Triangle Trip

If you are traveling and have any kind of hotel status, your nearest ATM should be your hotel’s front desk. Almost all hotel loyalty programs let you cash checks for free, up to a couple hundred dollars, if you have some kind of hotel status. You just need to carry a check or two when you travel. This way you don’t have to worry about ATM fees and/or driving around looking for an ATM.

There are four airlines (American, Delta, United, Virgin) that operate nonstop flights between New York JFK and Los Angeles LAX. Each airline has six round trip flights per day out of each airport. This means there are 24 flights per day from JFK to LAX. Assuming each flight can carry around 200 passengers which means there are 4,800 available seats from JFK to LAX. Do we really need that many flights each day between the two cities?

The number gets bigger if you include the Greater NYC and Los Angeles areas. Continental which flies out of Newark has about eight nonstops to LAX, Burbank and Long Beach. Jetblue has four nonstops from JFK to Long Beach and Burbank. This means there are 36 flights a day with 7,200 available seats everyday from the Greater NYC to Los Angeles area.

The among of flights between the two metro areas are way too excessive. This is one of many excess and waste we have in America which is part of the reason we are in a recession. Just like having too many Starbucks on one street, too many Citibanks in a two block radius, we have too many airlines flying half empty planes coast to coast. I can see the demand for the flights during peak travel season and peak travel days such as Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays. I highly doubt the Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday flights are full.

For the record, the same airlines have similar among of flights between the Greater New York area and the Bay area (San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose). Also keep in mine that my statistics are only for NON-STOP flights. There are 200 more options if you decide to connect or use multiple carriers. Below is a simple search result from Kayak with a three week advance purchase search:

Kayak Search Result (JFK-LAX)

As a frequent coast to coast traveler, I have been on many half empty plane for the past month flying out on Monday mornings and Thursday evenings (which are peak travel times). Perhaps this is why my round trip tickets has not been more than $400 when I bought it 24 hours before the flight. This week’s round trip JFK/LAX ticket was $210 which was purchased 5 days in advanced. Competition driving prices down is capitalism at its best. I have benefited as a consumer. However we all should know that these airlines aren’t money on these flights. Here’s a link to a WSJ article (March 12, 2009) about fuel-hedging loses are impacting Cathay, Delta, etc. Eventually the airlines will go to the government to ask for money.

Government needs to step in to manage the airline industry or we will see another bail out request situation – which already happened once if you recalled post September 11. The previous bail out also drove every single major airline to bankruptcy. I may sound like a socialist but I rather be a socialist than paying for it like we are funding Wall Street and Detroit. I don’t want President Obama the US to appoint me as the Airline Czar to manage the bailout funds when he decides to distribute funds for airline failures. The airline industry needs government intervention now.

There are so many reasons why Delta may be one of the worst US airlines.  Here are some of the most convincing:

1. ATL
2. Northworst Airlines merger (2 wrongs make a bigger wrong)
3. Everyone has status (Just look at a flight and you will qualify)

But at the top of the list is poor customer service administered by agents who are not empowered to make any decisions.  When was the last time you had to call Delta’s customer service line?  Quite likely it was the last time you flew on Delta.  Do you remember waiting somewhere in the ballpark of 40 minutes to talk a person?  You’re not alone.

I re-learned a few nuggets of wisdom recently.  My vacation was canceled by Delta’s automated ticketing service the day of the flight, and was followed by a $250 penalty fee and a requirement that I reuse the remainder of the fare solely towards the same destination.  Naturally, I wanted everything back and wouldn’t settle for less.

First of all, even if you don’t have status, don’t call the generic phone line.  That’s just silly.  Use their catchy 1-800 number (1-800-323-2323) for members, at a minimum and start saying “representative” like a robot.  In my experience, wait times will come down from nearly an hour to 10 minutes.

Second of all, don’t try getting what you want by being pitiful.  Everyone who call’s their call center is a sad story.  It doesn’t matter if you broke your leg and can’t go skiing now; they’re a business and they relish in the fact that they took your money without adding your weight to tare.  Delta screws thousands upon thousands of people each day and they know it – focus on that when you call.  In a cool and professional manner, convince them that they wronged you, even if you have to add a little editorial spin.

Third, if you’re trying to get something you probably don’t deserve, climb the ladder.  Ask to talk to a manger, and then their manager.  This isn’t Bank of America’s call center, their managers are standing right there and there are no policies about scheduling a callback.  If the manager is busy, tell them you’ll wait.  The rep will likely thank you, they dont have to take more calls and can sit in silence for 5 minutes.  If you ever end up talking to someone without a computer in front of them, you just hit oil.  It will take them enormous effort to corroborate every facet of your story, you can just wear them down; there will be no better opportunity.  And if they still can’t do what you’re asking for, either you’re a terrible negotiator or you’re asking for the impossible.

TermD out.