My daughter once called from Berlin, shortly after East and West Berlin became one city again for the first time since the Soviets took over East Berlin after WWII. Melanie pointed out that some former East Berliners said they were better off under the communists. “They sound,†she said, “as if they want to return to the communistic system.â€
“But Melanie,†I said, “they can’t go back to that system. That system failed. It went bankrupt. Toward the end they couldn’t even feed their own people without buying grain from us on credit.â€
I guess it is time for me to face a similar situation about airline travel in the USA. Things are not as nice as they used to be. There was a time when air travel was wonderful for the few of us who traveled for business or were wealthy enough (not I) to travel for pleasure. They treated us well. Now airline travel is for the masses, prices are (relatively) cheap, and danged near everyone can afford to fly.
An airline-pilot friend (I won’t give the name, lest his company disapprove) and I have argued about this for years. I bitched mightily about airline travel and he told me to get used to it. Airlines can’t afford to be as nice as they were back when regulation protected their fares and routes.
I thought about this last week when an airline told me it would cost 90,000 award miles to get a single round-trip ticket. It used to cost 25,000 miles. The airline said I could still travel for 25,000 miles, but they didn’t have any such flights available on that day (which was more than a month into the future). That airline was cited as having the worst award-miles program in the industry by a travel magazine, and now I know why.
But, as my friend says, times are competitive, these days. He also reminds me that I have always wanted a competitive marketplace. I plead guilty as charged.
Still, I wonder. Southwest, one of the most competitive and profitable of airlines, is also one of the nicest.
I don’t know what to think.
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