The week is almost coming to an end, and this week, it is fair to say United Airlines raised its ‘negative’ fame internationally. The video went viral. Before you know it, everyone saw it. On an international scale people talk about it, and shared their thoughts about it.
In the land of freedom, obviously all opinion are welcome – opinion that share the same value as us, or opinion in contradict to ours.
I am sure many of us were shocked by what happened. However, I must said although it was horrific, I was not surprised it happened in the US. After all, US domestic is known in the world for it’s bad service (or shall I say no service at all?) Sometimes I just cannot help but wonder why US domestic could survive? I mean, we pride ourselves being the first world country and face it, many of us are often judgmental of the so called third world or developing countries, yet our airline service is no different or perhaps, even worse than these countries. There is no improvement, and I doubt the corporations think there’s no need for it – I mean why bother when people just suck it up and deal with it right?
It really sucks, and I just hope from this very negative event that happened this week, US airlines as a whole can really consider what to do to improve the service and the industry. I am not pointing finger at a specific airline because they all suck…
-I’ve flown United Airlines where we were about to take off and had to pull down because pilot noticed there’s something ‘wrong’ about the engine that somehow did not get check… of course, caused major delay and NO apology or compensation. In the end I had to figure my way out in order to get to the destination for a very tight scheduled trip. Thanks but no thanks.
-I’ve flown AA (I use this the most for domestic for direct flight) where my brand new luggage, first time use to be exact, was destroyed when I picked up the luggage at final destination. The handlebar was disfigured completely. It was not a cheap luggage, it was a nice Samsonite. AA was repetitive, refused to take the responsibility at the airport, directed me to go home to call their customer service that turned out to be wrong information (the whole conversation took a total of 3-4 hours with dropping calls, transferred to wrong people, etc.), and then finally, they unwillingly exchanged me a suitcase that’s cheaper than mine and that was that. Again, no apology.
-Again, AA diverted the plane during Christmas season that caused not just me, but a few of us on the plane to miss our international flight. I was told at the airport airlines such as Delta offered passengers vouchers as compensation, while AA did nothing. No apology, joking pilot, and in the end I had to book my own hotel and tried to figure out all the mess myself because AA did not care (clearly).
-Delays – It is understandable we get delays at the airports with traffic, busy schedule, etc. However, I find it very ridiculous in the US delay is like the new on time?! Why is that?
-Cleanliness of the plane – I am sure it’s not that fancy being domestic flight attendants… However, is it really so much trouble to at least clean the plane before you board the next passengers? Many times I get on the plane finding myself in a seat of bread crumbs, trash, and just gross. Yup, paying not so cheap ‘bus ticket’ for dirty environment that I’ll need to be on for hours. What a joy.
-Attitude from the flight attendant – Again, I understand it’s not all the glamorous compared to the cool international flights, but hey, if it is your job please try to do it well. We are not asking for much here… for a long 5 hour flight at least be nice to serve us some water. I’ve definitely had experience where flight attendant just did not bother at all to serve anything – or they served when you were sleeping and you tried to signal them for something to drink afterwards and they just completely ignore it for the rest of the flight. Yeah, it’s more reliable to bring your own water bottle for flights in the US, which I do all the time, but it does not make sense. Really so difficult to be nice to the passengers? Why show some sort of superiority just because you are the flight attendant?
I mean, to be honest, I think the ridiculousness of US domestic flight examples can go on and on and on, and I am sure I am not the first or only one who writes about this. What happened this week was the first time it got so violent and spread all over social media, but is certainly not the first time negative crap happened to US domestic because they are truly and really SUCK.
Many airlines probably think due to the United Airlines incident they will be able to win some passengers for the next couple of months. However, that is not going to solve the core issue. The core is the domestic airlines ALL desperately need some sort of improvement not just corporations getting away with things over time because they have the power and ‘that’s how we do it’.
US is not a third world country, we pride ourselves being the first in many categories and industry. It is time to get the domestic together to do some major transformation. I’ve heard passengers on the plane always mock and joke about how Asian airlines suck or whatever, but hey, mind you, you don’t get treated like you paid to get harassed or punished at the Asian airlines. Word.
Did you ever experience negative experience traveling in the US? How did you handle it? Thoughts on what they could do to be better?
k.
leave a little sparkle wherever you go 