Joe, Excellent comments. This is one time I don't think I care to comment on = the articles' content. Has he ever visited or really researched = anything at an airport/or in aviation? Al Al ----- Original Message -----=20 From: B787300@aol.com=20 To: AIRLINE@LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU=20 Sent: Friday, April 26, 2002 12:19 AM Subject: Re: improving air travel The author has some valid points but he's is dead wrong on a couple of = items. The congestion that he mentions is caused by most of the airlines all = trying to fly at the same time instead of spreading out their flights more = evenly throughout the day. There are times at MIA when there isn't a vacant international gate (because American has domestic flights on = international gates in order to make their hub work) and other times during the day = when virtually all the gates are empty long enough for numerous flights = with normal turnaround times. If that someone was Southwest you could = probably have 4 or 5 back to back turnarounds on one gate. Southwest averages something like 10 to 12 turnaround flights per gate per day at FLL. = Average gate utilization at MIA is something like 3.something or 4.something = flights daily depending on the concourse. It's isn't the government's fault, = or the fault of airports, that virtually every airline schedules 1 to 5 hour turnaround times on a gate. Someday, hopefully, some of these = airlines will absorb the Southwest line of thinking that their aircraft only make = money while flying, not while sitting on the ground hogging a valuable gate = and creating gate shortages for other aircraft that are arriving or need = to return for some reason. The writer's comment on airports not having enough space for lines of passengers at ticket counters is inaccurate. Airlines usually decide = how many ticket counter positions they want when they lease from the = airport and then inadequately staff the counters to create long lines. I've stood = in line many times to buy a ticket and one of the first things I notice = is that the airline has 8 ticket counter positions and 3 people working, or 20 positions and 10 people working. So what if there are 30 people in = line and some folks are going to miss their flights? Add ticket counter = personnel? That's too expensive! Some airlines lease more counter space than = they need to put the hurts on competitors who would like more space. The comment about the pilot apologizing and the writer's opinion that = he must have thought he would get in trouble for blaming the the airport or = air traffic control system is absurd. I've heard numerous reports of AA = pilots blaming "Dade County" on the aircraft intercom at MIA because they had = to hold for a gate, when in fact AA was given preferential usage of 47 = gates virtually all day long and they did their own gate planning that = caused the lack of gates. AA preferred to leave dead airplanes on gates and foul = up the works than have them towed off to a remote parking position. This is = the airport's fault? What BS.... The writer makes a statement that the lack of gates at government = airports prevents startup carriers from starting service. The US DOT monitors = this situation at commercial airports nationwide and I don't believe it to = be a major problem at most airports. It's not a problem at all if the = startup airline avoids peak existing operational times since scads of gates = are available then. In addition, more and more airports are taking back = control of their gates instead of leasing them to airline "x" for 20 years and airline "y" for 30 years. Thanks to MIA airport director Dick Judy, = who could foresee the impacts of airline deregulation on airports, MIA = started controlling approximately 22 gates in 1977 and took total control of = various concourses over the years as the long-term airline leases expired. = The airport controlled all gates at MIA by 1991 when Eastern died and the = airport will control all gates in the future. MIA replaced all the = airline-owned jetbridges and airlines pay for their usage and concourse fees on a = flight by flight basis. This policy has allowed countless new airlines (most of = the deregulation startups and failures) to start service at MIA, usually = whenever the airline desired to operate. Jose Prize Fan of the truth once in a while In a message dated 4/25/2002 3:28:30 PM Eastern Daylight Time, exatc@neo.rr.com writes: > Subj:Re: improving air travel > Date:4/25/2002 3:28:30 PM Eastern Daylight Time > From:<A HREF=3D"mailto:exatc@neo.rr.com";>exatc@neo.rr.com</A> > Reply-to:<A = HREF=3D"mailto:AIRLINE@LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU";>AIRLINE@LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU</A> > To:<A = HREF=3D"mailto:AIRLINE@LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU";>AIRLINE@LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU</A> > Sent from the Internet > > I see another well informed individual voicing an opinion. Remember > opinions are like ******** every one has one. > > At least folks who post here have an opportunity to voice their > opinion/expertise and explain it. I love one way communications. > > This article gives the appearance that the authors experience goes = as far > as the "Admirals Club". Pardon AAL for use of your name. > > Al > ----- Original Message -----=3D20 > From: damiross@attbi.com=3D20 > To: AIRLINE@LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU=3D20 > Sent: Thursday, April 25, 2002 11:27 AM > Subject: improving air travel > > Improving air travel > by Harry Browne > Posted: April 25, 2002 > 1:00 a.m. Eastern > > =3DA9 2002 WorldNetDaily.com > > Pity the poor airlines. > > That's right - I said pity the poor airlines. > > Yes, those airlines that try to bump you from flights, that keep = you > sitting in the plane on a runway for an hour, that take so long = getting > your bags to you, that > have the long lines at the ticket counters. Those airlines. > > I'd estimate that about 75 percent of the problems we blame on = airlines are > caused either by government-owned airports or by the federal Air = Traffic > Controller system. > > Prior to Sept. 11, the airlines kept offering cheaper and cheaper = fares, > the demand for air travel kept increasing and increasing, the = airlines' > inventory of planes and employees kept growing and growing, while = the > airports and air traffic control system became more and more out of = date. > > The government-owned airports are always so far behind the curve = that > there's never enough room at the ticket counters to process = passenger > volume quickly, never an efficient baggage system, never enough = gates > available to handle all the planes. > > And those flight delays? When they're not caused by the weather, = they > almost always are caused by a federal traffic control system that = operates > with ancient > computers and typical bureaucratic inefficiency. > Taking the blame But who gets blamed for all these problems? > > The airlines, of course. > > Two years ago my wife and I boarded a plane at LaGuardia Airport to = go to > Atlanta. The plane left the gate on time, but we got no further than = the > runway. The control > tower held the plane on the LaGuardia runway for four and a half = hours. > > Why? Because the traffic control system was overloaded and planes = were > backed up arriving at Atlanta airport. > So why didn't the plane simply go back to the gate and> let us = wait inside > the airport? Because there were no available gates at the overloaded > airport. > > The pilot was on the Intercom apologizing profusely for the delay as = though > it were the airline's fault. It was almost as though he thought he'd = be > punished if he said > anything bad about the airports or the air traffic control system. > > And the airline paid for an Atlanta hotel room for the night = (because we > missed our connection to California), even though the airline wasn't > responsible. > > Making a bad situation worse Since the sad state of air travel today is primarily the> fault of > governments, the Ralph Nader types have a solution - more = government. > > They want a "Passenger Bill of Rights" with such intelligent = provisions as > making an airline pay a passenger 200 percent of the ticket price = when a > flight is more than two hours late. Presumably, that will "send a = message" > to the airlines that they should make government more efficient. > > Public relations > > The biggest failing of the airlines themselves is probably poor = training in > public relations. > > Not only do their employees too often apologize for problems that = aren't > their fault, the employees don't show empathy when it really is = called for. > They apologize inappropriately in a collective way, but they too = seldom > apologize in a personal way. When you wait forever in line at the = ticket > counter, rarely does the ticket agent say, "I'm sorry you had to = wait so > long." When you can't get the seat selection you ask for, you don't = hear, > "I'm sorry we can't accommodate > you." When your baggage is lost or late getting rerouted back to = you, no > one says, "I'm sorry you've had to put up with this." > > An airline employee needs to learn only two simple lessons: 1) No = one likes > to be inconvenienced, and 2) when inconvenienced, anyone will feel a = lot > better if > you just show a little sympathy. It amazes me that, in such a = "people" > business, I'm not aware of any airline whose ground personnel are > noticeably well-trained in > public relations. (Southwest is probably the best I've seen, and the > telephone reservation clerks for most airlines seem very = well-trained.) > > I said 75 percent of the air-travel problems are really government > problems. Probably most of the other 25 percent would be reduced > considerably if new competitors could come into the market and = pressure > existing airlines to improve their public-relations skills. But a = lack of > gates at the government airports makes it > virtually impossible for a new airline to get started. > Solving the problems > > It would take a separate article to explore all the possible = improvements, > but two general remedies are obvious: > > Cities and counties should sell their airports to private companies = and > make it easier for competing airports to open within each city. > > The federal government should get completely out of air traffic = control. > Let the airlines operate the system, modernize it, and make it = efficient. > Let's make air travel fun again. > > Harry Browne is the director of public policy at the American = Liberty > Foundation. You can read more of his articles and find out about his > network radio show at > HarryBrowne.org. > > -- > David Ross > http://home.attbi.com/~damiross >