Anyone who has ever traveled knows how much fun it can be. However, it can also be stressful, tiring, and expensive. Over the years, the trend seems to be that people are not getting as much bang for their buck. In this economy you would think that businesses would do anything to gain consumers. Although this is true in some cases, it isn’t always. For example, airlines have gone from “free everything” to “free nothing”. Remember when you were able to get in flight meals and premium snacks (if not free at least it was still available)? Nowadays you cannot purchase any hot meals on board flights even in first class. Sometimes premium snacks are not available so you may have to settle for dry pretzels and a half-cup of flat soda. Flying used to be fun, now it’s just work. From being exposed in the security area of the airport to long delays or sitting on the tarmac for hours traveling can suck!
When my husband and I moved to Las Vegas, we flew out from Newark Airport. We had a layover in Boston at Logan International Airport. As bad as I thought Newark Airport was (after being stripped and all medicine and luggage contents analyzed), Boston took the cake! When we arrived at Logan International Airport, we were unable to find where we needed to go right away, so we asked. We were told to go out of the gate and follow the signs in order to get to the boarding area. As we approached this area I noticed a long line and many people taking out their ids and showing it to TSA. We thought to ourselves “this can’t be real”! There was no way we would have to go through this all over again when we just left Newark Airport! Lo and behold, when we asked the TSA agent if we had to do the whole process over when we just came from another airport, he told us yes. Since we were moving, you can imagine that we had the world in our bags and our four bags (two carry-ons and two personal). It was not fun when we had to go through security in Newark but that was to be expected. However, to have to go through this again during a layover is unthinkable!
Despite being completely against the scanners in airports due to radiation, I went through it in Newark in order to make the process easier . We had eight bags in total (check-in and carry-on) so we needed things to go smoothly. Although I went through the scanner in Newark, I refused to go through it again in the same day so I opted out for the scan at Logan international (there were quite a few people who also refused to be scanned that were standing next to me). After being searched and all of our medicine and liquids checked for a second time in one day, I thought everything was fine. Afterwards, I realized that my husband was not beside me. When I went to go look for him, he was way off to the side just getting his clothes and bags back in order (TSA agents were just finishing up). He told me that pulled him to the side and completely searched him from top-to-bottom. He was pretty upset at the fact that they kept questioning him and told him that there was something in his back pocket. Despite telling TSA that there was nothing in his back pocket, they insisted. He kept trying to explain to them that he had just left Newark Airport and that there was not way that anything could be wrong. After all, we only left the gate at Logan because that is the way the airport was set up and we had no choice if we wanted to catch our connecting flight. After going back and forth for a while they let him go but the question remains “Why did he have to go through this unnecessarily”?
Was my husbands situation unique? Is it a growing trend industry-wide or just specific to Logan International Airport? While Logan truly is the worst airport (next to LaGuardia Airport) I have ever had the displeasure of using, the lack of customer service is industry-wide (except for many captains and flight attendants). Consumers are paying higher prices for degraded services. From the tacking-on and increase of baggage fees to a 9/11 security fee (and other miscellaneous fees including fuel surcharges), we have been duped. Airlines are closing hubs and laying off workers faster than ever. They are also cutting so many costs that they are still making a hefty profit. Not only are the savings not being passed on to customers, they are always asking for more. There is power in numbers. While many of people must travel for personal or business purposes it is time to demand more. If you think they are not listening, close your wallets, they will surely open their ears.
-M.S. Johnson
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