Things fall apart.
Not that I am unsympathetic to the individuals who create these awful results, sometimes unwittingly, but it's not just the bankruptcy system that is not functioning as well as Americans expect their systems to function!
[ Technical correction: The bankruptcy system still is functioning reputably, given the messes we are charged to deal with. For another month, till the new law comes into effect, it will continue to do so. Its death thereafter is planned, statutorial and [ apparently ] will be enforced by the Department of Justice. Not dead yet, though! ]
What can we say about the airlines however?
I don't know the source of the problem. Maybe someone can illuminate. Here however is the shape of the problem:
Flying United has been a mistake for a while. Staff are under TERRIBLE stress. The useless baggage agent we had REFUSED to give her name, which sent my traveling companion ballistic. Lost luggage; a 3/4 hour delay before they told a LARGE GROUP of us what happened. Before that, there was one agent, a huge line, no information and a crowd milling in the baggage claim area.
Time frame of these observations: over a year ago. We no longer fly them because, at that time, at O'Hare, United made NO attempt to match luggage to specific flights. They consider your luggage delivered if it arrives on either the flight before or the flight after yours to the same city. So we got in about 12:30 to miss the SF rush hour; luggage didn't arrive till 2:45; after shuttling to parking we were in the heart of the rush hour.
I can't imagine that the terrorists haven't figured this out either.
Homeland Security hadn't; what else is new? Their emphasis is on deletion of the words "probable cause" from public discourse.
We've flown on American, AirTran, Midwest and several other smaller carriers with dramatically better results. Delightful in fact.
Northwest has been bad for even longer. Actually, they've been an unhappy corporation for so long that I still will occasionally use
them. It's like a dysfunctional marriage with great powers of endurance; you can get some good out of it. I had a gate agent recently, when I was close to shock after a medical emergency, who had problem-solving skills and personal kindness of the highest order.
IT'S STILL AMERICA, but a lot is wrong and I don't understand why it can't get fixed.
Not that I am unsympathetic to the individuals who create these awful results, sometimes unwittingly, but it's not just the bankruptcy system that is not functioning as well as Americans expect their systems to function!
[ Technical correction: The bankruptcy system still is functioning reputably, given the messes we are charged to deal with. For another month, till the new law comes into effect, it will continue to do so. Its death thereafter is planned, statutorial and [ apparently ] will be enforced by the Department of Justice. Not dead yet, though! ]
What can we say about the airlines however?
I don't know the source of the problem. Maybe someone can illuminate. Here however is the shape of the problem:
Flying United has been a mistake for a while. Staff are under TERRIBLE stress. The useless baggage agent we had REFUSED to give her name, which sent my traveling companion ballistic. Lost luggage; a 3/4 hour delay before they told a LARGE GROUP of us what happened. Before that, there was one agent, a huge line, no information and a crowd milling in the baggage claim area.
Time frame of these observations: over a year ago. We no longer fly them because, at that time, at O'Hare, United made NO attempt to match luggage to specific flights. They consider your luggage delivered if it arrives on either the flight before or the flight after yours to the same city. So we got in about 12:30 to miss the SF rush hour; luggage didn't arrive till 2:45; after shuttling to parking we were in the heart of the rush hour.
I can't imagine that the terrorists haven't figured this out either.
Homeland Security hadn't; what else is new? Their emphasis is on deletion of the words "probable cause" from public discourse.
We've flown on American, AirTran, Midwest and several other smaller carriers with dramatically better results. Delightful in fact.
Northwest has been bad for even longer. Actually, they've been an unhappy corporation for so long that I still will occasionally use
them. It's like a dysfunctional marriage with great powers of endurance; you can get some good out of it. I had a gate agent recently, when I was close to shock after a medical emergency, who had problem-solving skills and personal kindness of the highest order.
IT'S STILL AMERICA, but a lot is wrong and I don't understand why it can't get fixed.
posted by Nellmezzo | 1:28 PM
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