Ddttzz

Posted on another forum by a Brit:

Viking Charter Flight Horror

A friend has come back off her holiday with the shakes! She flew out
for Corfu from East Midlands on Excel Airways, lovley service she
said, nice hot meal.

Flew back from Corfu on a Viking MD83. This is as she told me,
completley unpromted:

"I was starving, I hadnt had a meal at the airport because I thought
we would get one on the plane as we had coming out. It never occured
to me it would be a different airline. When we got bussed to the
aircraft I though 'oh god' whats that' (refering to the Viking MD83
greeting her)

I felt a bit nervous because I had never heard of them and it looked
different to all the others, this had engines at the back and was
really long and skinny. I started to get scared and even more so when
we got on through these stairs at the back in the tail. It was like a
secret passage, you walked up and you were inside the plane at the
tail. The door hole was like a little trap door. drawbridge thing. I
waas shitting myself.

We were sat two rows from the back and Darren (her boyfriend) seat was
like, really springy, and the woman at the back of him said 'that
fellas got a rocking chair' The noise as we took off was really loud.
I was very worried.

Al the stewardess's talked funny like her with blond hair out of ABBA!

Anyway, I was starving and looking forward to a meal like we had
coming but do you know what? There was no meal and the hostess said we
only have sandwiches or pringles for sale! I couldnt believe it! How
come we had no meal and only offered a sandwich which we had to pay
for? Anyway, I had a cheese sandwich because I was starving. We even
had to pay for a cup of tea! It was free on Excel!

I wanted to go to the toilet. I was desperate but the toilet was right
at the back of us, near that funny trapdoor and I was too scared to go
so I held it all the way back to Eat Midlands. It was the worst flight
ever. I reckon nothing to them and I am telling travel agent I dont
want to fly with Viking anymore!"

Now my friend who told me this, knows nothing about aviation but flies
a couple of times a year on holiday. Those who say that the average
passenger knows or cares nothing about the plane/airline/service and
just wants the cheapest havent met my friend and apparently a lot of
other paople on the plane were grumbling.

Starshiy Nemo

And you just thhink that us AIRLINES ARE BETTER????

LML

Chris

"Starshiy Nemo" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > And you just thhink that us AIRLINES ARE BETTER????


US mainstream airlines are about the standard of European bucket shop
charter airlines; come to think of it they are not that good either all
being bankrupt.

gglave

    >Now my friend who told me this, knows nothing about aviation but flies
a couple of times a year on holiday. Those who say that the average
passenger knows or cares nothing about the plane/airline/service and
just wants the cheapest havent met my friend and apparently a lot of
other paople on the plane were grumbling.

-------------------------------------------------

Right - But if those passengers went on holidays again next year and
the option was a) a cheap charter with few services on an older but no
doubt perfectly safe plane or b) paying more money to fly on a carrier
with service they would no doubt pick the cheaper option "a" again and
again. People ALWAYS complain about lack of movies or food or leg
room, but have consistently shown that if push comes to shove they will
always reject that in favour of a cheaper fare.

Cheers,
Geoff Glave
Vancouver, Canada

Tulum-Tum

ddttzz wrote:

    >Posted on another forum by a Brit:
    >Viking Charter Flight Horror
    >A friend has come back off her holiday with the shakes! She flew out
    >for Corfu from East Midlands on Excel Airways, lovley service she
    >said, nice hot meal.
    >Flew back from Corfu on a Viking MD83. This is as she told me,
    >completley unpromted:
    >"I was starving, I hadnt had a meal at the airport because I thought
    >we would get one on the plane as we had coming out. It never occured
    >to me it would be a different airline. When we got bussed to the
    >aircraft I though 'oh god' whats that' (refering to the Viking MD83
    >greeting her)
    >I felt a bit nervous because I had never heard of them and it looked
    >different to all the others, this had engines at the back and was
    >really long and skinny. I started to get scared and even more so when
    >we got on through these stairs at the back in the tail. It was like a
    >secret passage, you walked up and you were inside the plane at the
    >tail. The door hole was like a little trap door. drawbridge thing. I
    >waas shitting myself.
    >We were sat two rows from the back and Darren (her boyfriend) seat was
    >like, really springy, and the woman at the back of him said 'that
    >fellas got a rocking chair' The noise as we took off was really loud.
    >I was very worried.
    >Al the stewardess's talked funny like her with blond hair out of ABBA!

That's hilarious. Agnetha lives! lol

    >Anyway, I was starving and looking forward to a meal like we had
    >coming but do you know what? There was no meal and the hostess said we
    >only have sandwiches or pringles for sale! I couldnt believe it! How
    >come we had no meal and only offered a sandwich which we had to pay
    >for? Anyway, I had a cheese sandwich because I was starving. We even
    >had to pay for a cup of tea! It was free on Excel!
    >I wanted to go to the toilet. I was desperate but the toilet was right
    >at the back of us, near that funny trapdoor and I was too scared to go
    >so I held it all the way back to Eat Midlands. It was the worst flight
    >ever. I reckon nothing to them and I am telling travel agent I dont
    >want to fly with Viking anymore!"

What a hoot! At least now we know what ABBA is doing after
retirement. They became flight attendants!

Tush Smells Bush Kills!!!!!!!!!!!

    >What a hoot! At least now we know what >ABBA is doing after
    >retirement. They became flight attendants!


Yeah, they turned down $100M for a reunion show to become flight
attendants... yeah, OK.

Terry Lomax

Markku Grönroos wrote:
    > "Tush Smells Bush Kills!!!!!!!!!!!" <[email protected]> kirjoitti
    > viestissä news:[email protected] oups.com...
    > > >What a hoot! At least now we know what >ABBA is doing after
    > > >retirement. They became flight attendants!
    > >
    > >
    > > Yeah, they turned down $100M for a reunion show to become flight
    > > attendants... yeah, OK.
    > >
    > Menes nyt beduiini muualle matkailukonffeista

Translation from Finnish to English:

"I, Markku Grönroos, am traumatized that the above message appeared in
my personal newsgroup rec.travel.europe. I consider your post
off-topic for rec.travel.europe. Please do not post such material to
rec.travel.europe in the future. I am posting this message to all the
other newsgroups, not caring whether or not my message is on-topic in
those newsgroups. I am a hypocrite for complaining about posts in my
newsgroup while adding to noise in all other newsgroups. In addition,
I don't realize that a post about a plane trip to Europe IS on-topic in
rec.travel.europe, so I'm being a kook for complaining about an
on-topic message. I'm a bigot who lashes out at posters I think are
nonwhite, calling them 'jungle bunnies', but because you seem to be
white, I'm being nice. However, if you make me lose my temper, I might
call you a 'faggot kike' or a similar name".

The Nordic flight attendants could have been worse. Instead of looking
like ABBA, they could have looked like the people who recorded the
"Ooga chucka" song!

[email protected]

Tush Smells Bush Kills!!!!!!!!!!! wrote:
    > >What a hoot! At least now we know what >ABBA is doing after
    > >retirement. They became flight attendants!
    > Yeah, they turned down $100M for a reunion show to become flight
    > attendants... yeah, OK.

It's the love of serving drinks that drives them, not blind greed!

Delta Dawn

It has to be said that flying in the USA can take you by surprise at times.
I flew from Chicago to Denver on United last year (almost coinciding with
the launch of TED, but still on mainstream United (UA249), and could not
even buy a drink or sandwich, let alone get a free one, on a flight of
almost 3 hours.

(In fact I had better service on a short flight on TED (LAS-LAX) a few days
later, so it was a case of the no frills version being better than the
"standard" offering).


"Chris" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > "Starshiy Nemo" <[email protected]> wrote in message
    > news:[email protected]...
    >> And you just thhink that us AIRLINES ARE BETTER????
    > US mainstream airlines are about the standard of European bucket shop
    > charter airlines; come to think of it they are not that good either all
    > being bankrupt.
    >

G N P

[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected] ups.com...
    > -------------------------------------------------
    > Right - But if those passengers went on holidays again next year and
    > the option was a) a cheap charter with few services on an older but no
    > doubt perfectly safe plane or b) paying more money to fly on a carrier
    > with service they would no doubt pick the cheaper option "a" again and
    > again. *******************People ALWAYS complain about lack of movies or
    > food or leg
    > room, but have consistently shown that if push comes to shove they will
    > always reject that in favour of a cheaper fare**************************.
    > Cheers,
    > Geoff Glave
    > Vancouver, Canada


You are, I presume, joking, right????????

Jay Beckman

"Delta Dawn" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > It has to be said that flying in the USA can take you by surprise at
    > times. I flew from Chicago to Denver on United last year (almost
    > coinciding with the launch of TED, but still on mainstream United (UA249),
    > and could not even buy a drink or sandwich, let alone get a free one, on a
    > flight of almost 3 hours.
    > (In fact I had better service on a short flight on TED (LAS-LAX) a few
    > days later, so it was a case of the no frills version being better than
    > the "standard" offering).

There was a comic here in the US who made the rather wry observation that:

Since TED is a discount airline and isn't designed to make lots of money,
it's a good thing that it's being launched by an airline that already knows
how not to make lots of money.

Bill Moore

    >What a hoot! At least now we know what ABBA is doing after
    >retirement. They became flight attendants!

Mamma Mia! ;-)

gglave

    > You are, I presume, joking, right????????

Not at all - Economics have shown again and again that people are not
willing to pay for perks on flights.

Here's a quote from a CNN article that references American Airlines
(American is busily installing more seats in coach class in their
planes after their "more room in coach" experiment failed to attract
more passengers):

"Robert Crandall, the crusty former boss at American Airlines, used to
say that customers always talk in surveys about food and legroom. But
when it comes to buying tickets, the only thing that ever matters to
them is price.

In other words, good service is nice but we'll put up with a lot if it
means a cheaper seat. Americans, as a rule, won't pay more for a
plusher seat or better food. And U.S. airlines know it."

Source:
http://money.cnn.com/2005/06/02/pf/g...lines/?cnn=yes

Cheers,
Geoff Glave
Vancouver, Canada

Michael

    > "Robert Crandall, the crusty former boss at American Airlines, used to
    > say that customers always talk in surveys about food and legroom. But
    > when it comes to buying tickets, the only thing that ever matters to
    > them is price.

The problem is that most airline customers fall into two categories:

Category 1 - people who fly rarely, and are flying on vacation. To
them, the flight is an adventure, and the inconvenience a small price
to pay. They are EXTREMELY price sensitive. They are not frequent
fliers, and are not the people being surveyed.

Category 2 - Midlevel employees traveling as a condition of employment.
They care a lot about legroom and food, and not so much about price
(since it's not their money) but are required by the accounting
department to choose the lowest fare. In other words - they're not the
customers. If the airlines interviewed the REAL customers (the
accountants who set travel policy and cut checks) they would get the
real answer - lowest price is paramount. They've figured it out
anyway.

Of course there are people who fit neither category - but not enough to
support a business model.

Michael

Nobody

[email protected] wrote:

    > Not at all - Economics have shown again and again that people are not
    > willing to pay for perks on flights.

Nop, those are slanted "surveys" to help justify decisions to cut service.

If you have a Southwet flight between A and B which costs $300 return
when purchased last minute, and a United flights which costs $1500 for
return, purchased last minute, you can draw many conclusions:

Yes, you can say that people are most likely to choose the "no service"
Southwest because it is cheaper than United.
It is not a false statement.

However, they choose it because the price difference between legacy
ticket prices and low cost ticket prices is so big that people are
willing to compromise on service.

Consider that a good meal costs perhaps $10 to provide. That doesn't
justify the $1200 price difference.

You'd have to find markets where you have a full service carrier
competiting against a no-service carrier and price differences are
exactly the value of the services you are or are not getting. Then, you
could judge whether people are eally choosing to save $10 to be treated
like cattle instead of paying the extra $10 and having a more enjoyable flight.

And also consider that a joyful staff on a no-service airline can make
up for bad attitude old FAs on the full service airline.

So drawing the conclusions that people are not willing to pay for
service is wrong. What is right is that people are not willing to pay
exhorbitant ticket prices because that isn't worth the value of extra
services they may be getting.








    > Here's a quote from a CNN article that references American Airlines

CNN is hardly a reliable source of unbiased information.


    > (American is busily installing more seats in coach class in their
    > planes after their "more room in coach" experiment failed to attract
    > more passengers):
    >
    > "Robert Crandall, the crusty former boss at American Airlines, used to
    > say that customers always talk in surveys about food and legroom. But
    > when it comes to buying tickets, the only thing that ever matters to
    > them is price.
    >
    > In other words, good service is nice but we'll put up with a lot if it
    > means a cheaper seat. Americans, as a rule, won't pay more for a
    > plusher seat or better food. And U.S. airlines know it."
    >
    > Source:
    > http://money.cnn.com/2005/06/02/pf/g...lines/?cnn=yes
    >
    > Cheers,
    > Geoff Glave
    > Vancouver, Canada