Tuesday, September 12, 2017
Marty Davis's Really Bad Idea
One of the great things about living in the Twin Cities is that we are a hub for two different airlines, meaning that you can fly non-stop to pretty much anywhere you would want to go (except Waco. And Williamsburg. And New Haven. But other than that...).
One of the airlines with a hub here is Delta, one of the legacy behemoths that contains the remnants of Northwest, Republic, Western, Chicago & Southern, Northeast, Hughes Airwest, North Central, Southern, Pan Am, Western, National, and Standard Air Lines (that's a lot of mergers). Delta flies about 25 million people a year from or through MSP.
And then there is Sun Country, which is a sweet little local airline that flies to a few dozen destinations and is beloved by a lot of people here. I've flown on Sun Country, and it is really pretty pleasant. The staff seem to like their jobs and do it well. It's an efficient operation, and its been profitable.
Unfortunately, Sun Country is about to change. Have you flown on an Ultra-Low-Cost carrier like Spirit Airlines, or Frontier, or Allegiant? Did you hate it and vow to never do that again? Well, it seems that the owner of Sun Country, Marty Davis of St. Peter MN (the Medievalist's hometown!) is determined to bring the foul spirit of Spirit to Sun Country.
How? Well, he hired the former CEO of Allegiant., Jude Bricker And now Sun Country is introducing the following "innovations" straight out of the Spirit/Frontier/Allegiant playbook:
-- Charging for carry-on bags
-- Jamming more seats onto their planes and reducing legroom
-- Charging extra for seats that are something other than a middle seat
-- Cutting down on the food they serve
-- Buying out full time employees with more than ten-years of experience to hire cheaper new hires
-- Randomly throwing passengers off the plane in-flight to save on fuel costs
Ok, I made the last one up. But I'm not inclined to fly Sun Country again-- and that makes me sad. I suspect I am not the only one, either. If I want to be jammed into a seat, charged a fee for everything, and get crabbed at by some underpaid employee, I have plenty of options for that already.
My hunch is that this is going to gut Sun Country's passenger base. And that would serve billionaire Marty Davis-- who is at least honest enough to say that his intent is to add to his billions-- just about right. Businesses exist to make profits, but I think this is a short-sighted me-too example of following the crowd that will backfire in achieving that goal.
Comments:
<< Home
The last airplane flight I really enjoyed was on Northwest about 45 years ago. Not cramped, nice food service (with real plates and nice stainless utensils!) and very friendly employees in every interaction. Never been on Sun. My sympathies for your loss.
The airlines seem to be bent on making every flight as miserable as they can before people rebel. Perhaps we need an association of passengers created and involved.
The airlines seem to be bent on making every flight as miserable as they can before people rebel. Perhaps we need an association of passengers created and involved.
# posted by 
: 6:49 AM
: 6:49 AM
Waco Friend-- I really do think that this turn is going to be a real mistake for Sun Country. A lot of their fliers are people like me who see it as a good alternative to Delta on occasion. I guess they are planning on picking up more passengers by flying to vacation destinations from other cities, but they are coming a little late to that.
The formula Sun Country and other ultra-low-cost carriers adopted started in Europe where you could pay 25 Euros roundtrip to fly to Paris for an afternoon stroll, Rome for a plate of carbonara or Edinburgh for some genuine haggis. The minute you brought a toothbrush with you the 25 euros started to pile up. Given the way most people pack for vacation (and shop while away on vacation) the idea of picking up passengers by flying to vacation destinations doesn’t sound all that promising. All low cost carriers charge luggage by weight and that alone can bring the price up to a regular airline price level. Next thing I see coming from ultra-low-cost at the rate of disregard toward the people who line their pockets, is having the passengers step on the scale themselves. I guess it would certainly make happy the BMI/healthy weight watch community, imagine the ad opportunities. Ultra-low-cost airlines: proud sponsors of the effort to combat obesity in the United States!?!
It sounds odd, but the only rational way to charge for plane travel is by the pound - passenger, checked and carryons. One of the Samoan island hoppers does this already. There could be a surcharge for those needing two seats. This would eliminate the hassles with large people slopping over into other's space. Not being morbidly obese myself I resent those who are stealing the space I paid for.
Maybe also extra for more leg room? I'm not 6 feet tall, but I am cramped for leg room. We often volunteer for the emergency exits just for the room. I can imagine flying 14 hours in a regular seat - in my nightmares! Always go at least business class if available.
Lee
Maybe also extra for more leg room? I'm not 6 feet tall, but I am cramped for leg room. We often volunteer for the emergency exits just for the room. I can imagine flying 14 hours in a regular seat - in my nightmares! Always go at least business class if available.
Lee
# posted by : 11:57 AM
: 11:57 AM
I’ve traveled back to Europe to visit my parents at least once a year, every year for the past 25 years. So I got to see the changes first hand. Seems like in the last 7 years (for those who cannot afford $2k seats) travel conditions deteriorated and keep deteriorating at mind blowing pace. Frequent flier status has no longer any meaning if you don’t register a ridiculous number of “qualifying” trips a year, which pretty much spells business travelers. Since my trips are always more than 10 hours (Eastern Europe is not so hot for direct flights from the US) the only indulgence is an aisle seat for which I have to pay nowadays (paying for more legroom started what feels like a very long time ago). Cramming more seats in steerage didn’t mean just a loss of legroom but also butt room, so it’s very easy for a relatively normal sized adult to rub thighs with the neighbor. That is the one change I abhor the most because despite my wearing the same size pants I feel squeezed into my seat just enough to not spill over, but cannot help hating the person next to me who does. Evil airlines turned me into an unreasonable fat ass hater…an ass that is not even so fat.
Post a Comment
<< Home
