As prices at the pump rise, and fall slightly, the cost of airline travel has gone up. Jet fuel is expensive, apparently, and airlines are looking for more ways to make money. Checked bag fees, carry-on fees, charges for snacks, it's all about the airlines looking for ways to eke out a few extra bucks from the customers.
Some airlines now charge for seat assignments, which if you don't want a computer generated, random seat, which may or may not put all the people in your party near you, you need to fork over some extra ducats. This has caused a bit of an uproar as people, and of course the camera loving Senator from New York (not that he's not people, he is) Charles Schumer, decry the idea that children can be separated from their parents. Airlines, they say, should not have to bend the rules to accommodate families, and families should not pay extra to sit with their kids.
I agree whole heartedly, but the FAA and Congress need not get involved. Just get on the plane with your 2 year old, or five year old or seven year old, and be a good little sheep and sit in the seats you were given. I am willing to bet the flight attendants will change your seats right then and there. You won't even have to ask. Just make sure your ten year old pulls out the messiest gooiest treat he can find, and have him shout up or down th aisle to talk to you, and your seat mates will be clamoring for a switch. Better even, strap your toddler's car seat between two strangers (since the window and aisle seat are "premium" it's likely that's not what you will be assigned), and let nature take it's course.
If parents would do this, consistently, for one week, and not try to make the change quietly at the gate or the ticket counter, all the passengers on the plane become involved (pre-flight entertainment), and the pressure on the airlines would be the old fashioned kind.
Disgruntled customers with blackberries and ipods who will not wait until they are off the plane to send an email voicing their complaints.
I'd love to see it happen.
1 comment:
me too. I think some civil disobedience is called for here. (I like the idea of shouting up and down the aisles!)
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