Fresh off an Alaska Air flight from Seattle, that New York Times headline was my welcome back to Fresno.
I've got no big digs against Alaska Air -- friendly service, first bag free. OK, they served raisins -- from TEXAS -- as the snack. They asked passengers to clean out the seat pouch in front of them -- doesn't the CDC breed stuff there?
But some quotes in the Times story make you want to heave righteous venom at the airline industry (although Mary Gilly, a UC Irvine marketing prof prof, cautioned: "You complain at Starbucks, you get a freebie. If you throw a fit at an airport, you could be picked up by the TSA.")
Passengers are now viewed as ops for raising "ancillary revenue." If you book on line, it may cost you. Ditto for asking for ANY assigned seat, with extra leg room and aisles costing you even more. Fees for pillows, blankets -- why not offer sedative-saturated binkies for all ages, and exact-change, coin-operated potties?
The sadness/terror of 9/11 has meshed with the fuel-price frenzy that's enriching places like Russia. What happens when prices go down? Who believes any sales tax increase is temporary? Cubs fans, maybe.
My two favorite Times quotes hurl from the mouth escalator of Delta president and CEO Edward Bastian:
- "Airlines need to have a way to recover the cost of their product."
- Plane fare entitles passengers to "a ticket, a bag and a safe and reliable experience."
Grand, airline flight as colonoscopy.
Which brings us back to the "airsickness" bag. Poking around the seat-back (armed with hand sanitizer), I unearthed a mint wrapper, an evacuation card and, mmmm, guess I better add something else to my carry-on.