Alaska Airlines foo
Jun. 5th, 2006 12:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
howeirdIt's 6:30 pm when I check in for my 8:30 pm flight from SEA to SJC and it is delayed till 10:38. A 2-hour delay for a 1.25-hour flight? What kind of BS is that?
The plane did not actually board till 11, and took off at about 11:45. Got to SJC at 1:05 am. SJC normally shuts down by then, my shuttle to De La Cruz parking did not arrive till 1:25. Home by 2. Should have been home by 11.
When we were pulling out of the slip, and again when we reached cruising altitude, the captain made profuse apologies but said they had a flat tire "and there is nothing we can do about that".
Bullshit.
What they can do about that is have spare aircraft. Alaska has something like a 0% on-time record for their evening flights, because they run it like a shuttle, one plane just goes back and forth between SJC and SEA. Another plane adds PDX to the loop. One mechanical breakdown and the whole schedule gets hosed. They really need to buy some extra planes. Seattle is their major lower-50 hub, they ought to have spares there.
SeaTac Airport has remodeled, and they have taken away all the internet kiosks! There is no longer any way for a stranded passenger to get online unless he has brought along a laptop. WTF?
So I read The DaVinci Code. By the time the parking shuttle arrived, I was on the last 3 pages, which I finished at home in bed. Review coming soon.
The plane did not actually board till 11, and took off at about 11:45. Got to SJC at 1:05 am. SJC normally shuts down by then, my shuttle to De La Cruz parking did not arrive till 1:25. Home by 2. Should have been home by 11.
When we were pulling out of the slip, and again when we reached cruising altitude, the captain made profuse apologies but said they had a flat tire "and there is nothing we can do about that".
Bullshit.
What they can do about that is have spare aircraft. Alaska has something like a 0% on-time record for their evening flights, because they run it like a shuttle, one plane just goes back and forth between SJC and SEA. Another plane adds PDX to the loop. One mechanical breakdown and the whole schedule gets hosed. They really need to buy some extra planes. Seattle is their major lower-50 hub, they ought to have spares there.
SeaTac Airport has remodeled, and they have taken away all the internet kiosks! There is no longer any way for a stranded passenger to get online unless he has brought along a laptop. WTF?
So I read The DaVinci Code. By the time the parking shuttle arrived, I was on the last 3 pages, which I finished at home in bed. Review coming soon.
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Date: 2006-06-06 12:31 am (UTC)So yes, it makes sense to stiff you rather than have a spare aircraft. Welcome to the whatever they can get away with non-regulated system we have now.
I usually fly Southwest when I fly. They still seem to almost care about the paying passenger. They have a reasonable ontime record too.
I missed a connection for weather reasons, and they got me to my destination within 2 hours of my original arrival time. Even my bags made it!