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This topic comprises 8 pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
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Author
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Topic: Who do you Boycott & Why?
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Leo Enticknap
Film God
Posts: 7474
From: Loma Linda, CA
Registered: Jul 2000
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posted 11-19-2005 06:05 AM
Since my post three years ago, Virgin Trains has come off the list - they've become a lot more reliable. British Airways (Shitish would be more accurate) is now on it, though. In summer 2003 I had to go to a meeting in Frankfurt with a broadcaster to whom a big footage sale was on the cards, with a lot of potentially valuable revenue for my archive. The Newcastle to Heathrow plane was two hours late ('due to staff shortages'), meaning that I missed my connection. I just made the meeting, but there were delays and hassles coming home, too. Then the following New Year, a friend came to stay from Washington DC. Despite having checked in three hours early, she was 'bumped' from the overbooked flight, and had to wait six hours for the next one. She also asked the check-in agent to 'phone me and let me know. This BA failed to do, meaning that I spent six hours in the middle of the night in the Manchester arrivals area. Even then it was a battle to get the BA staff at Manchester to tell me what was going on. What with that and all the wildcat strikes that have affected them, this all says to me that travelling on BA is one big risk to be avoided.
For both of my US trips this year (one in September and one coming up at the end of this month), their quotes were pretty competitive: but I've still gone with the slightly more expensive KLM/Northwest option, because (so far at least) the extra £20 or so has guaranteed an on-time arrival and a high standard of service.
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Paul Mayer
Oh get out of it Melvin, before it pulls you under!
Posts: 3836
From: Albuquerque, NM
Registered: Feb 2000
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posted 11-19-2005 10:41 PM
That collision happened last May at MSP. The DC-9 had just landed with hydraulic problems and was taxiing to the gate when it lost both nosewheel steering and brakes. The captain tried reverse thrust to stop but still ran into the A319 as it was being pushed back for departure. The Airbus wing did rip into the cockpit of the DC-9 injuring both pilots. The forward half of the roof of the passenger cabin was caved in as it passed under the Airbus' tail cone. The passengers evacuated out the rear.
None of the US "Legacy 6" carriers (AAL, UAL, DAL, NWA, CAL, USA/AWA) are doing well these days. All are either BK to close to it. The industry needs to see about half the ASMs (Available Seat Miles) out there simply disappear. Then the surviving carriers can start charging prices that will actually generate some profits. In the mean time things are going to get ugly, both for passengers and employees. I'm sorta glad I didn't end up flying for any of them, and I don't envy any of those employees for what's about to happen to them.
For those of you with lots of frequent flyer miles on any of the Legacy 6, now's the time to start cashing them in.
[ 11-24-2005, 12:16 AM: Message edited by: Paul Mayer ]
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Paul Mayer
Oh get out of it Melvin, before it pulls you under!
Posts: 3836
From: Albuquerque, NM
Registered: Feb 2000
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posted 11-20-2005 08:01 PM
Many air transportation industry observers have concluded there is simply too much product (ASMs) in the market. This condition has lead to a buyer's market which has forced air carriers to give away the product in order to have any revenue at all, let alone profit. Hence, lots of packed airplanes flying yet almost no one is making any money.
Industry analysts say cutting this excess supply by about half would allow the market to return to a level where the carriers can charge fares that would generate a reasonable level of profit.
Of course costs need to be brought into line too, something that the LCCs (Low Cost Carriers) have done rather well. The Legacy 6 have so far not been able to match the LCCs in this area, but then again the legacy carriers do provide some higher-cost services (like full-service international routes) that the LCCs tend to avoid. Still, the legacy carriers need to get their costs down. So far, their executives have shown themselves to be not up to that task. Given their typically light-weight, MBA, dilettante, non-air transport industry business backgrounds, I'm not surprised.
* * * * *
Back on topic, I presently don't strictly "boycott" anyone, though I make it a point to make large corporate versions of anything last on my list of places to patronize. So places like McDonalds and WalMart won't see me as a customer unless there is absolutely no other option. Fortunately there are almost always other options. I like smaller locally operated places even if they are more expensive. Even though I'm broke these days I'm just not that price sensitive.
Locally in the theatre world I used to boycott Century and UA because of poor presentation quality and the way they ran all of the IATSE projectionists out of the booths as they bought up all of the existing screens in town back in the '80s (I was a good IA man back then (20-year pin in '94), right up until I was blacklisted in '95 for being too loudly critical of the way that local operated). But since old man Syufy retired and the sons took over I have to admit that Century has improved their initially substandard presentation quality and now runs some of the best locations here.
I still avoid UA here because of consistently lousy presentation quality. Regal and Brenden both follow in second place on my presentation quality scale. Crown? Don't know and don't really care since the only reason I'm ever downtown these days is to change buses or swim at the muni pool.
[ 01-16-2006, 06:43 PM: Message edited by: Paul Mayer ]
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