United Airlines Fuel-less Skies

Legend has it that Warren Buffet, during one economic crisis or another, when asked if was a good time to buy airlines stocks, replied, "It is never a good time to buy airline stocks,"

Now we can add that it is never a good time to fly, even under the best of conditions, as was the case Friday when I headed west from Chicago.

Readers of Waxing America know that I freely share my opinions about the airlines, particularly United and American, in a hope to provide constructive criticism.  I have flown over a million miles, well over 600,000 of them on United.

I need not share with you the trouble I have seen.

Friday was a first. We departed a bit late but the flight was managed well when we boarded and things progressed nicely as we headed west.  Then, unexpectedly, the pilot announced that our non-stop flight was going to put down in Denver for a thirty minute fueling.

Otherwise, we would not make our destination.

In these pricey times, while the airlines are unforgiving to passengers who need to rebook a flight, have two suitcases to check, or forget to keep thier mileage account current, the carriers haul as little fuel as possible to reduce weight and save money.

Someone miscalculated and we did not have enough fuel. No rebates, no coupons, no extra miles were offered.  All we got was the official  apology from the pilot who pointed out that "It is better to be on the ground and wishing you were in the air than being in the air and wishing you were on the ground."

I wonder if he was the same staff member who boarded the plane with the usual black, rectangular crew bag that has a sticker which read, "The beatings will cease when morale improves."

Comments

[Jim Jones]

Coulda been worse.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gimli_Glider

[Jim Jones]

Coulda been worse.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gimli_Glider

[PaulHunt]

I agree with Jim Jones, it definitely could be worse and it probably is going to get a lot worse. The airlines were lazy when they had the opportunity to upgrade to more fuel efficient planes and better business all around but they passed that up because they didn’t need to. And now that they do need to fix a problem its too late. This article I read called The Airline Waiting Game... talks about how you are starting to see the gradual changes of the airlines into something that will be nearly unrecognizable in less than a year. Its interesting and really makes you wonder what its going to be like when this day comes to fruition.

The Link to that article is http://www.energyandoil.com/the-airline-waiting-game
If anybody is interested.