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> For one thing, it goes out of its way to paint fairly ordinary things (the use of regional carriers, and the fact that there are many regional carriers, and m
by rkangel 10y ago
> For one thing, it goes out of its way to paint fairly ordinary things (the use of regional carriers, and the fact that there are many regional carriers, and many of them have contracts with multiple mainline carriers) as "deceptive" (and implying that code-sharing among partner airlines is also "deceptive").
This process of subcontracting was something that I (as a reasonably regular traveller) did not know. Yes I'm aware of flights being handled by an alternate airline, but if I book a flight with Virgin Atlantic, it's because I want the level of service I get from Virgin Atlantic.
There being factors that affect the service you get on a flight that are not obvious to the consumer DOES feel like deception to me.
> Which says right off the bat that this is someone who doesn't know how airlines really work
I think we can assume from the level of detail in the article that he does know how airlines work, he just has a very different opinion to you about how significant some of that is.
- ubernostrum 10y agoIt's more that he seizes on this "well I bet you didn't know the airline is DECEIVING you" to spin a whole sinister thing and it just destroys his credibility. Every industry has commonplace things that can be made to look bad, and usually the people who try to take advantage of that are quacks.
- TeMPOraL 10y ago> Every industry has commonplace things that can be made to look bad, and usually the people who try to take advantage of that are quacks. Every industry has commonplace things that can be made to look bad, but then every industry has commonplace things that are bad and should not be happening. Those happen because people can't coordinate well enough to resist them, but that doesn't mean they're OK to have. The longer I live, the more I see that, like a smart guy wrote, "man rules over another to his hurt".
- ubernostrum 10y agoI don't buy the argument that regional affiliates and code-sharing are inherently bad, though. For example, there are certainly problems with specific ways regionals have been used by certain airlines (and United is the biggest offender), but the flip side of it is increasing the number of places you can reach by air. There are a lot of cities in the US that don't have enough demand to consistently fill 150-seat mainline planes but can fill 50- or 76-seat regionals.