Chief Longwind Of The North
Certified/Certifiable
When flying with the Air Force I felt real lucky to git a potty break let alone a box lunch
or a bag of peanuts. If you wanted any thing to eat you had better pack it your self
and I traveled all over the pacific.and most of the west coast from California to far north Alaska. I think a lot of folks have the gimmy attitude that just becauce they purchased a ticket they were deservings a lot of free give aways. When the truth of the matter is they purchased a ride from point a to point b. Think about it when you bought your ticket did it say free snaks or a meal, or free booze, not even in the very fine print did they say this. I think it is time that every body wake up there is no such thing as a free lunch
Those "free" things you spoke of wern't at all free. you payed for them with the purchase of your ticket. When the operating cost of the airlines was substantially lower compared to the initial fare, airlines competed for your business by offering perks. The higher priced premium, or first class tickets gave you more perks as you were giving more money to the company to pay for those perks.
However, to survive, and still try to hold costs down to a point where the common traveller can afford a ticket, airlines have to cut the perks or go bankrupt. When we expected perks, we desearved them because we paid for them. Now, the price of a plain ticket hasn't gone up as much as operating costs have, and so we are no longer paying for perks, but rather, we are paying for the basic flight from point A to point B.
But I don't really think that you should have to pay for your first bag of luggage. The plane was designed to carry it, and it doesn't cost the airlines much additional fuel to carry it. And, if you are going to pay enough money to fly somewhere, chances are you are going to need a change of clothes, unless you plan on purchasing disposable clothes at your destination.
And I really don't care if they charge extra for meals, as long as they let me bring a sandwhich and drink on myself if I so choose to. For a long flight, it is rediculous to expect a passenger to have to pay the exorbitant cost of airline food if they can't well afford it. And there are people (myself included) who are supposed to maintain a specific timeline for eating in order to control blood sugars.
There are reasonable expectations and we need to be willing to tighten our belts if the airlines are going to remain in the black. But they could easily gouge us as well, an so we need to be dilligent. Remember, if you are treated poorly, you can always boycott.
Seeeeeeeeya; Goodweed of the North