Yep American Airlines Still Suck part 2

On top of the trend started by American Airlines of charging customers for their luggage, and then increasing the cost of said fees.(AA.com) If you where in the group of consumers who purchased their airline tickets before August 14, 2009 then you will be required to pay $15 for the first bag and $25 per subsequent bag. Its not enough these fees are a bullshit charge passed on to the consumer by a crappilly run airline. If your tickets where purchased between August 14, 2009 - January 31, 2010 then you will be required to pay $20 for the first bag and $30 per subsequent bag, but wait!!!! There is more, in preparation for their travel season they have raised their prices again on checked baggage for tickets purchased on or after February 1, 2010 you will be required to pay $25 for the first bag and $35 per subsequent bag. At these pace, you might as well not travel with baggage. Just take your $50 that would be used for the bags to buy shit when you get to your city of choice.

Its no secret that I think American Airline sucks
1. It was in 2001 they said this and in the present that company is still unprofitable spending Tax payer money. American Airlines; the benefit of years of socialized loses. How do they get off charging luggage fees? (TTM.blogspot 10/14/2008)

2.AA Company of the year (TTM.blogspot 4/11/2008)

3.AA blocks the NY consumer Bill of rights (TTM.blogspot 12/19/2007)

4.American Airlines Still Suck (TTM.blogspot 4/10/2008)

NPR reports on February 10, 2010 that the FAA is going to hit American Airlines with a record penalty that can be as much as 20 million, for the defective wiring on their entire fleet that was shut down a year in a half ago. Over safety concerns that this wiring could lead to fires, and of course AA didn't find anything wrong. In fact they had the nerve to say that the passengers where not in any direct danger. My knowledge of vehicles is limited at best, but i don't think a fire should be a risk when 1000's of feet above the surface. With an underpaid pilot flying this vehicle that can just have a random fire, I don't think commercial airlines have a parachute provided. It would simply meant that the passengers would have been fucked if a fire broke out.

Yesterday, The Wall Street Journal said that "the proposed American penalty, government and industry officials said, is likely to top $10 million, and could be as much as $20 million, unless the agency changes course." (NPR 2/10/2010)

Congrats American Airlines for your suckatude. To bad these fines will not truly penalize the airline or protect/compensate the costumers who flew in inadequate jets. Expect by the end of the summer fees being 35 for the first bag and 50 for every other bag. How does this really punish the airline? I could see it as a punishment if the airline had to reimburse their customers who flew on these defective jets in their fleet. To pay some government bureaucracy that doesn't always do a great job in oversight of the industry. At the very least it can be agreed on, that the FAA hasn't done anything to protect consumer rights in the last 3 years. it is obvious why government regulations need to exists, but I can also see why people want to get rid of regulatory agencies.

Some links today and Tech is # 8

The U.S. debt calculated into the GDP :( [Seeking Alpha]

Who would have thought, that the airport screening process would increase theft[NJ.com]

Jim Cramer is sad his show doesnt have a purpose for a while [New York Times]

Texas Tech is #8 in the BCS [ESPN]

Sorry about your $500 ticket, but you will not reach your destination as planned.

Surprise, Surprise the FAA screwed up again. This time they only delayed 600+ flights. MSNBC News Reports:

U.S. aviation officials said most flights around the country were back to normal Wednesday, after a software malfunction delayed hundreds of flights on Tuesday....The Northeast was hardest hit by the delays prompted by a glitch at a Hampton, Georgia, facility that processes flight plans for the eastern half of the U.S. The FAA said the source of the computer software malfunction was a "packet switch" that "failed due to a database mismatch." The FAA, for its part, said it would work to make sure the problem doesn't happen again. Another FAA spokeswoman, Kathleen Bergen in Atlanta, said there were no safety issues and officials were still able to speak to pilots on planes on the ground and in the air. According to the FAA, 646 flights had been delayed as a direct result of the problem. In a 24-hour period the FAA processes more than 300,000 flight plans in the U.S., the agency said.... Bergen said the problem that occurred Tuesday afternoon involved a failure in a communication link that transmits flight plan data from the Georgia facility to a similar facility in Salt Lake City. As a result, the Salt Lake City facility in Utah was having to process those flight plans, causing delays in planes taking off. She said the delays were primarily affecting departing flights. Spitaliere said there were some problems with arriving flights as well.(August 27, 2008)

How does this happen? A Database mismatch, why are they only running one database. How about a clone database that duplicates instantaneously for back-up purposes, but that would make to much since to rational human beings. How are there no safety issues, if for a period you do not know where a plane might be? I understand that years before the development of computers and GPS systems, control towers were able to control air traffic fine. With 100's of planes in the air simultaneously this is dangerous. The FAA clearly isn't doing their job.

AA company of the year

American Airlines canceled more flights today,

"American Airlines canceled nearly 600 more flights across the U.S. today as part of its MD-80 jet fleet remains grounded for maintenance checks."(LA Times)

and tomorrow

"American Airlines says it has canceled about 200 MD-80 flights scheduled for Saturday and plans to resume a full, normal schedule on Sunday... At least 250,000 passengers have been affected by the American cancellations this week."(MSNBC)

Normally when you piss off 250,000 customers you care enough to apologize instead of blaming the FAA for finally monitoring airlines.

-Maybe Daniel Gross can tell us when Airlines will become customer oriented again.(NEWSWEEK)

I am sure it excited potential travelers to hear American Airlines decided to match United Airlines rate hike.

"The nation's major airlines have matched a fare increase of up to $30 per round trip that was started by United Airlines. American Airlines, the nation's largest carrier, matched the fare hike on Friday afternoon, which may have removed the last obstacle to making the increase stick.Airlines say they need to raise fares to cover jet fuel costs. The price of fuel tracks the price of oil, which hit a record Wednesday before declining Thursday and Friday."(MSNBC)

Yes American Airlines Still Sucks

American Airlines inconveniencing customers, nooooooooooooo.
American Airlines has done it again, done what you ask what else. Stranded customers in places around the country, and blamed it on someone else than themselves.

"AMR Corp.'s American Airlines will scrub 900 more flights today, adding to 1,550 already canceled this week, as it continues another round of inspections and groundings that stranded 171,000 passengers.

American said it had ``no choice'' in parking almost half its fleet of Boeing Co. MD-80 jets, after the planes again failed to meet a U.S. safety order. The move came in response to spot checks by the Federal Aviation Administration that found the world's largest carrier" (Bloomberg, April 10)

171,000 passengers and all they can say is, we had NO CHOICE. So it is the National Transportation Safety Board and the FAA's fault for finally trying to protect the consumers from a potentially dangerous situation.

"Falling short of FAA requirement for the earlier wiring adjustments meant that American didn't have the option of parking some jets on a rolling basis while flying others, Chief Executive Officer Gerard Arpey said. Fort Worth, Texas-based American checked all the MD-80s in March in response to the FAA order, resulting in groundings and hundreds of scrapped flights.

``A very high percentage'' of American's 300-plane MD-80 fleet wasn't in compliance as the jets were rechecked"(Bloomberg, April 10)

So if it was up to American Airlines, they would have continued flights without wiring adjustments that are deemed necessary for safety. It's not our fault consumers, you cant have it both ways. "You can either be delayed and receive horrible service on in compliant planes, or we can fix them and you will be delayed and never have to receive our horrible service" Ill take the never flying on American Airlines, and not worrying about their service. Maybe they will go the way of ATA.

I have a valid idea instead of crying about not having a choice to inconvenience customers, how about you do regular maintenance on your planes. You shouldn't need the governing body to remind you by grounding your fleet, to maintain the planes. The amount of money the federal government has given AA seems to make them feel invincible as a company, since they know they can't go out of business. The government wont let AA file bankruptcy again to forgo paying for the millions in loans they owe to the government. Shouldn't the fact our tax money continues to support this airline make their rules and compliance more stringent? Shouldn't all citizens get discount tickets since they all technically paid for part of the company?



You can use your cell phones on planes.... In the Europe

"European regulators have dropped the ban on in-flight cellphone calls, but passengers' ability to chat will depend on which airline they fly. European Union regulators on Monday loosened the rules on cellphone service, a satellite-based technology that can be turned on by a captain at about 10,000 feet. It also can be turned off at any time. The ban remains in place in the United States, so U.S. airlines aren't affected. Air France last week became the first international airline to offer mobile service as part of a six-month test to gauge customer response. Other carriers, however, are shying away from the feature, saying that passengers don't want chatter and ring tones invading their space."(USA TODAY, April 10)

Sounds like some cool technology, I just didn't think about the negatives. That would be horrible on a cross country flight, if this technology was available for use in the United States. They amount of conversations you would have no choice but to listen to, unless you had some good earplugs. That's is a bad dream, that you would be paying for. But honestly I think it would be cool at least once to call someone from 20,000 feet up, to say I almost home.

FAA Blowwing hot air

Another day, another government organization with egg on its face
The grounding of the part of the Southwest Airline fleet on March 12 for maintenance, would have been huge news any other year than this current one. With the snailing economy, two wars, Elliot Spitzer's resignation, Democratic party in fighting, the collapse of investment banking, & the rising price of gas it is easy to understand how this was forgotten so quickly.
The recent decision by American Airlines, and Delta Airlines to ground part of their fleet for overdue maintenance. Has brought air travel concerns and the FAA consistent failure to protect the American Consumer to the forefront. The FAA lassie z Faire attitude was made apparent last week, when the New York Passenger Bill of Rights was deemed illegal by the federal courts.

"NEW YORK - A federal appeals court Tuesday (March 25, 2008) struck down a state law
requiring airlines to give food, water, clean toilets and fresh air to
passengers stuck in delayed planes, saying the measure was well-intentioned but
stepped on federal authority...The law was passed after thousands of passengers
were stranded aboard airplanes for up to 10 hours on several JetBlue Airways
flights at Kennedy International Airport on Valentine’s Day last year. They
complained they were deprived of food and water and that toilets overflowed. A
month later, hundreds more passengers of other airlines were stranded aboard
planes at JFK after a daylong ice storm" (MSNBC.com)

As an American I expect the government organizations that the people give authority via congressional representation, to have the citizens best interest in mind. Everyone identifies that airlines respect for their paying customers has gone down in recent years, to the point that they can care less about their comfort. Why was it necessary for the NY legislator to pass a bill of rights, where was the FAA during this time. Do they not think passengers stranded deserve clean bathrooms, water, and food. The ticket prices should easily cover these cost, but the FAA couldn't care less about you and me.

A government audit of the FAA released in February found that:
U.S. aviation regulators have ``weaknesses'' throughout their system for overseeing quality control at aircraft manufacturers and suppliers, a federal inspector reported.

"Government auditors found ``widespread discrepancies'' at 20 of 21 suppliers, including miscalibrated tools, incomplete product testing and inadequate vendor supervision, a U.S. Transportation Department inspector general's report said today...The FAA doesn't ensure manufacturers regularly audit suppliers or routinely examine those audits, and it doesn't do enough of its own examinations of vendors, according to the report released in Washington...The FAA requires a maximum of four supplier audits, regardless of the manufacturer's size, the report found. FAA inspectors scheduled four supplier audits for a maker of crop- duster planes for two straight years and didn't perform any one year for suppliers of a major airline engine manufacturer."(Bloomberg.com, Feburary 29, 2008)

The FAA found about about the missed inspections by southwest airlines by a whistleblower inside the organization.

The whistleblowers said the FAA's chief inspector for Southwest allowed the airline to delay the repairs because of a "cozy relationship" with a former inspector hired by the company. One whistleblower was removed from his position after an "anonymous complaint." The other whistleblower claimed other inspectors friendly with the airline spied on his work by preparing a report about his use of Southwest's maintenance database, called Imagio. He says the other inspectors improperly shared the information with airline executives. "I asked myself why and who would they be discussing this with at SWA and for what purpose?" the inspector wrote. The FAA later removed two officials, including the chief inspector, after an internal investigation. (NBC Dallas/Fort worth)

The FAA has computers capable of handeling communications from all registered aircrafts at once, but fail to put in a system that could alert them of an overdue inspection? USA today had a similar report of lax oversight.

"FAA officials overseeing Southwest Airlines ignored safety violations, leaked sensitive data to the carrier and tried to intimidate two inspectors to head off investigations, according to previously undisclosed allegations by the inspectors."

Thank you FAA for worrying about the great people in this nation over your pocketbook. ASSHOLES!