Definitely not Comforting

Being a nervous flier to begin with, I wasn’t exactly happy to read this piece in the Washington Post today. Apparently, the cause of the October 19, 2004 crash of Corporate Airlines Flight 5966 was determined to be irresponsible behavior on the part of the flight crew brought on by extreme fatigue.

As airlines try to squeeze more and more out of their employees in an effort to keep up the low cost of a plane ticket, we see many sacrifices in service. But what about safety? Efforts to save money led Alaska Airlines to fire its union baggage handlers and replace them with low-wage nincompoops who almost caused a crash. And now those cuts are reaching into the cockpit, with overtaxed pilots flying when they ought to be at home in bed. That doesn’t make me feel like getting on an airplane anytime soon.

Of particular concern is JetBlue. According to the article the airline has been trying to get around the eight hour limit on pilot flying time so that they can squeeze ever more out of their non-unionized pilots. If JetBlue CEO David Neeleman were really as concerned with the passenger experience as his man of the people behavior would lead us to believe he is - he wouldn’t be putting our safety at risk to cut a few corners.

But ultimately, something’s gonna have to give. It’s either going to be service and passenger safety, or it’s going to be ticket prices. Airline tickets still cost the exact same amount of money as they did back in the glory days of the airline industry, while everything else has gotten progressively more expensive. To really keep up with the pace of inflation and the decreasing supply of fuel, plane tickets are going to need to start costing thousands, rather than hundreds of dollars.