In the recent years of my life, or since I have come to college, I have been flying more and more. I have flown home each year for breaks, and have flown to other places throughout the country and the world. Of course, as someone who is pursuing the aviation industry as a potential career airline pilot, I can't help but to always pay close, serious attention to the airline industry through every phase of flight, the quality of service, flight status, etc. Though I don't publish any of my comments or accounts, I manage my own airline reviews because it sparks my own interests in that industry.
I honestly feel bad sometimes for the airline industry. They suffer through a lot that we as passenger don't always see. It's not the airline industry's fault that they have had to raise fare prices in recent months and years due to the rising costs of oil and gasoline. And I know of some airline executives who take the guilt personally whenever they have to lay off any of their employees because they can only afford to keep so many pilots, flight attendants, or mechanics, or other employees, as well as having to stop certain flights at different times of the day to certain destinations because they are not getting enough customers to fill those airplanes to capacity. At the same time, it does make it difficult on the average economy class passenger when you have certain services provided by the airline that were once free such as luggage, meals, blankets, pillows, and entertainment, which that person now has to pay for. Through the struggle, you still manage to find common ground with the employees. Maybe not so much with the pilots since you don't really see them because of the demand they have to control the airplane and keep up on the radio with Air Traffic Control, but perhaps you can detect it in the friendliness of their voices over the intercom. And maybe you find it when you get personal service by the flight attendants. What I am saying is that they have shared the burden with us in the frustrations everyone has had with the airline industry and the FAA, but there is one airline in particular who, when they experience one problem, makes it a problem for everyone else, including their own customers. That would be our own patriotic carrier, American Airlines, the world's largest air carrier established by their parent company, AMR Corp. of Fort Worth, Texas, with American's home hub to its fleet of aircraft from the 1970s up to now based out of Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport.
I was sitting in my reporting class one day when my professor walked in. She is working on her doctorate out at Texas Tech in Lubbock. This woman is amazing! She is first off one of the nicest and understanding professors I have ever encountered, and she is really strong and dedicated to her work. She flies out of DFW airport every week to attend class at night out at Tech, then comes back to DFW the next morning to teach my class. Her program of study is only offered at Texas Tech, which is the closest to home. She flies on American and usually American has nonstop jet service to Lubbock Airport. But she was furious at the fact that they used a 1970s dirty, loud, bumpy, vibrating, twin-engine turboprop by SAAB. It's a SAAB 340B Turboprop aircraft and I strongly sympathize with her. For one she said, it was very loud and it hurt her ears. Two was that you pay money for the seat you get and then the flight attendants move you around because with the 340B being such a small airplane, they have to have the right balanced power-weight ratio for takeoff. It's really dumb that they have those planes in service because of this. They're not very fast and it is pointless to be flying them at all. And Three was that the aircraft was very filthy. These things were what made my professor angry, and I have to say that I have been through that myself as well as extra problems I have dealt with personally in general with the quality of service of American Airlines.
My experience with American has included having lost luggage more than once, delayed flights, and the worst was that I have seen some American employees just be really rude to anyone, even including their customers. Yes, I was abroad this summer, coming back from Asia. I was in China all summer. I had had excellent travel to China and back to the states. Going to China, I took U.S. Airways from DFW to Las Vegas. From Vegas to Seoul, Korea, I flew on Korean Air. And from Seoul to the city in China, I took Korean Air. Every single Korean Air flight was awesome! I came from China back to Seoul on Korean Air and then from Seoul to Los Angeles (LAX) on Korean Air. The final leg of my travel back to Texas was on an American Airlines Boeing MD-80 jet from LAX-DFW. The MD-80 is not the smoothest of jetliners, but it was better than a turboprop. As passengers boarded the plane, the flight attendant said that they were sick of dealing with people. Right there, I was ready to explode, but I calmy walked passed and took my seat. More than once, I have lost luggage on American flights. More than once, I have been delayed, and more than once, I have seen or experienced rude attitude and behavior by American employees. Not everyone at American is rude. My friend's dad is a 757 and 767 captain for American Airlines, but when it comes to customer service, they have a horrible record and other things as well.
Perhaps it's easier to keep track of these things when you have an interest in them. That has helped me be observant, but also because American is based here in Dallas/Fort Worth. Business information regarding American is in the paper a lot here where they are established then they would be somewhere else like Cincinnati, Ohio where more attention is diverted to Comair and its parent company, Delta Airlines because Cincinnati's airport is Delta's second largest hub right under Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. Write ups on American have appeared almost weekly in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram newspaper.
And then I think back to the spring of this year if you recall with me. All over the country, news had come out that the FAA had been too relaxed in its reltionship with the airlines maintaining safety standards. The first airline exposed was Southwest Airlines, based out of Dallas Love Field, followed by American, Delta, and U.S. Airways. Southwest was exposed for over-flying 41 of its Boeing 737 jets without going through regular scheduled safety inspection. Delta had to ground several Boeing MD-88s and MD-90s to have inspections performed and US Airways discovered some problems by finding cracks on the fuselage of some of their 757s. But even with this problem on some of the planes, airline officials got to work and fixed the problem almost right away. There is a common-sense rule in the aviation industry. The rule is that for so many hours of flight, the aircraft must go through check-up inspection to make sure nothing is found wrong that would become a hazard.
American on the other hand realized that out of their Boeing MD-80 fleet, all 300 MD-80s had to be grounded, causing them to stop most inner-range U.S. flights on American. The problem with the MD-80 was that mechanics did not keep up regular maintenance inspection of a bundle of wires just above the front wheel well in the nose of the airplane. Any MD-80 mechanic will tell you that if those wires come loose, they can become a hazard. If the wires were to get caught by the landing gear, they could start to spark, possibly causing an explosion with the fuel line not being so far away from the landing gear. There would be no hope for anyone onboard an MD-80 that would go down for that reason.
Each MD-80 has the capacity to hold over 100 passengers. What this resulted in was American inconveniencing more 200,000 of their customers per day because the inspection took more than one day on most of the jets and they are supposed to fly everyday to profit. Thousands of people across the U.S. from New York, Miami, Dallas, Chicago, Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and other cities were stranded two or three days because American did not keep up with maintenance. It is partially the FAA's fault due to relaxed relationship with the airlines, but it's more so the airlines because they are the ones that do all the work on their aircraft. American knew the whole time that they were supposed to keep up maintenance. That does not dismiss other carriers like Southwest, but the repercussions were not as strong for other carriers like they were for American. I was a little bit frightened. The incident occured in April. I had just bought a ticket through American to go home after the spring semester would end to have about two weeks with family before leaving the country all summer. I was frightened that I would not make it because of a mistake that American made. Thankfully to say the least, I made it.
Earlier this Fall, Fort Worth Star-Telegram did a review over the quality of U.S. air carriers. Star-Telegram consulted, statistics and customer reviews over service, the handling of luggage, and how much the flights were on time. Among the top of the list was Frontier Airlines, a small domestic low-fare carrier based out of Denver that continues growing. Followed by Frontier came Dallas's own Southwest, with Northwest, US Airways, Delta, and AirTran Airways trailing behind. The very bottom of the list- yours truly- American Airlines with the worst record. American had been blasted for their horrible customer service and friendliness, constantly losing luggage, and the timeliness of flights. Most American flights were either delayed or canceled.
Flying has always been my love and passion in life. Any time I get to fly, I always feel like I get to be as much a part of the airplane and crew as the crew themselves are. I always get a window seat. Even with turbulent weather, I still enjoy flying and seeing how the skills of two pilots can take the great plane I'm on up into the stratosphere. Even on rainy and messy days, I prepare to get some sun by sliding on my aviator sunglasses because the sun is just on the top side of the clouds that separate the gloomy bottom. Every day that I fly, I get on a plane not knowing any of the crew personally, but knowing that those crew members are my friends because of their passion and love for the business and flight itself, alone. And as soon as I sit down and prepare for flight, I open up the in-flight magazine to read a personal, warm, friendly and sincere welcome message by the airline's CEO and the CEO's hope that they will see me again in the near future on another flight with their airline. And I enjoy the welcome announcement once landing and arriving to my final destination. It's always "May you enjoy your stay here or wherever your final destination may be" announcement. But never before have I dreaded flights then when I fly on American. I normally try to get a word in with the pilots and flight attendants as I board and pass the cockpit, getting a quick look into the sanctuary of where they control the plane. I normally try to thank them before and after for their friendliness and their wonderful service to me and fellow passengers. But when I have boarded an American flight, I have thought to myself, I better just not say anything to them so I don't have to hear them complain about having me onboard.
Though airline travel isn't what it used to be because of economical struggles, it doesn't have to be more of a problem than what it already is. So my words to you, American: "Learn some respect and learn how to use it by hiring people with good customer service skills. If you can't find those people, train them yourselves. There's no excuse for the difficulties you have made on yourself and your customers. Take a hint and lesson from other airlines. Maybe you'll understand why you continue to lose customers."
Special Thanks To:
Korean Air- Excellence In Flight
AirTran Airways- Go! There's Nothing Stopping You!
Continental Airlines- Work Hard, Fly Right!
Southwest Airlines- You're Now Free To Move About The Country!
United Airlines- Come Fly Chicago's Hometown Airline
Northwest Airlines
U.S. Airways
Delta Airlines
Comair
Perhaps it's easier to keep track of these things when you have an interest in them. That has helped me be observant, but also because American is based here in Dallas/Fort Worth. Business information regarding American is in the paper a lot here where they are established then they would be somewhere else like Cincinnati, Ohio where more attention is diverted to Comair and its parent company, Delta Airlines because Cincinnati's airport is Delta's second largest hub right under Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. Write ups on American have appeared almost weekly in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram newspaper.
And then I think back to the spring of this year if you recall with me. All over the country, news had come out that the FAA had been too relaxed in its reltionship with the airlines maintaining safety standards. The first airline exposed was Southwest Airlines, based out of Dallas Love Field, followed by American, Delta, and U.S. Airways. Southwest was exposed for over-flying 41 of its Boeing 737 jets without going through regular scheduled safety inspection. Delta had to ground several Boeing MD-88s and MD-90s to have inspections performed and US Airways discovered some problems by finding cracks on the fuselage of some of their 757s. But even with this problem on some of the planes, airline officials got to work and fixed the problem almost right away. There is a common-sense rule in the aviation industry. The rule is that for so many hours of flight, the aircraft must go through check-up inspection to make sure nothing is found wrong that would become a hazard.
American on the other hand realized that out of their Boeing MD-80 fleet, all 300 MD-80s had to be grounded, causing them to stop most inner-range U.S. flights on American. The problem with the MD-80 was that mechanics did not keep up regular maintenance inspection of a bundle of wires just above the front wheel well in the nose of the airplane. Any MD-80 mechanic will tell you that if those wires come loose, they can become a hazard. If the wires were to get caught by the landing gear, they could start to spark, possibly causing an explosion with the fuel line not being so far away from the landing gear. There would be no hope for anyone onboard an MD-80 that would go down for that reason.
Each MD-80 has the capacity to hold over 100 passengers. What this resulted in was American inconveniencing more 200,000 of their customers per day because the inspection took more than one day on most of the jets and they are supposed to fly everyday to profit. Thousands of people across the U.S. from New York, Miami, Dallas, Chicago, Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and other cities were stranded two or three days because American did not keep up with maintenance. It is partially the FAA's fault due to relaxed relationship with the airlines, but it's more so the airlines because they are the ones that do all the work on their aircraft. American knew the whole time that they were supposed to keep up maintenance. That does not dismiss other carriers like Southwest, but the repercussions were not as strong for other carriers like they were for American. I was a little bit frightened. The incident occured in April. I had just bought a ticket through American to go home after the spring semester would end to have about two weeks with family before leaving the country all summer. I was frightened that I would not make it because of a mistake that American made. Thankfully to say the least, I made it.
Earlier this Fall, Fort Worth Star-Telegram did a review over the quality of U.S. air carriers. Star-Telegram consulted, statistics and customer reviews over service, the handling of luggage, and how much the flights were on time. Among the top of the list was Frontier Airlines, a small domestic low-fare carrier based out of Denver that continues growing. Followed by Frontier came Dallas's own Southwest, with Northwest, US Airways, Delta, and AirTran Airways trailing behind. The very bottom of the list- yours truly- American Airlines with the worst record. American had been blasted for their horrible customer service and friendliness, constantly losing luggage, and the timeliness of flights. Most American flights were either delayed or canceled.
Flying has always been my love and passion in life. Any time I get to fly, I always feel like I get to be as much a part of the airplane and crew as the crew themselves are. I always get a window seat. Even with turbulent weather, I still enjoy flying and seeing how the skills of two pilots can take the great plane I'm on up into the stratosphere. Even on rainy and messy days, I prepare to get some sun by sliding on my aviator sunglasses because the sun is just on the top side of the clouds that separate the gloomy bottom. Every day that I fly, I get on a plane not knowing any of the crew personally, but knowing that those crew members are my friends because of their passion and love for the business and flight itself, alone. And as soon as I sit down and prepare for flight, I open up the in-flight magazine to read a personal, warm, friendly and sincere welcome message by the airline's CEO and the CEO's hope that they will see me again in the near future on another flight with their airline. And I enjoy the welcome announcement once landing and arriving to my final destination. It's always "May you enjoy your stay here or wherever your final destination may be" announcement. But never before have I dreaded flights then when I fly on American. I normally try to get a word in with the pilots and flight attendants as I board and pass the cockpit, getting a quick look into the sanctuary of where they control the plane. I normally try to thank them before and after for their friendliness and their wonderful service to me and fellow passengers. But when I have boarded an American flight, I have thought to myself, I better just not say anything to them so I don't have to hear them complain about having me onboard.
Though airline travel isn't what it used to be because of economical struggles, it doesn't have to be more of a problem than what it already is. So my words to you, American: "Learn some respect and learn how to use it by hiring people with good customer service skills. If you can't find those people, train them yourselves. There's no excuse for the difficulties you have made on yourself and your customers. Take a hint and lesson from other airlines. Maybe you'll understand why you continue to lose customers."
Special Thanks To:
Korean Air- Excellence In Flight
AirTran Airways- Go! There's Nothing Stopping You!
Continental Airlines- Work Hard, Fly Right!
Southwest Airlines- You're Now Free To Move About The Country!
United Airlines- Come Fly Chicago's Hometown Airline
Northwest Airlines
U.S. Airways
Delta Airlines
Comair
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