Wanderlust - Airlines

Airline Fees at a Glance

nospam@example.com (david) — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 10:03:20 -0700

Fees are everywhere now, from checking in a bag to paying for a drink. While some fees are avoidable like packing for one bag instead of two, some are not. At 30,000 ft your dietary options are subject to the airlines. It's not a snack, it's a snackbox and it'll cost you $5! Here's a list of fees broken down by airlines.

Space -- The Final Frontier?

nospam@example.com (eric) — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 09:09:56 -0700

Virgin Galactic, a space tourism "airline" conceived by eccentric billionaire Richard Branson, unveils its new design, SpaceShipTwo today. SpaceShipOne, the first version of the spacecraft, won the X-Prize in 2004 and was the first privately funded human space flight. Fortunately, the designs of the space ships are more creative than their names:

SpaceShipOne in action. Source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Spaceship_One_in_flight_1.jpg

SpaceShipTwo. Source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Spaceshiptwo_final.jpg

The first 500 seats on flights are being sold for $200,000 a piece, which begs the question: If you had $200,000, would you rather spend it on 15 minutes of weightlessness in outer space, or traveling around the world for years? Another thing to factor in would be risk - private spaceflight is still on the bleeding edge of technology, and accidents are bound to happen; Almost exactly a year ago, an explosion occurred during a test of the engine rocket systems for SpaceShipTwo, killing three people.

Personally, I'd rather spend the money visiting more earthly destinations. Although space would be an incredible experience, it seems like it will only be a destination for the super rich for quite some time.

Why do USA Airlines Suck?

nospam@example.com (eric) — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 06:00:00 -0700

Let me preface this by first saying that I am a proud American. But the quality of service on nearly any USA airline is worse than contemptible. In a nation that prides itself on customer service, with entire classes devoted to this topic in the nation's best business schools, you'd think that at least one company in this multi-billion dollar industry would get it. True, airlines are losing tons of money right now, but last I checked, if your company is losing tons of money the last thing you want to do is alienate existing customers.

Here is an example. The U.S. Department of Transportation recently released statistics ranking the major airlines in terms of on-time reliability. Here is the list of the top 10:

US Airways
Alaska
Delta
Southwest
AirTran
JetBlue
Continental
Northwest
United
American

Let's look at the top performer, US Airways, for New York's La Guardia Airport. Remember, in terms of reliability, this is the best our proud nation has to offer. Only 79% of flights arrived on time in May. American Airline flights only arrived on time 58% of the time. Compare this to any other industry. What if Google was only operational 79% of the time? Or what if your doctor only prescribed you the correct medication 58% of the time? What if your best employee only showed up to work on time 79% of the time?

Continue reading "Why do USA Airlines Suck?"