Have airlines gone too far? In the wake of the hostile passenger removal on United Airlines, the topic of airline passenger regulation has once again become a topic of conjecture. Multiple occurrences of passenger disruption over the past several months have taken the forefront of current events and have Americans questioning whether airlines have become too aggressive in the name of safety. A group of passengers were arrested and forcibly removed for an onboard incident, another woman was forced off a plane due to dog allergies, and the UAE is currently investigating an Emirates plane for flying too low across the city. Patrick Smith, a current pilot, wrote an editorial for The New York Times about the Golden Age of Travel with hopes of …show more content…
Although, the golden age is simply defined as often imaginary past time of peace, prosperity, and happiness, Smith believes that this is currently occurring today. While using logos Smith states, “There has not been a major crash involving an American legacy carrier in more than 15 years. By comparison, in 1985, 27 air disasters killed almost 2,500 people worldwide.” Smith gives multiple numbers and facts to help strengthen his argument involving safety in air travel. Also, Smith uses ethos to strengthen his argument by giving his background knowledge of being a commercial air pilot. “I’m well acquainted with the nuisances of modern-day air travel: I don’t enjoy claustrophobic planes, delays, noisy airports or wasteful security practices any more than you do.” With the use of logos and ethos, Smith creates a compelling case, however with the increase in airline restrictions it has led to lower percentages in customer satisfaction. A major contradiction with Smith’s argument is the occurrence of a forced seat removal on the United Express flight. A passenger not willing to give up her seat due to her paying for her child’s seat led to her being forced on the plane. Weeks later another incident with United came about when a giant rabbit had died on the flight. The increase in these regulations is
In the Travel Pulse article "Airlines Leaving Us Little Choice – Like A Monopoly," posted by Rich Thomaselli, the practice of monopolization is observed in the airline industry. The author criticizes large airlines on their growth that has led to at “93 of the top 100 [airports], one or two airlines controlling a majority of the seats” (Thomaselli). The scornful article was written after recent events that have caused the Department of Justice and five States to sue two of the biggest U.S.
The novel Flight by Sherman Alexie is a story about a time traveling Indian foster kid who goes to shoot up a bank, but instead he gets transported through time and receives valuable lessons on how to deal with his main issue of abandonment. Every time he leaps into a new body the lessons get progressively difficult. Yet when he jumps into the last body, he must face the person that he blames the most, his father.
Many people have issues with flying. Some are nervous that the plane might not make it to its destination while others think of flying as an overpriced, uncomfortable, and unpleasant experience. Than there are those who can afford to make their flight experience much more luxurious which are the passengers flying in business class or in first class. These are passengers that get the champagne in the plastic glasses and the chairs that stretch all the way out. David Sedaris is able to paint this picture of entitlement and lack of comfort throughout his article “Journey into Night.”
Along with the low stock index numbers of September 17th, the airline industry and travel stocks were also rocked. One of several airlines announcing layoffs, US Airways said that they would be terminating 11,000 jobs. These heavy losses were contributed to airlines “being grounded last week [week of September 11th], plus passengers have been apprehensive to fly, in the wake of the hijackings” (Stock Markets Reopen 1).
Superheroes and villains are not commonly associated with airlines, but in the article “A Tale of Two Airlines” by Christopher Elliot, it is put into a different perspective. The two airlines in question are Spirit and Southwest. Although both have some similarities, they both have considerably different views on how to treat customers. Southwest practices treating customers with respect, while fares may be a little higher. Spirit’s beliefs are to treat customers “like cargo” with lower fares. With their friendly attendants and better overall customer interaction, this appoints Southwest as the hero, making Spirit our villain. Elliot makes his point by exclaiming the “heroes” should be rewarded with a higher multitude of passengers and the “villains” should not be granted this satisfaction.
Wilbur Wright once said, “The desire to fly is an idea handed down to us by our ancestors who... looked enviously on the birds soaring freely through space... on the infinite highway of the air.” He changed American culture forever when he made the first flight alongside his brother Orville. This invention would have an even greater impact on our culture than cars. Although cars are used every day in America, planes have had the largest impact on American culture. Without planes, our lives would be drastically different, but not in a good way. Airplanes had a major impact on military, commerce, and travel.
The aviation industry in the 1920s took flight because of men and women like Charles Lindbergh, William Boing, Betty Coleman, William J. Powell, Richard Evelyn Byrd, and Raymond Orteig. Their efforts and risks helped shape the industry as well as the Jazz Age. Both Lindbergh and Amundsen are both famous for their daring feats that helped push the limits of their planes at the time and brought attention to the new industry. Boing and Orteig are also both well recognized for investing in the industry so that it had monetary backup to make it profitable to continuously improve and advance new airplane designs.
In 1978, deregulation removed government control over fares and domestic routes. A slew of new entrants entered the market, but within 10 years, all but one airline (America West), had failed and ceased to exist. With long-term growth estimates of 4 percent for air travel, it's attractive for new firms to service the demand. It was as simple as having enough capital to lease a plane and passengers willing to pay for a seat on the plane. In recent news, the story about an 18-yr British...
After September 11th, 2001, the airline industry experienced a significant drop in travel. The reasons for the airline industry downfalls also included a weak U.S and global economy, a tremendous increase in fuel costs, fears of terrorist's attacks, and a decrease in both business and vacation travel.
The results of airline deregulation speak for themselves. Since the government got out of the airline business, not only has there been a drop in prices and an increase in routes, there has also been a remarkable increase in airline service and safety. Airline deregulation should be seen as the crowning jewel of a federal de-regulatory emphasis. Prices are down: Airline ticket prices have fallen 40% since 1978. Flights are up: The number of annual departures is up from 5 million in 1978 to 8.2 million in 1997. Flights are safer: Before deregulation, there was one fatal accident per 830,000 flights, now the rate is one per 1.4 million flights. So what's the problem?
The Wright brothers were engineers and pioneers of aviation. Wilbur Wright was born April 16, 1867, near Millville, Indiana. He was the middle child in a family of five children. His father, Milton Wright, was a bishop in the Church of the United Brethren in Christ. His mother was Susan Catherine Koerner. When Wilbur was a child, his playmate was his younger brother, Orville Wright, born in 1871. The Wright brothers achieved the first powered, and controlled airplane flight. They surpassed their own milestone two years later when they built and flew the first fully practical plane.
After World War II there was an excess of aircraft and trained pilots in the United States, which significantly increase in private and commercial flights. An increase in the use of private aircraft and large passenger planes meant an increase in the possibly of aircraft safety incidents. Even though safety measures had been put in place to tend to large number of aircraft in the skies, in late 1950’s there were two unfortunate accidents that finally led to legislation that would be a major change to the world of aviation that affects us even today. The introduction of the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 spurred several changes in aviation that eventually led to the creation of the Federal Aviation Administration.
DuBois, S. (2012, February 17). The real threat facing the airlines - Fortune Management. Fortune Management Career Blog RSS. Retrieved April 29, 2014, from http://management.fortune.cnn.com/2012/02/17/the-real-threat-facing-the-airlines/. Tom, Y. (2009). The 'Standard' of the 'Standard'.
In 1958, the United States government created the Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) because of increasing safety concerns due to aviation accidents. However, they were not the first government organization that regulated air transportation. Even in 1958, the FAA shared certain responsibilities with other organizations. The responsibilities of the FAA at the time were limited when compared to their functions today, but it was an important step to effectively create a safe air transportation environment. To truly understand why the FAA was created, one must first understand the government’s role within the country’s transportation system.
There are many inventions of the future that people either know or hope will happen and some inventions that people have never thought that would happen in this or the next lifetime. For instance, one piece of future technology that I believe may come to pass is the invention of flying cars. Since the time of being young and watching the Jetsons, many people have been waiting to see the first flying car. While bringing up the idea of a flying car to a lot of people would seem absurd or downright impossible to some, I actually believe that it is very much so possible to create given how far technology has come in the past few decades. I think that it is a very logical conclusion to assume that at some point in the future engineers, car makers, and others will start to pursue other alternatives to avoiding traffic jams and other problems on the road, and instead begin to examine the possibilities of taking to the air as an alternative solution. There is much talk about it over the internet and many people would like to try flying cars. While it would greatly improve traffic for those that prefer staying on the ground, it may prove dangerous in the beginning because of accidents in the air with other cars, planes, trees, and buildings. Some would say though, that the convenience would outweigh the risks because there would not be traffic jams, or detours because of road work. These cars would need something like a GPS system and an anti-wrecking system so people would not run into each other or other objects (How Flying Cars Will Work).