By Mike Matejka
The recent incident with United Airlines is another stark reminder that the “friendly skies” are more of an endurance trial than a pleasure these days.
United Airlines has a public relations nightmare after a passenger was bodily drug from a plane because the airline overbooked the flight. Their stock plunged and I’m sure their passenger sales will reflect the public’s adverse reaction.
Over the past month, I’ve twice flown to Washington, D.C. I can’t say it was a pleasurable experience. I always try to stay loyal and patronize our local Central Illinois Regional Airport. Both times I was booked on American Airlines flight 2946 from here to O’Hare. Both times, Flight 2946 was late – two hours the first time, four hours the second time. On my second flight, the local crew hurriedly boarded everyone. Once everyone was on-board, we sat at the gate in Bloomington for another half-hour before taking off. In speaking to local airline folks, I found out this was not a unique experience, as American’s subcontractor, Skywest, can’t seem to get airplanes up and out on schedule with any consistency. And I will add, both days were pleasant, with nary a cloud marring the blue sky.
Meanwhile, once on the plane, your knees are hard-pressed against the seat in front of you while you try to politely shrink your body to fit into the tinier and tinier allocated space. As Americans have become plus size, our airlines seem convinced that in reality, Americans really are a petite people. The cost-cutters I’m sure are looking at every available inch on an airliner, where can they move back seats another inch or two, compress seat width and now, feature smaller and less comfortable seats. Not to mention all the additional baggage and other fees the airlines find to extract a few dollars more. Turning to a fellow passenger waiting to board the flight here, I remarked that it was odd that we paid almost $500 for this treatment.
Now I don’t blame the ground crews, flight attendants or pilots. They are making the best they can of a tough situation. I’m sure these delays and layovers wreak havoc with their lives too, not too, not to mention the disgruntled and grumbling passengers.
I won’t wax rhapsodic about the good old days, when a plane ticket not only got you to a destination, but you were served a hot meal with actual silverware. Those days are probably long gone. It’s an incredible convenience to hop half this country in two to four hours. I’m always one for a leisurely train ride, but for work purposes, that’s not always practical. I’m just hoping the airlines realize that the public is their customer, not a captive audience, strapped into a tiny seat, subject to their cost-cutting whims and poor service.
Mike Matejka is the Governmental Affairs director for the Great Plains Laborers District Council, covering 11,000 union Laborers in northern Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota. He lives in Normal. He served on the Bloomington City Council for 18 years, is a past president of the McLean County Historical Society and Vice-President of the Illinois Labor History Society.
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