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Boeing has ~150k employees. Given that pool of people I'm pretty sure you can come up one that has any opinion you want. Just decide at first what you want your
by mbostleman 7y ago
Boeing has ~150k employees. Given that pool of people I'm pretty sure you can come up one that has any opinion you want. Just decide at first what you want your story to portray, then go find your employee.
- hombre_fatal 7y agoThe other thing that annoys me about the Max coverage are those polls where "X people say they would never fly on one," as if even 1% of people actually factor in the plane model when buying their ticket.
- post_break 7y agoI would never fly one if I had the option that wasn't prohibitively expensive.
- dewey 7y agoMaybe not 99% of all customers but probably a higher percentage of frequent flyers and people that buy more expensive tickets as these tend to have their preferences for plane types / airlines / seats.
- Fomite 7y agoI have those preferences, but they tend to be "Goddamnit it, one of the Virgin A320s. Hate the exit row on those..." not "Well, I'm going to take another flight."
- mbostleman 7y agoYea, I have never looked at equipment when buying a ticket and still wouldn't. Price, departure, arrival, and duration - roughly in that order - are the only things that matter to me.
- newsoul2019 7y agoI have looked at it to choose between two puddle-jumpers, I chose the one that was the jet over the turboprop.
- daveslash 7y agoInteresting. Why?
- SimonPStevens 7y agoNot the op, but for me the turboprops I've flown on [0] have a deeper, louder droning noise that really gives me a headache after a while. I think it's personal though, I've spoken about hating them with travelling companions and no one else shares my dislike. I've never actively tried to avoid them though, mainly because I rarely have a choice of time or route when I fly on the airlines I know use them. [0] - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Havilland_Canada_Dash_8 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Havilland_Canada_Dash_8
- magduf 7y ago>I think it's personal though, I've spoken about hating them with travelling companions and no one else shares my dislike. That's because most people these days have significant hearing loss.
- salawat 7y ago>Interesting. Why? Not sure if academic curiosity or Marketing guy looking for a lead... I need a break from my cynical side.
- mehrdadn 7y ago> as if even 1% of people actually factor in the plane model when buying their ticket As if they have to do it before buying their ticket.
- solidasparagus 7y agoThat's underestimating the impact the Max 8 problems have had on peoples' willingness to board these planes. The two flight attendant unions that have to travel on Max 8s demanded the planes be grounded and one threatened to refuse to board the planes if they weren't grounded.[1] It's hard to measure the impact of sentiment alone since they grounded the places pretty quickly and numbers are reported quarterly, but its very likely we would have seen travelers choosing airlines that don't fly the Max 8. [1] https://www.peoplesworld.org/article/flight-attendants-union-we-may-refuse-to-board-boeing-737-max-8/ https://www.peoplesworld.org/article/flight-attendants-union...
- bruceb 7y agoIt was enough of a big deal that Southwest Airlines said they would accommodated any passenger who didn't wanted to fly on the Max. My mom, not a frequent flyer, kept emailing me about the problems with it before they were taken offline. I am sure way more than 1% of the population cares if they fly on this plane.
- distant_hat 7y agoI fly reasonably frequently and factor the plane if its going to be longer than 2 hours or I am flying with kids. I've taken somewhat more expensive tickets when flying long distance with kids because it makes a huge difference when they are comfortable. On long flights, not just the equipment but the airlines makes a difference too. Under a 1 hr flight, I wouldn't care if I had to stand all the way.
- Wowfunhappy 7y agoI highly doubt they interviewed all 150k employees, in a setting where they felt comfortable to speak freely. The fact that they got this quote from an employee in their sample size of "people we talked to" is notable, IMO. Not a sign that the sky is falling, but notable. Edit: The alternate scenario in which one of the 150k employees actually reached out to a journalist of their own violation is notable too! If they felt strongly enough to actually contact the press, then something is wrong.
- bobthepanda 7y agoBoeing has about 80K employees in the Seattle area (where this publication is located), and it's pretty easy to meet someone who works at Boeing, the same way it's pretty easy to meet people there who work at Amazon or Microsoft. Depending on the journalists' circle of friends, or friends' friends, or source pool, I'd imagine it'd be pretty hard to have all the Boeing employees you know all toe the company line, in a manner similar to the Birthday Paradox.
- S_A_P 7y agoAlso when you read the article, its a pretty lukewarm statement the person made "I would get on it, but I dont know if I would put my family on it". That is a lot different than "THIS IS UNFIT TO FLY DO NOT GET ON".
- mehrdadn 7y ago> "I would get on it, but I dont know if I would put my family on it" If you're going to call out a misrepresentation then maybe don't do it yourself? He didn't say he "doesn't know" if he would do that. He said "No. Not in a million years."
- bobthepanda 7y agoHe says both of those things, with the "No, not in a million years" qualified by "Would I send my family on a flight right now?", while they are doing testing flights. Is putting family on testing flights for a plane you don't work on routine behavior? The reporting from myNorthwest is pretty shoddy, it's mostly a right-wing digital tabloid run by a talk radio station. Equivalent to the NY Post.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- gnulinux 7y agoThis might be wrong, please say if I'm wrong. I think it's easier to dislike your tech product when you work inside the company. My company produces a mission-critical software/hardware (not something that'd kill people, but maybe harm them) and sometimes I feel very anxious since I know all the dirty dirty hacks that are put into our systems. At the end of the day, we all try to do our best, and our systems work, but it's still easier to be cautious when you know what's going behind the scenes. I don't think engineering can ever be 100% flawless, and this makes me anxious. When I'm just a consumer and not an engineer, I don't know what's going behind the scenes so this gives me a sense of security, since things seem to work.
- Wowfunhappy 7y ago> I know all the dirty dirty hacks that are put into our systems I would really hope that airplanes are a place where "dirty hacks" are unacceptable. This doesn't mean they are 100% flawless, but any known potential problem areas should be well-documented and accounted for.
- closetohome 7y agoI mean...they did try to fix an inherent structural design flaw with software.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- Wistar 7y agoWhat is the structural flaw?
- closetohome 7y ago> To handle a longer fuselage and more passengers, Boeing added larger, more powerful engines, but that required it to reposition them to maintain ground clearance. As a result, the 737 can pitch up under certain circumstances. Software, known as the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System, was added to counteract that tendency. https://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-fi-boeing-max-design-20190315-story.html https://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-fi-boeing-max-de...
- Someone1234 7y agoThis was in the context of employee morale. They went on to discuss it further, including the potential threat of layoffs. It wasn't a remark on the aircraft, it was a remark on how Boeing's employees are feeling right now. If you read beyond the first two paragraphs the context is clear.
- mandeepj 7y agoYou can pick few more employees from glassdoor reviews of Boeing. And, let me know how you like it.