Reply #61: Here's what's probably going on with that: [View All]

[Kelly Rupert]

You've had a few bad experiences with cranky flight attendants, and generalized that. You found a rather obvious culprit--9/11, which is the cause for many other transportation inconveniences. Moreover, I'd agree the quality of service actually has gotten worse since 9/11.

However, 9/11 has little to do with it. Rather, I'd lay blame on the wave of bankruptcies that hit the airline industry a few years ago (and which was certainly hastened by both the post-9/11 year-long dropoff in air travel, and the doubling of fuel costs since). As a direct result of those bankruptcies (and the subsequent powerlessness of their unions during the restructuring of contracts), flight attendants are working longer, harsher schedules, are often working with insufficient crews, and have seen their wages slashed. Many of them have such low morale that they're incapable of providing the same level of customer service they used to.

So yeah, you've probably have had worse service than you had before 9/11. But unless there's a wave of paranoia over at American that I haven't heard of, I think working conditions are more to blame then 9/11.

After all, nobody realizes what a joke Homeland Security and The Terror Threat are more than airline employees. We all know the multitude of ways you could get a bomb on an airplane or a gun into the cabin without ever stepping through a security screener--and the fact that nobody has done so tells you something ;)