"Airlinosaurus" - Commentary by Tony Seton

Airlinosaurus

Welcome to Setonnotes...I’m Tony Seton.

The airlines are run by dinosaurs, and that’s principally why they are in so much trouble today. They are focused on moving planes about and don’t realize that they are in the business of transporting people.

This was quite obvious flying last month from New York to San Francisco on a very full flight. Those of us in coach, and likely all the way into the finer seating, were incessantly harangued by an infant who couldn’t have slept a minute during the entire six hours we were cooped up in that narrow aluminum tube. Mostly she wasn’t crying, for which we were grateful, but she was making penetrating sounds of discontent nonetheless.

Of course no one could fault the child, and the mother seemed quite unflustered by the disturbance it was making. There really is no excuse for airlines to allow such young children on their flights. Yes, some of them will be quiet the whole time, but most won’t. Surely the other 150 passengers, packed light sardines, many trying to sleep or read or listen to music, have a combined greater right to silence than does this mother to take her infant on the plane.

That’s not how the airlines think, of course. They’re all about filling seats. They don’t realize the value of passenger loyalty they would generate if they provided reasonable leg room, some decent cold food, courteous service, and on-time performance. Many fliers would be quite content to depart and arrive on off-hours avoiding the inherent delays and crowded terminals that plague air travel today.

It would also be grand if the airlines stood up to the over-zealous security procedures that would have embarrassed Alice through the other side of the looking glass.

This final note, riding the airport shuttle bus from San Francisco to Monterey, a impervious dolt inflicted his gregarious double-digit IQ on his fellow passengers via several cellphone conversations. Just imagine what flying will be like if they allow people to use cellphones on long flights.