Latest / Brian Thomas / IHeartMedia Aviation Expert Jay Ratliff
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Made extra special. It is that time a week we
- 0:02Speaker 1: get to talk with iHeartMedia aviation expert Jay Ratless and
- 0:05Speaker 1: get the load down and all things crazy going on
- 0:07Speaker 1: in the world of aviation. Jay, my friend. Wonderful having
- 0:10Speaker 1: you back on.
- 0:11Speaker 2: Hey, pleasant, good morning. I was thinking that our buddy there,
- 0:13Speaker 2: Joe never throws anything away because he's got clips for everything.
- 0:18Speaker 2: I'm sure he's got the forecast for the hottest day
- 0:21Speaker 2: of the summer last year. You got to pull that
- 0:23Speaker 2: out and just read it so we can just go
- 0:25Speaker 2: remember when we were complaining.
- 0:27Speaker 1: About how hot it was.
- 0:29Speaker 2: Boy, wouldn't that be nice today?
- 0:30Speaker 1: That's a great idea. Oh, then maybe we could rewinden
- 0:33Speaker 1: about a decade ago when it was all global warming.
- 0:36Speaker 1: We're all gonna die because planet's getting all hot. Yeah,
- 0:38Speaker 1: how's it feel right now?
- 0:39Speaker 2: Going to go back to the seventies with global cooling?
- 0:42Speaker 3: Oh?
- 0:42Speaker 2: I remember, That's that's when we were going to die
- 0:44Speaker 2: because the planet was getting cold.
- 0:46Speaker 1: Sir Leonard Money Leonard Nimoy in Search of was the
- 0:51Speaker 1: series He did an entire half hour episode of The
- 0:53Speaker 1: Coming Ice Age. I remember like it was yesterday. You
- 0:56Speaker 1: can still find that on YouTube for those talking.
- 1:00Speaker 2: About that they'll be an inconvenient truth. I don't know.
- 1:03Speaker 1: It could be someone did it Alyss twenty years after
- 1:06Speaker 1: INtime truth love that nothing at all. Matter of fact,
- 1:10Speaker 1: the exact opposite of what al Gore was preaching back
- 1:13Speaker 1: then came through. See you see an eye to eye
- 1:17Speaker 1: on that crap. Anyway over to American Airlines scrambling back
- 1:21Speaker 1: to full operations and offers flight attendants double time.
- 1:26Speaker 2: Yeah, the double time. The flight attendants can't normally fly
- 1:30Speaker 2: on average seventy to ninety flight hours a month, they
- 1:33Speaker 2: can fly up to one hundred, and as American Airlines
- 1:36Speaker 2: is trying to close out the month and try to
- 1:38Speaker 2: get everything back on schedule, they're offering their flight attendants
- 1:43Speaker 2: double time if they want to pick up an extra
- 1:45Speaker 2: extra flight. And ye know, I'm certain many of them
- 1:49Speaker 2: are welcoming the chance to earn a few extra dollars.
- 1:51Speaker 2: And I'm sure a lot of them are like, you know, thanks,
- 1:54Speaker 2: but no thanks. But you know, American is just doing
- 1:56Speaker 2: a lot of things in the right kind of way
- 1:59Speaker 2: right now, and I'm just I'm really positive on them.
- 2:01Speaker 2: They reported a quarterly profit of roughly two hundred and
- 2:05Speaker 2: fifty million dollars and they lost probably two hundred and
- 2:07Speaker 2: fifty million during the shutdown, and I think this winter
- 2:10Speaker 2: storm's probably going to hit them with another two hundred
- 2:12Speaker 2: million dollars in revenue that they could have made. But
- 2:15Speaker 2: they are so customer focused right now. I just hope
- 2:18Speaker 2: they don't lose that because they're the airline that's going
- 2:21Speaker 2: to hold an airplane for us if we're running late,
- 2:23Speaker 2: and if they can do it. They're using that artificial
- 2:25Speaker 2: intelligence we talked about to try to make things better
- 2:28Speaker 2: for us, and I just a I love it, and
- 2:31Speaker 2: I hope other airlines will actually embrace that kind of
- 2:34Speaker 2: customer first mentality, which really doesn't exist right now. And
- 2:38Speaker 2: the same time, I've got some good news on American. Yeah,
- 2:40Speaker 2: I'm certainly pulling for them well.
- 2:42Speaker 1: That customer first mentality. I mean, these airlines are in competition,
- 2:46Speaker 1: and you would think the better a customer is treated,
- 2:48Speaker 1: the more likely they will be loyal to that particular airline,
- 2:50Speaker 1: given that we all have choices in this world, but
- 2:53Speaker 1: in these worlds have shaving go ahead.
- 2:55Speaker 2: Yeah, if you and I own or operate a specific airline,
- 2:59Speaker 2: and we've got a strong loyalty program that has people
- 3:02Speaker 2: locked in because of the credit card they use for
- 3:04Speaker 2: freaking flyer miles. We take them for granted. Yes, we
- 3:07Speaker 2: think they're always going to be there, and since our
- 3:09Speaker 2: load factors are like eighty eighty five percent, when we
- 3:11Speaker 2: treat them like crap, I mean, they're going to take it.
- 3:14Speaker 2: So it really doesn't matter how bad we treat them,
- 3:17Speaker 2: because these these mindless loyal followers will always be there.
- 3:21Speaker 2: And sadly, to an extent, there's some truth in that.
- 3:24Speaker 2: Although you know, sometimes when people can find better fares,
- 3:28Speaker 2: they're certainly go that way. But loyalty, sadly for a
- 3:32Speaker 2: lot of these airlines is kind of locked in because
- 3:34Speaker 2: of people say, well, I got to fly this airline
- 3:36Speaker 2: because of my frequent flyer program, and then you ask
- 3:39Speaker 2: them how many times they use their miles and it's
- 3:40Speaker 2: like a few and far between. It's like, why would
- 3:43Speaker 2: you do that versus taking the better flight to get
- 3:46Speaker 2: you where you need to be NonStop, and say of
- 3:47Speaker 2: connecting through who knows where, just earn a few miles.
- 3:51Speaker 1: Well, yeah, it's kind of funny you've read that. Only
- 3:52Speaker 1: reason I'm laughing at it's because that's me back when
- 3:54Speaker 1: I was a practicing law in Chicago, American Airlines hub there.
- 3:57Speaker 1: Of course that's what I flew almost always American Airline.
- 4:00Speaker 1: That's when I was going in and out of o hair.
- 4:01Speaker 1: So I got on their mileage program as to any other.
- 4:04Speaker 1: And of course I've had the same credit card, still
- 4:06Speaker 1: building up miles a year after year after year. It
- 4:07Speaker 1: wasn't until our trip to Yellowstone was it last year?
- 4:11Speaker 1: The year before that I ever used any so to
- 4:13Speaker 1: fly five people to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, only using a
- 4:17Speaker 1: fraction of the miles that I had accumulated over the years.
- 4:21Speaker 2: Unfortunately, they don't expire. Remember, America was the first airline
- 4:24Speaker 2: that come out with a frequent flyer program in nineteen eighty.
- 4:27Speaker 2: You couldn't have them before during the time of deregulation,
- 4:30Speaker 2: So they thought, what can we do to adopt a
- 4:32Speaker 2: loyalty program, and they came out with this frequent flyer
- 4:35Speaker 2: miles will give you you know, you know, how many
- 4:38Speaker 2: miles you fly goes into your account. What they didn't
- 4:40Speaker 2: expect and couldn't really predict, was at that point in time,
- 4:43Speaker 2: competition was flooding into the industry and fares plummeted. So
- 4:48Speaker 2: what happened was they were giving away free tickets at
- 4:51Speaker 2: a decreasing amount of revenue for them. What they should
- 4:55Speaker 2: have done back then was how many dollars you spent,
- 4:58Speaker 2: was how many miles you would get, because you know,
- 5:01Speaker 2: that's how it should be set up. But what they
- 5:03Speaker 2: found out was they were giving free tickets away as
- 5:05Speaker 2: prices were decreasing, and it was costing them quite a
- 5:08Speaker 2: bit of money. So that's why we try to see
- 5:10Speaker 2: him reverting right now back to something that's a little
- 5:12Speaker 2: bit more in their advantage. But everybody should sign up
- 5:15Speaker 2: for a freaking flyer program some credit cards. You sign
- 5:18Speaker 2: up and you get forty thousand frequent flyer miles. You
- 5:21Speaker 2: don't have to use it, but just a few times
- 5:23Speaker 2: to get it started, and then keep the stupid thing
- 5:25Speaker 2: paid off and you get like a free ticket on
- 5:27Speaker 2: the airline.
- 5:28Speaker 1: There you go, Yeah, it's worth shopping around for that
- 5:30Speaker 1: more with Jay Ratliffe American Airline avoiding multimillion dollar fine
- 5:35Speaker 1: over one delayed flight plus the worst airport at least
- 5:39Speaker 1: in terms of missus near missus as identified by the
- 5:43Speaker 1: very airlines themselves. That plus more with Jay ratlift stick
- 5:46Speaker 1: around seven or eight thirty eight. If you've have Kroc
- 5:49Speaker 1: detalk station Jay Ratlift, friend of the whole world. I
- 5:54Speaker 1: heard Media Aviation next where you find him all the
- 5:56Speaker 1: iHeart stations. He does that full time twenty four to seven.
- 5:58Speaker 1: There's so many stations that's here. It's like, no, I
- 6:00Speaker 1: appreciate the time you will unt to spoke my listeners
- 6:02Speaker 1: of me.
- 6:02Speaker 2: Jay.
- 6:02Speaker 1: You know, I get a kick out of some of
- 6:04Speaker 1: the topics. And let me just start with this one.
- 6:06Speaker 1: I want to know who the airlines named the airport
- 6:09Speaker 1: that they are most concerned with because of near misses anyway,
- 6:14Speaker 1: and we get.
- 6:14Speaker 2: It fun with you guessing, but you probably wouldn't guess
- 6:17Speaker 2: that it's the Burbank Airport in California.
- 6:19Speaker 1: None. Never would have know that. Never. I don't even
- 6:22Speaker 1: know Burbank Canon Airport jail, though I can.
- 6:25Speaker 2: It's seven eight airlines. I mean, they've got quite a bit,
- 6:27Speaker 2: quite quite a bit of activity in and out of there.
- 6:30Speaker 2: But the National Transportation Safety Board has commented, in fact,
- 6:35Speaker 2: I love the chair of the NTSB, Jennifer Homody. She
- 6:40Speaker 2: does not hesitate at all to express her opinion when
- 6:43Speaker 2: it comes to safety, and God bless her for it.
- 6:46Speaker 2: But she said that the airport that airlines complained the
- 6:48Speaker 2: most about as far as the near missus is Burbank
- 6:53Speaker 2: because they've had one near miss close near miss per
- 6:57Speaker 2: year for like the last five years at that airport,
- 7:00Speaker 2: and it's the airport that most airlines are complaining about
- 7:04Speaker 2: as far as we need better conditions here. And of course,
- 7:07Speaker 2: you know, it was also the NTSB that said, look,
- 7:10Speaker 2: you know, we've had a situation where we've had a
- 7:13Speaker 2: you know, fifteen thousand issues in Washington d C. Reagan
- 7:17Speaker 2: Airport over the last several years as well, so you
- 7:20Speaker 2: know the issues out there, and the FAA is under
- 7:22Speaker 2: the gun to try to do a better job. They're
- 7:24Speaker 2: talking about creating a safety overview office. Okay, I guess
- 7:28Speaker 2: to try to you know, help well, you know, solve
- 7:32Speaker 2: this issue. But yeah, that's the airport that they say
- 7:35Speaker 2: we need more help with.
- 7:36Speaker 1: Cut into the chase. I mean, I see some pretty
- 7:38Speaker 1: goofy runway layouts and you know videos and things of
- 7:41Speaker 1: that nature, like how in the hell can any pilot
- 7:42Speaker 1: land on that runway kind of stuff. But is it
- 7:44Speaker 1: the way the airport's designed that results in this? Is
- 7:47Speaker 1: it the length of time or the shortness or the
- 7:50Speaker 1: length of the runway that's the problem, and what have
- 7:51Speaker 1: they identified why there's so many near misses there?
- 7:54Speaker 2: Well, sometimes it's how the proximity of the airport, sometimes
- 7:58Speaker 2: to a military installation or to another or to another
- 8:02Speaker 2: international airport. And then you also have the situation of, yes,
- 8:07Speaker 2: the runway configuration, and a lot of times it just
- 8:09Speaker 2: comes out to the logistics and having sometimes too much
- 8:14Speaker 2: activity at a specific time. And when you factor in
- 8:18Speaker 2: when we have a shortage of air traffic controllers, where
- 8:20Speaker 2: I think a lot of this can stem from. When
- 8:23Speaker 2: you don't have all hands on deck, it increases the likelihood,
- 8:26Speaker 2: even though it may be a minor percentage of something
- 8:29Speaker 2: being missed, overlooked, or a mistake being made. And sometimes
- 8:32Speaker 2: it's pilot air, sometimes it's air traffic control air. Sometimes
- 8:35Speaker 2: it's a combination of both that lends itself to two
- 8:38Speaker 2: aircraft being in the same airspace at the same time,
- 8:41Speaker 2: which should not happen, right, And of course we have
- 8:44Speaker 2: technology that assists us if the from the traffic collision
- 8:47Speaker 2: avoidance system that will help assist crews if two aircraft
- 8:52Speaker 2: get to be too close to each other. But you know,
- 8:54Speaker 2: the takeoff and landing is the most critical time of
- 8:57Speaker 2: any flight operation, and that's when you've got a lot
- 9:00Speaker 2: of different things going on, and sometimes these airplanes just
- 9:03Speaker 2: get to be a little bit too close. And sadly,
- 9:05Speaker 2: over the last year year and a half, I've spent
- 9:07Speaker 2: more time talking about it because we've had places in
- 9:09Speaker 2: Austin and Phoenix some other airports where these things have
- 9:13Speaker 2: taken place, and you know, thankfully it's just a story
- 9:15Speaker 2: of what the near miss was and not an accident,
- 9:19Speaker 2: but it also underscores just how close we are in
- 9:21Speaker 2: some of these things that you know. And sadly, Brian,
- 9:25Speaker 2: when like in DC, when the FAA is fully aware
- 9:28Speaker 2: of the fact that you have fifteen thousand incidents of
- 9:32Speaker 2: you know, aircraft and of some type having to take
- 9:36Speaker 2: evasive action, even if it's you know, a minor go
- 9:40Speaker 2: around type of thing, it's a very clear flag that
- 9:43Speaker 2: something's off here that we need to fix. And in DC,
- 9:46Speaker 2: because nothing had gone wrong, there wasn't really the emphasis
- 9:51Speaker 2: and the urgency to fix the problem. And of course
- 9:56Speaker 2: you have the crash that it kills so many people
- 9:59Speaker 2: and okay, now what can we do to fix it?
- 10:02Speaker 2: And what you're hoping is that they look at these
- 10:04Speaker 2: other red flags across the country and say, look, we
- 10:07Speaker 2: need to either upgrade some technology here, increase the staffing effect,
- 10:12Speaker 2: the traffic flow, whatever, you've got to do our combination
- 10:16Speaker 2: of the of several to make things even safer than
- 10:19Speaker 2: what they are right now. And look, we're the NBA
- 10:21Speaker 2: of the world from a safety standpoint, but we can
- 10:24Speaker 2: always do better.
- 10:25Speaker 1: True, And I suppose while this relief maybe down the road,
- 10:28Speaker 1: perhaps ten or more years, doesn't the one big beautiful
- 10:31Speaker 1: bill have billions of dollars for the FAA upgrades and
- 10:35Speaker 1: system upgrades and this nineteen eighties getting rid of this
- 10:38Speaker 1: nineteen eighties computer technology they've been using.
- 10:41Speaker 2: It does and it throws me to death. But in
- 10:43Speaker 2: that same report, it actually allows the Reagan Airport to
- 10:46Speaker 2: have reduced reduced restrictions on air activity. What which Oh yeah, yeah,
- 10:54Speaker 2: I wouldn't have. It wouldn't have been popped up on
- 10:56Speaker 2: my radar until the NTSB chair when it was being discussed,
- 11:00Speaker 2: came out and said time out here. I don't know
- 11:02Speaker 2: if anybody's looked through this three thousand page bill, but
- 11:05Speaker 2: right here it says this, and I thought you gotta
- 11:08Speaker 2: be kidding me. Yeah, it got snuck in there that
- 11:12Speaker 2: because remember we talked about how a lot of the
- 11:15Speaker 2: politicians like to be shuttled back and forth because they're
- 11:17Speaker 2: important and they want those little helicopter trips across there,
- 11:20Speaker 2: across the river, blah blah blah, even though it might
- 11:22Speaker 2: you know, inconvenience the normal people that are flying and
- 11:25Speaker 2: they got to go around in their airplane, No big deal,
- 11:27Speaker 2: because I'm important and I got to get across there.
- 11:30Speaker 2: But right, it's just yeah, again, both sides of the
- 11:34Speaker 2: aisle I have, I have so little use for because
- 11:36Speaker 2: so often it's just them first. Everybody else's if even
- 11:41Speaker 2: a consideration, it's a it's a distant one. But yeah,
- 11:43Speaker 2: it's in there. You can you can google it. It's
- 11:45Speaker 2: on the internet, so it's got to be true.
- 11:47Speaker 1: Well, well, I can only hope. I mean, some of
- 11:49Speaker 1: the details of that, the plane crashing in or the
- 11:52Speaker 1: helicopter crash of the plane, however you want to look
- 11:54Speaker 1: at it. The report that the air traffic controller there
- 11:56Speaker 1: was reported to his supervisor that he was overwhelmed, like
- 12:00Speaker 1: in a stressful situation managing eleven or so aircraft. They're
- 12:05Speaker 1: all in close proximity, so he reported that he was
- 12:07Speaker 1: under stress or duress and nothing changed, like, Okay, go
- 12:10Speaker 1: back to your job.
- 12:12Speaker 2: Well, so many of them are that way anyways, because
- 12:14Speaker 2: the fact that we are thousands and thousands of air
- 12:16Speaker 2: traffic controler short and that's the normal existence, the normal
- 12:21Speaker 2: work environment for a lot of these men and women
- 12:23Speaker 2: that sometimes don't have a day off for a long
- 12:25Speaker 2: time work. In six day work weeks, you might get
- 12:28Speaker 2: a day off. I mean, it's just and you've got
- 12:30Speaker 2: the stress, and you've got everything else that's on top
- 12:33Speaker 2: of you. And yeah, it is a very very challenging situation,
- 12:36Speaker 2: which is why I'm thrilled that President Trump has decided
- 12:39Speaker 2: early on in his administration, let's make this a priority
- 12:42Speaker 2: and as quickly as we can get back to where
- 12:45Speaker 2: we need to be from a staffing standpoint, which hasn't
- 12:47Speaker 2: been the case for like the last five administrations. At
- 12:50Speaker 2: least now they've talked about it and they said, you know,
- 12:53Speaker 2: we need to do something about it. And you know,
- 12:55Speaker 2: many times that involves we'll get a committee that will
- 12:58Speaker 2: report back. Yeah please, yeah, Brian, you know, it just
- 13:03Speaker 2: it just frustrates me because either it's a priority or
- 13:06Speaker 2: it's not. And when you don't, you know, words are cheap.
- 13:09Speaker 2: I mean, who cares. It's it's what your actions dictate
- 13:12Speaker 2: that really defines your your your seriousness about a specific topic.
- 13:17Speaker 1: I didn't get a hurrum out of that guy. Give
- 13:19Speaker 1: them an more with Jay ratliffe'll find out about this million,
- 13:22Speaker 1: multimillion dollar fine as well as a Southwest Southwest Airlines
- 13:26Speaker 1: kicking off assigned seating no longer a thing. More with
- 13:29Speaker 1: Jay Ratliff, it'sake forty five right now. If you have
- 13:31Speaker 1: KERCITD talk station.
- 13:32Speaker 3: Fifty five KRC the talk station, talk station, it is
- 13:39Speaker 3: a forty eight If ify five kerrs DE talk station,
- 13:42Speaker 3: one more segment, always enjoy this.
- 13:44Speaker 1: I heard me the aviation expert jay or Ratleft. What's
- 13:47Speaker 1: the story on this two point nine million dollars fine
- 13:50Speaker 1: for one delay?
- 13:51Speaker 2: Yes, that was a possible. Yeah. What happened was we
- 13:56Speaker 2: had an American Airlines flight comes into Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and they
- 14:00Speaker 2: approached the gate. It's running late, is like midnight, and
- 14:03Speaker 2: as they pull up, the captain's told that they don't
- 14:07Speaker 2: have the people at the gate that they need at
- 14:09Speaker 2: the gate outside on the ground, So he tells the passengers,
- 14:13Speaker 2: we've got a hold short here until the people. You know,
- 14:16Speaker 2: we've got the workers in place. Well, what happened was
- 14:19Speaker 2: they were there for quite a while. Somebody showed up
- 14:21Speaker 2: to try to get the jet bridge moving and they said, oh,
- 14:23Speaker 2: the jet bridge is working, which may be the case,
- 14:26Speaker 2: or may be somebody that wasn't qualified to operate it
- 14:29Speaker 2: and trying to make it work. So the delay was
- 14:32Speaker 2: went on for an hour, and then it went two hours,
- 14:35Speaker 2: and then passengers were on the plane two and a
- 14:37Speaker 2: half hours. And they said, look, per the FAA, if
- 14:41Speaker 2: we have people on this plane for three hours without
- 14:44Speaker 2: giving them the opportunity to get off, there is a
- 14:47Speaker 2: fine of twenty seven thousand dollars per passenger that we could,
- 14:52Speaker 2: as American airlines be fined. We have one hundred and
- 14:55Speaker 2: seven people on board. That's two point nine million dollars.
- 14:58Speaker 2: We've got thirty minutes. So they made the decision to
- 15:02Speaker 2: bring the ground steps to the back of the airplane,
- 15:05Speaker 2: get everybody off. Excuse me, the back of the airplane
- 15:08Speaker 2: bored outside, which is not obviously what you want to do,
- 15:11Speaker 2: but it got everybody into the tarmac before that three
- 15:14Speaker 2: hour mark. And that was put into place a number
- 15:17Speaker 2: of years ago to force airlines into action in the
- 15:21Speaker 2: event you have one of these creeping delays like we
- 15:23Speaker 2: had here, and it's good to see and you know,
- 15:27Speaker 2: obviously something like that. Now, if it's a weather related delay,
- 15:30Speaker 2: internationals are a little bit longer, and sometimes on a
- 15:33Speaker 2: weather situation there's some things that can play in there.
- 15:35Speaker 2: But the bottom line is that three hour clock is picking.
- 15:39Speaker 2: And yeah, they they missed a almost a three million
- 15:42Speaker 2: dollar fine by you know, less than thirty minutes.
- 15:46Speaker 1: That is amazing. I puting know to Southwest Airlines, what
- 15:49Speaker 1: no more assigns or they're they're doing a sign seating now,
- 15:53Speaker 1: I guess yes, I remember that.
- 15:55Speaker 2: It was.
- 15:55Speaker 1: It was the cattle call thing, right.
- 15:58Speaker 2: Oh, good lord, it was.
- 15:59Speaker 1: It was. It was.
- 16:00Speaker 2: It was you know, last Friday, March madness, everything you'll
- 16:04Speaker 2: rolled into one. It was like a concert. Well, yeah,
- 16:08Speaker 2: it was. It's a contact sport for sure. So now
- 16:11Speaker 2: you've got a situation where everybody has to when you
- 16:13Speaker 2: make a reservation. You've got three categories, the standard preferred
- 16:16Speaker 2: and we're the ones with the extra leg room and
- 16:19Speaker 2: you pay accordingly. And people that are used to open seating,
- 16:22Speaker 2: like Southwest have been for the last fifty five years, said, yeah,
- 16:25Speaker 2: I don't like this. Plus the thing is, you know,
- 16:27Speaker 2: I might have to pay more to keep my family
- 16:30Speaker 2: of you know, four or five, six together, and certainly
- 16:32Speaker 2: that could be the case as well. It just depends
- 16:34Speaker 2: on where you're going to be sitting. But most people
- 16:36Speaker 2: just don't like the change, and as a result they're
- 16:39Speaker 2: kind of pushing back saying we don't like it. But
- 16:41Speaker 2: the vast majority of people that I've talked to said, Jay,
- 16:44Speaker 2: I love it, and I'm going to love it because
- 16:47Speaker 2: now I can board and know where I'm going to sit.
- 16:50Speaker 2: I've got the storage compartment over me that hopefully you'll
- 16:52Speaker 2: still be available. I don't have to worry about scrambling
- 16:55Speaker 2: and trying to, you know, get on first. I don't
- 16:58Speaker 2: have to see forty five people in a wheelchair and
- 17:00Speaker 2: all their families getting on before me when only three
- 17:03Speaker 2: need them on the other end. So it's saving a
- 17:06Speaker 2: lot of headaches. Now, the problem is Southwest, their agents.
- 17:10Speaker 2: They're getting used to this and it's going to be
- 17:12Speaker 2: a process. I've heard from several Southwest Airlines friends of
- 17:15Speaker 2: mine talking about, Man, this just isn't going well. I said,
- 17:18Speaker 2: give it time, because anytime you go through this, it
- 17:21Speaker 2: just it takes time for these agents to get into
- 17:24Speaker 2: that routine where they are comfortable with this new procedure,
- 17:27Speaker 2: just like with passengers. And it's going to help Southwest
- 17:30Speaker 2: Airlines to generate more money, which is good, and I
- 17:33Speaker 2: really think in the long run it's going to help
- 17:34Speaker 2: the gate agents to do a better job there. And
- 17:37Speaker 2: I think it is going to take the stress out
- 17:39Speaker 2: of that boarding process, which for years for Southwest has
- 17:42Speaker 2: been almost unmanageable given how many people are trying to
- 17:45Speaker 2: get on that airplane as early as you can. And
- 17:48Speaker 2: you know, you can always help yourself if you're a
- 17:51Speaker 2: Southwest frequent flyer. I'm always talking about that, getting their
- 17:54Speaker 2: rewards card and obviously if you get it, use it
- 17:57Speaker 2: and pay off to everything so nobody dings you with interest.
- 18:00Speaker 2: But that can help you as far as some of
- 18:02Speaker 2: your boarding status and your check luggage and things of
- 18:05Speaker 2: that nature as well, and you can save some money
- 18:07Speaker 2: in the process. So every tool you can use to
- 18:10Speaker 2: kind of fight back and not pay the airlines. Believe me,
- 18:14Speaker 2: you fill that arsenal with as many pieces of you
- 18:18Speaker 2: know that you can use so that we can kind
- 18:19Speaker 2: of fight back when it comes to some of these
- 18:21Speaker 2: ancillary affairs.
- 18:22Speaker 1: We're getting hit with fair enough. You know, Jay Rotherway
- 18:25Speaker 1: just noticed on an article because I always looking at
- 18:26Speaker 1: aviation news before I talk to you. But I guess,
- 18:29Speaker 1: do you have like a coping skill for someone who's
- 18:31Speaker 1: stuck on a twenty five hour flight? The longest flight
- 18:34Speaker 1: is that a Quantas Airline from Sydney Airlines to Paris
- 18:37Speaker 1: Charles Degall Airport. If you told me I was going
- 18:40Speaker 1: on a twenty five hour flight, I got two words
- 18:43Speaker 1: for you. It ain't happy birthday.
- 18:45Speaker 2: You just hope you're in a seat that's either extra
- 18:48Speaker 2: leg room or in first class. But I don't care
- 18:50Speaker 2: where you're at. That is a long, long flight, and
- 18:54Speaker 2: they stop somewhere for fueling. But the point is you're
- 18:57Speaker 2: talking about being in that tube. Yes, it just seems
- 19:01Speaker 2: I think thirteen or fourteen, maybe fifteen hours as long
- 19:03Speaker 2: as I've been on a flight coming out of China
- 19:06Speaker 2: back to Detroit. But you know, it's you just you
- 19:10Speaker 2: just pace yourself, and you know, you do certain things
- 19:13Speaker 2: in the airlines help us with that, saying Okay, we're
- 19:15Speaker 2: going to be serving dinner in a couple of hours,
- 19:18Speaker 2: and they're getting you ready for that, and then dinner
- 19:20Speaker 2: is served, and then a few hours later they're like, Okay,
- 19:23Speaker 2: we're going to be preparing for breakfast down the road here,
- 19:26Speaker 2: and so you're in a bit of a routine. But
- 19:28Speaker 2: the thing for me is I've always got to be
- 19:30Speaker 2: up walking around a bit. So I'm always walking to
- 19:32Speaker 2: the back of the plane, and because just to keep
- 19:34Speaker 2: from getting stiff, and they always say you've got to be,
- 19:38Speaker 2: you know, concerned with blood clots and things like that.
- 19:40Speaker 1: Well, is that pesty turbulence problem? It seems to come
- 19:44Speaker 1: with that. Notice day when you're walking around anyway.
- 19:48Speaker 2: Some people do yoga back in the galley and they're
- 19:50Speaker 2: on the lower stretching. I'm like, oh no.
- 19:52Speaker 1: Some people take Xanax and drink Eddie House and then.
- 19:55Speaker 2: Some people do yoga in there in their seats. You
- 19:57Speaker 2: could google that image to.
- 19:58Speaker 1: To well, if we always don on help delays, how
- 20:00Speaker 1: are things looking out there.
- 20:02Speaker 2: You know, other than cold? That's pretty much it at
- 20:04Speaker 2: this point. Now, look, we've got a winter storm that
- 20:06Speaker 2: may be giving us issues in the Northeast. If you're
- 20:09Speaker 2: traveling obviously this weekend through the Northeast, make sure the
- 20:12Speaker 2: airlines have a way of getting a hold of you,
- 20:14Speaker 2: but right now it's just the icing delays that we're
- 20:16Speaker 2: fighting right now, so they're minor other than a lot
- 20:18Speaker 2: of ring up in Seattle delays in that way. But Brian,
- 20:22Speaker 2: looking at the map, it's one of the better days
- 20:24Speaker 2: to fly absent the really really really cold weather that
- 20:27Speaker 2: we've got out there, So everybody please be careful, be careful.