seats.

During the 1960's the traveling public quickly became used to being "jet-setters". But, those comfortable (and slow) old piston powered aircraft the jets had "kicked to the curb" were mostly paid-off by then and the CAB started to allow the airlines to offer the public some wonderful low fares if they would just fly on them. Eastern started an "Air-Bus" service in 1961 between New York, Boston and Washington,D.C. which later evolved into the fames Eastern "Air-Shuttle".
You didn't need a reservation or anything---just show up at the airport and board the airplane. You could even buy your ticket on board.(New York-Boston $12.00 ow, New York-Washington,D.C. $14.00 ow.) Departures evey hour on the hour from about 8AM to 10PM. If the airplane was full, they rolled another one up to the gate and away you went even if you were the only one on the airplane!
Eastern made money hand-over-fist on the "Shuttle" for years and years eventually offering all jet service.

Anyone recall Delta's "Early Bird" and Owly Bird" fares of the late 60's thru early 70's? This was reserved seating and the flights were for departures before (appox.) 6AM and after 11PM. I can remember Atlanta to Miami in the splendid comfort of a DC-8 Jet for about $32.00 ow. A few years ago when a Delta reservations agent quoted me a rather appalling rate between Atlanta and Miami I described to her the Early/Owly Bird fares. After a moments pause she informed me she "wasn't that old"!

Then the wide-bodied Jets appeared. First the four-engined "jumbo" Boeing 747, then the DC-10 and L-1011 tri-jets. Now, the airfares went even lower. Anyone remember the Laker "Sky-Train" DC-10's to London? What a bargain! (While it lasted). This was what really started to anger the old established carriers who were beginning to find it harder and harder to compete with the new "up-starts". Then Pres. Carter signed into law the Airline Deregulation Bill of 1978 and the s&%t really hit the fan!

Peoples Express, and New York Air were just a few of the many different bargain-fare carriers that sprung up oalmost overnight. And airline started to apply for new routes all over the place. I seem to recall that Braniff showed up with applications for 400+ new city-pairs!

Air-fares came down, and as the competition got tough, the ammenities such as hot meals, complimentary wine, and reserved seating dissapeared. The seat-pitch got really tight as the airlines tried to squeeze more and more passengers into the airplanes trying to make a profit from the low fares. Suddenly airplanes were almost always full and passengers who had been used to having a seat or two to move around in saw their "comfort-zone" invaded. Lines were long, tempers flared.

By the 1990's the passengers mantra was always "we want cheaper airfares"! The airlines such as Southwest that had survived just by offering consistently cheap fares without the frills, flourished. After the collapse of Eastern, Value-Jet (later to become Air-Tran)sprung up to fill the void in Atlanta and they have become a big thorn in the side of Delta.
The old established carriers were forced to cut all the frills to try to compete but it wasn't enough. They had to eliminate a lot of the "extras" which included (good and experienced) people, and inefficent aircraft just to name a few. All the stops were pulled out to eliminate middle-management while the senior management were pulling down ridiculous salaries and fringe benefits including the famous "golden parachutes" which is their reward for screwing up the company and getting sacked. Most of us would love to walk away from a job we f%*@ed-up with 50M in cash and stock options (on top of our 20M or so salaries). Only a few of them have really led their companies through troubled times astutely. In the mean time the front-line employees who actually face the crazed and often hostile public every day are now getting paid chump-change for the privilege. And I won't even start about the "TSA". (Where are my blood-pressure pills?)

So, now the airlines have survived the(human and)economic holocaust of 9/11 and are currently facing a the same potential holocaust we are all facing at the fuel pump.
The airlines have been trying to give us those cheap fares we were used to but those days are fading fast as the reality of catastrophic fuel costs have arrived.

My prediction is that within the next five years the cheapest coast to coast flights will be into the thousands of dollars, and even shorthops will be hundreds and hundreds of dollars.
A new day is dawning right before our eyes folks. I think airfares are up about $150.00 "across the board" just since this January. And they are still climbing. If you can still find a good fare for travel this summer you'd better snatch it up right now! "Travelatrocity" and all those discount search engines aren't going to be much help a year or so from now.

We had better get a nation-wide system of rapid-rail up and going in the next ten years or so, or a lot of us will be visiting each other by bicycle.

Imagine what a rail system we could have by now if we hadn't made this illbegotten invasion into Iraq! Imagine how much fuel would be saved every year if the majority of those tractor-trailer rigs that now clog our roadways were piggy-backing on trains???!!!! The effect on traffic alone would save billions of gallons just wasted idling in bumper to bumper log-jams.

O.k. I'm exhausted---sistah's over the rant----for now. Did I take that evening dose of lithium--------?
 
"I'm at least $1000 a day, and more if it's an emergency..."
Would you please tell? Either here or me in email? I am nearly dying of curiosity.

Systems integrator. We build/test/program/service the control gear that makes water come and go from your home, if you're on "city water". We've got equipment all over the NYC metro area. That includes the NYC DEP, Westchester DEF, Suffolk sewer, Hempstead water, Brick, Toms River, Newark, Oyster Bay.... Mostly PLC controls, and instrumentation. For PLCs, we do: GE, Allen-Bradley, Siemens, Modicon, Bristol. Instrumentation is everything, including the ever popular Hach chlorine units. We sell pumps (Zoller, Fairbanks-Morse), and other process equipment. 15 person firm. We also do other work (mostly transit), and also are a bit of a 'hired gun' to fix stuff at times - a coworker of mine is wrapping up a project at Greystone (loony bin) in NJ, where he's been since December (I was asked to help but declined for personal reasons)

In this case, we quoted a local firm a price for a control panel going to a manufacturing facility in PR. We offered a 'test at shop, plug in and go at site' panel. Well, someone else (overseas, no less) was gonna save the guy a buck and build it cheaper. Then when time came for startup, his programmer balked at the idea of going there where those people live. So they came running to us in a panic, and I got the project. With a barely understandable code printout, and a box 'o cables, I got sent to San Juan with their equipment guy (who had lots of work to do, too). We left the Monday of that huge storm that dumped tons of rain on NJ - in fact, we were one of the last planes out, I think. The location was Juncos, the hotel was in Palmas Del Mar. The other guy wasn't into sight seeing, but I got some time to drive around the area. Get out of the tourist traps, seriously. The non touristy areas are 1000 times more interesting.

Anyway, a few late nights, some headscratching, and a lot of reprogramming, and they were up and running. Got us some more business from 'em :)

If you've not been to Puerto Rico, you must go. It was by far the most interesting and enjoyable (even if frustrating) field call I've ever had, and though I was nervous at first, I loved it. Once you get out of San Juan, it's a really exciting experience, and nothing like the rest of the US at all.

One downer - there's very high levels of poverty still. Stuff you take for granted here, you rarely see there. Cars? lots of ancient Japanese ones (we're talking 70's ancient). Few BMWs or the like. Motorcycles? Very few Harleys (I saw two, total) - they're exceptionally expensive there. Sugar - Domino is sold in the stores with stickers advertising it's an import from New York :) You'll see US retailers there and local chains.

The milk, was far better than anywhere else I've had. I think it's because the cows graze naturally, and get exercise because the bull's in the field with 'em ;)
 
Wow! Who put a quarter in Gyrafoam? ;-)

Very interesting thread and a good snippet of the history of air-travel.

I haven't had any horrible experiences on flights, but mine are always for "pleasure" trips and I never expect much in the way of service - beverages aside, I really don't need anything for a short flight anyway but quietly endure everyone else around me scarfing down peanuts, trail mix or the giant tuna salad sandwich they brought on board - and making the air stink like an ancient Roman Vomitorium. Whatever. I find it curious that people get cranky and rude with the flight attendants when the weather gets nasty and flights are delayed. My flight home from Florida in February was delayed 45 minutes due to a repair to the hydraulic sensor system and judging by the reactions around me, you would have thought civilization was nearing collapse. I'm sure none of these people have been on a bus in a third-world country before, but given the Southwest clientèle, I almost expected a piglet and a chicken to run up the aisle at any point. I think our 'American Idol attention span' and decades of instant gratification, buy now - pay later lifestyles have created the Monster Consumer that isn't satisfied unless they have everything exactly their way and right now. We should have never started air-conditioning the grade schools - generations of over-indulged wimps and whiners. Just wait until it's $200 to fill the Hummer - then the s*%t will really hit the fan!

Jon is right, be courteous - or at least show those who are working for your safety and comfort a minimum level of civility - and leave the piglet at home!
 
Does Anybody Remember Muse Air????

I come from a family of airline personnel. My dad was a flight attendant for Muse Air/TranStar in 86/87 and then worked for Continental from 87-91 during the turbulent Lorenzo years. My uncle was a captain for Continental until he retired three years ago.
In my time of traveling, I have seen many changes in the airline industry. I remmember as a kid watching the Flight Attendants and Pilots on strike at the airports. I have seen service go from being somewhat decent to downright awful on some flights. But, considering most airline employees are working much harder for less pay, and very little job security, you can't help but put yourself in their shoes. Oh, remember when you could just call the airline of your choice and get a reservations agent on the phone? Now, some airlines have outsourced and charge astronimical booking fees for making a reservation over the phone. Of course, I usually book my travel online but what about somebody that doesn't have easy access to a computer?
Also, one thing that many passengers forget is that you get what you pay for. In this day and age, all people want is the cheapest fare. Back in the day before deregulation, airfares were much higher. After deregualtion we saw all of these discount carriers creep up and fold within 5 years or so. People's Express, Air Florida, Muse Air to name just a few.
Speaking of Muse Air, that was one classy airline. I remember new planes, blue leather seats, decent meals, a friendly and very professional flight staff, and after every flight a flight attendant would give mints out to passengers in the jetway.
So all in all, with the rising cost of fuel, a slow economy, airlines losing millions of dollars,and bankruptcies it is going to be a very hard time for airlines and travelers. I say fasten your seatbelts because it is going to be a bumpy ride traveling in the future.

Just my two cents...

Stephen
 
This is for the flying public

And not to the members on this site.. People shut the h@#l up, you want cheap fares, then deal with the fact that things will be taken from you to get those cheap fares, and to be blunt stop acting like sissy's and bitches, when something does not go your way on board, that is LIFE, "DEAL WITH IT"!!! And no the world does NOT revolve around YOU. My mother was a F/A for TWA from 1973 to 1999, and retired before, Hellarican, swallowed them up, and spit them back out, and she can tell me of a different kind of travel where passengers, would be greatfull to the crew onboard, for their services, and planes were on time, airports were not OVERCROWDED!!!! Passengers were calm. So to all the flying public of today, the reason service onboard is sh#@*y, is because YOU!!! that's right YOU yourself have made it this way screaming "We want cheap fares", well folks you got em, so stop, whining, bitching, and acting like big bonafied sissy's, when the airlines cut out your precious food for you to stuff your rotten faces with, and cram you in the planes like sardines, and airports get overwhelmed handling the flights YOU are on, SHUT UP and deal with it, that's life, you wanted low fares, you got em. If i have offended anyone, oh well, you'll get over it with a quickness, trust me . As fas a gas prices skyrocketing, well, we have done it to ourselves, with our Monstrous SUV's, and huge, fuel thirsty V8's, and Hummers, lets face it, Americans are SPOILED ROTTEN!!!! No wonder Europeans hate us, not to mention our extremely ARROGANT, mentality. So in closing, for the airlines being what they are today, fuel prices soaring, airlines going bankrupted, company's moving to China, you have done it to yourselves people, with the mentality of, " We want it CHEAP and we don't care about quality" Is why America is what it is today, bravo for a job well done America, keep up the good work.
 
"Americans are SPOILED ROTTEN!!!! No wonder Europeans hate us"

I disagree vigorously!

ALL AIRLINES SUCK EVERYWHERE! (but some DO suck more than others) now more then ever pointing it out does not make Americans (or any one else) "Spoiled Rotten"

As to all this "hate" that Europe has, I have not seen all that much ..some mostly aimed at the president (I always tell them that I will deliver their message if I ever meet him). Based on my 5 trips in just over 2 years everyone has been nice to me.

As to being "SPOILD ROTTEN" you have THAT backwards big time. Americans work harder then folks in the EU by a significant margin. For example when you walk into the factory area at the German plants at the company Im associated with 2 things are apparent, 1 no one makes you put on safety glasses, 2 no one is doing anything! ..THEN it is time for a break again! .. it seems like its always time for a break and what a shock NOTHING ships on time from the plants in Europe. and what do they do on break ? A MAJOR subject is anger over jobs going to the old Eastern block countries. At the same companies American plants you walk into the production area (With safety glasses) and everyone is do something! and product even ships out from time to time. When they do get a break a major subject is anger over jobs going to Mexico!

As to Airlines It is the passengers that are the victims here, the Airlines have had some bad luck but the mess that they are in is about more then additional security and high fuel prices ... it starts with viewing your customer as an unlimited resource to be plundered!
 
Ding,ding,ding--------

I thought I rang the bell with my rant but SQ got it for this thread!

It really is interesting how our opinions range from funny inuendo to anger!

I can't speak for anyone but myself, however I find the current process of using air travel very unpleasant, and avoid it whenever possible. When I do have to travel by air I tend to use the internet for "check-in" and my boarding passes. I use "curb-side" baggage check-in whenever possible and I find this helps me to keep my annoyance level down as opposed to waiting in line at a ticket counter somewhere and enduring some sort of baggage inspection hassle right off the bat.

So it is usually not until I have to endure the obnoxious attitudes and inept employees of the TSA before I really start to get annoyed.(Oh yeah, I really feel a sense of security because of them --eyes to ceiling) Atlanta is particularly bad. It is no wonder that by the time passengers board an aircraft they are already stressed to the breaking point! Then just add a mx problem with the aircraft or a "ground-stop" due to wx and everyone is primed and ready to go ballistic. I really feel for the flight attendants, and if they have an attitude that day its because maybe they have had to endure the same log-jam of traffic on the way to the airport, the same obnoxious people at TSA and then some a$$ of a supervisor at crew sched. yanks them around. Oh yeah, they will be 'smilin when we the public come through the door!
Life is just too stressful these days!

It sure would be nice to board a high-speed rail system and enjoy the scenery passing by, a visit to a dining car for a nice hot meal, and a nap in a comfortable seat before arrival at a downtown location (avoids the traffic to and from the airport).
 
Steve,

My gosh you know alot about airlines! No wonder Tony was entertained all those hours at Mark's warehouse while I played around with the various stuff there. Heck...he still laughs about you telling him to keep his feet off the floor when we started filling that old GE up with water. You know he'll always know what a boot is because of that. (he didn't have a clue until I explained it to him in the car on the way home.)

For the past three years or so I've been doing alot of flying. Some of it alone but mostly with Tony. I will say from personal experience that, hands down, the British and the Americans win the award for being the most arrogant and rude. I've only been to France, Germany, The Netherlands, and England several times and to a large amount of cities in the US. There really is such a thing as the ugly American and it has embarrased us many times when visiting other countries. Yup, having a lovely French meal one night overlooking the Eiffel Tower, we were interrupted by the sounds of a couple arguing with the waiter over a bill. With our broken French we had to translate the best we could to help that poor waiter out when he did nothing wrong.

Anyways, on with airlines... I will recollect on two different flights for you all. Might be fun to read over coffee this morning or something. Hang on...I'mm going to refill mine really quick.

I was on a flight from Portland, OR to San Franisco that Tony was working purser one morning. I was sitting up in the first class cabin with 11 other people. There were a couple of business men in front, an older couple behind me, and so forth. Tony had to remain at the cockpit door because he was doing a safety briefing with the pilots as well as both doors in the front open (boarding and a galley change). He had to remain up front when all of this is going on because the FAA requires that of him. Of course with staffing only at 3 F/A's that means those poor, helpless passengers in rows 1-3 had to WAIT for their predeparture beverage AND...ANNNND no one was available to take their coats and hang them. (The hangers are on the wall right behind us mind you.) Another pass rider finally got tired of the complaining and took the coats himself. For the next half hour I got to sit and hear these fat, lazy jerks talk about how LAZY that purser is because he didn't serve them right away when they boarded. Of course I went to told Tony all of this so, needless to say, service had ended for that flight. (You never know who's listening folks!)

My second airplane story has to do with a trip I went on with Tony to Amsterdam. If you haven't been there before, it's actually quite nice. I remember this particular plane (a 767) was really hagged out. Mold on the ceilings, a huge list of broken items, and just an overall dump...boarded and ready to go. Anyways, we had a great day in The Netherlands and were heading back the next morning. Boarded our lovely 767 again (this time a different one but you'd never know because they all look the same...like crap). I was sitting front-row center so I could overhear some conversation from the crew. I knew we were taking a delay for some kind of aircraft servicing and the captain made an announcement basically saying ONLY that. A few minutes later Tony came up to me and explained to me what was going on. The F/O had done a walk-around of the plane outside and noticed a panel was missing. He called maintenance and they responded by saying "You don't need that part. The plane made it here didn't it?" After a closer inpection, he found that missing panel...IN THE ENGINE right in front of the blades. "It must have fallen in there when it landed." said maintenance.

Low fares and outsourcing. We are very much overdue for another major airline catastrophy. I'm going to put my money on a 747 or 767 to be one of the first.

:-)

Jon
 
I hate to bust your bubble

Charger, but yes we Americans are spoiled rotten, why, well fact is we want every thing to go our way, instantly, i mean look at our lifestyles, we want everything cheap and now. And yes i will say that SOME Americans are hard workers, but if we were really that hard of workers, do you honestly think all our jobs would be going to, nasty and disease infested China? Not to mention all our household, clothing, electronics, being made over there, plus our consumption of oil has quadrupled over the past 20years, this coming for the major oil company's, where as Europe's consumption has remained the same as it was 20 years ago, and Europe is three times our size, in population, why is that? Well because over here, we want our HUGE suv's that get 10MPG, and our ENORMOUS dully pickups that get even less, not to mention, it has been statistically proven, that WE consume the most ENERGY in the world per year compared to Europe that consumes more than half of what we do, and remember, they have more people than we do over here. This mentality of instant gratification, and wanting it NOW, and wanting it CHEAP, has come back to BITE US IN THE ASS!!!!! Why do you think walmart is as HUGE as it is today? Thanks to us wanting CHEAP, CHEAP, CHEAP, and wanting it all under one roof, cause we are too LAZY to go to different places to get all that we need, cause it's "too much of a hassle". I could get into the divorce rate being the highest in the world than any other country on the PLANET, but I'll save that for another thread. In closing, yes charger we are SPOILED ROTTEN, face it, look at how we have been blessed, cheap oil, huge homes and cars, great paying jobs, cheap energy, and now that it is being used all up, by US!!!! We are crying about it, cause our little spoiled rotten world around us is collapsing, and we cannot deal with it, so we blame everyone else, we can only blame ourselves for, the situation we are currently in, just like the airlines being shitty, we wanted CHEAP fares, well to accommodate they had to compromise service to give us those cheap fares.
 
Jon you are right.

When my mother worked at TWA, she always used to tell us that if there was a problem, the plane was grounded, and the problem was fixed, and the passengers we happy to know they were safe, of course that was back when the airline was REGULATED, by the Federal Government, and fares were not so cheap. Nowadays, fares are cheap, and Airlines to make up for it have to compromise, on service, maintenance, and overall management, the maintenance part is what scares me the most, my father is a mechanic for Delta, and the stories i hear and the things that are told by upper management to be "Left Alone", really scare the SHIT out of me. Especially when the lives of hundreds of people are in THEIR hands. I come from a family of Airline Employees, going as far back as my great Grandfather, who worked for and with Juan Tripp, so i know all about the airline industry of yesteryear and today, most of the crap in the industry of today is OUR OWN FAULT, wanting CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP. As my dad tell me, in order to give the customers cheap fares, they have to cut out several thing, 2 of them being, service and maintenance. So Jon my hart goes out to Tony, and the shit he has to deal with in todays ROTTEN Airline Industry, and that is why i SWORE not to EVER become part of that ROTTEN Industry, which BTW i am the ONLY member of the family who has not had a career in the Airline Industry, and refuses to have any part of it, i also swore to NEVER EVER, date or marry anyone in that ROTTEN industry. And i hope and pry that Tony will be out if that ROTTEN industry SOON, best of luck to both of you.

Cheers Lee
 
Thanks Lee,

I think you made a good choice staying away from that industry. Back when Tony first started pre 9/11 he said it was actually fun and not so bad. That was before he was laid off twice and the rest is history. He just did a flight from Orange County, CA to Chicago and is now delayed to Laguardia and then Dulles. He'll have done almost a 14-hour work day if they actually leave Chicago. Glam huh? I am at least glad that your family members for the most part got to fly when it still had some glamour left in it. It's a shame...

Jon
 
I remember Muse Air. I took them once out of LAX-HOU. We had three male flight attendants on the new MD-83. They were more like football players than flight attendants. But the service was great and the flight on-time. Eventually, Muse Air was bought out by Southwest Airlines with the idea that Southwest would be the economy class carrier and Muse Air (renamed TranStar) would be their premium class carrier. But Continental drove them out of business by matching fares and schedules out of HOU. When Southwest shut down TranStar, Continental pulled completely out of HOU. (Hobby Airport). What's kind of ironic is that CO bought most of the old TranStar planes. For many years afterwards in August the former employees of Muse Air would hold a reunion at the Cockpit Bar & Grill across the street from the airport. I don't know if they still do that though.
On I-45 there is a rather large white mid-rise building that now houses a law firm. That used to be Muse Air's Houston headquarters.
Back when the airline industry was regulated by the CAB, everyone had to charge the same price between two destinations. So service was the only thing that differentiated the carriers from one another. So you would see steak dinners in coach, flight attendants dressed in far out uniforms, etc. When the industry was deregulated the at the time president of United said that by the year 2000 we'll have only one airline, one run by the government just like Amtrak. I think he was only off by a few years.
Fortunately in less than three years I reach mandatory retirement age. But it really depends on what happens to me with this merger with Delta. I originally started out with North Central Airlines and have been through two mergers since.
And there is still resentment here over the merger with Repubic over twenty years ago! At least I got to fly during the end of the golden age of aviation. Since the late 80's it's been hell. If I don't like what Delta offers, I may just retire now and start a second career.
As stated many times above in this thread a large part of the problem is over scheduling of the airports. Airlines want to fly people at the times they want to travel. By purchasing all those Regional Jets, they overcrowded the airport and air traffic control facilities. Most people don't know that one of those Regional Jets takes up the same amount of airspace that a 747 does in terms of separation of aircraft. So by flooding the airports with those little devils, they overloaded the system.
But I think the worst is yet to come!
 
Panthera----I'd love some torte!

Jon- I have known waiters/waitresses at (W)Affle House that are pulling down close to $300.00 a day in cash on busy days. If they choose to work extra hours you can just imagine what they are raking in and they have full insurance and retirement benefits. (A friend back in Atlanta works as a waiter in an exclusive Atlanta Steakhouse and he can pull in well over 1K a night and regularly does so. He has steady hours regular days off and sleeps in his own bed---- most of the time.)

If the clientele gets too obnoxious they just 911 and the cops come in and collect the trash.

Oh yeah, there is certainly no glamor in being a flight attendant nowadays.
The very same people who squawk over hanging up a coat are the very ones who ignore the briefing for using the doors and windows for an emergency---won't even look up or glance at the card. Don't even have a clue what type of aircraft they are on, where the engines, wings (fuel) etc. are located in relationship to their seat. But if the s%$t hits the fan it is the flight attendants who are the ones who must put their lives on the line to get everyone the hell out of there FAST!

Up untill at least the mid-1960's the first line of EVERY United Airlines Emergency Evacuation Card had underlined in red: "Know how to exit this aircraft fast!".

United was the only company in the industry to do such a brazen act! (Back before the 1960's even the word "saftey" was almost NEVER used in airline advertising of any kind!) American used to mention it just to needle the other carriers but the truth was---- in the old days commercial airliners crashed with alarming regularity. Very few airlines could really use the term "safe" safely. Qantas of Australia and TAP of Portugal are two that come to mind as being VERY safe in the old days. The bad ones were----VERY baaaaad!

Whircool----I believe you are exactly right----the worst has yet to come and after the "shakedown" a completely new system of air transportation is going to rise from the ashes and its 'gonna be expensive for EVERYBODY!

Do you wish you were back holding a 580 line with Herman?
 
Wow wirlcool, you know quite a bit about Muse Air. As a matter of fact I was invited to the Muse Air/ TranStar 20 year reunion in Austin last year but I was unable to make it. It's funny that you mention how Continental basically moved a chunk of their operations to HOU in order to drive Muse/Transtar out of business. I remember that! I remember going on a flight from HOU-LAX my dad was working and seeing a CO flight going to LAX as well only to leave about 15 min. earlier.

I have to agree with speed_queen75 on what he wrote earlier. We pretty much have done this to ourselves. We are so caught up in instant gratification and we all want everything right here right now. After reading some of the previous posts, it really does concern me when I hear about the mechanics saying that something needs to be replaced and upper management saying to ingore it because of course they are trying to cut corners to keep costs low. It is sort of like damned if you do and damned if you don't.
Anyways, I could go on and on. It is just hard having to put everything I want to say in one post.

Stephen aka MuseAirBoy
 
Well, it sounds like negative comments can be said about any of the airlines. Also, take comfort in knowing that it's shit to work anywhere right now. It's a battle to get a job today, and once your there, you're beaten down constantly.

The last time I flew was in 2006 when I was doing volunteer work on the east coast. I'd fly United every time from ORD to BOS on a monthly basis for most of 2006.

To be honest, all of the seldom delays were not United's fault but due to weather. There was one instance where we had to be switched to another plane because a row of seats was broken. They had us switched and in the air in 1.5hrs. If you ask me, as much bullshit that's involved in aviation, 1.5hrs to move all the passengers and luggage to another plane was fantastic.
I get a kick out of people....as we were waiting again in the terminal, people were on their phones letting others in Chicago that we'd be late. One lady was was in a fervor, saying on the phone that "it's utter utter chaos! they kicked us off the plane! bla bla bla bla it's terrible, it's like a madhouse!"

I looked around after hearing this, and everyone was just sitting and standing around talking...I didn't see any chaos.
One of the little perks of United was entertainment in flight, as well as Economy Plus where they still have seats with more legroom for 40 bucks. Well worth it after a long work weekend in Boston.
United is also the only airline I've ever flown where my luggage was not molested or missing on the other end. In some cases, my bag was in Boston before me.

BUT, that was all back in 2006. It sounds like everyone's gone to hell in a hand-basket.

The U.S. will never have a proper mass transit system for two reasons:
1. It's too big of a nation. We're last in widespread infrastructure because of our size. It's too expensive to cover the area.
2. the car is what this economy is still based on. Until that changes or people start demanding better mass transit, and are willing to pay for it, then we'll never see a great train system like France or Japan.
 
uh, john,

The US led the rest of the world in profitable, cross country train service right up until the decision was made to kill it off.
Sorry to disagree, but there it is - and what you could do in the early 20th century, you can do again.
Also, the area covered by high speed trains in Europe is not exactly small, you don't use a 250-400kmp train to get from Brooklyn to the Bronx.
What is true is that people, for some absurd reason, have bought the bullshit that you can either have trains or cars, not both. Anyone who has been to Europe in the last 60+ years knows the answer to that. I wish folks in the US weren't so darned isolated from the modern world. Last time I was in the 'States, a young kid was all excited about texting. We call it SMS and got over the excitement back in the last century, hell even my parents used it when they visited me back in the 1990s.
Digital Free to Air TV? Yawn, same stupid commercials, only in Dolby surround. And now you can see the pancake makeup on the idiots who host Deutschland Trascht den Superstar or whatever you call it.
Of course, I do have to admit my conversion from ISDN + ADSL to 20,000M DSL didn't happen until recently, I'd been limping along with 6,000M since 2001. But who cares - my VoiP plus cell phone (unlimited flat rate including USA and DSL) are 29€/month.
You know, every single country that has pushed renewable energy and associated technologies in Europe is hiring US engineers right out of College. They are well trained, bright and creative. The also have a future...here. The money and time wasted is such a loss -just think how independent and free the US could be if a Manhattan Project were coupled with real capitalization and market openings for these new technologies in the US.
You have the brains and the skills, but your priorities aree way out of line with the challenges you face.
 

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