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Guest Martin Rottler makes a return appearance. Martin is an airline junkie, a licensed commercial pilot for single and multi-engine aircraft with an Instrument Rating, and a CFI. He’s also a graduate student at the University of North Dakota. This summer Martin will be participating in a project to bring aviation to tribal school students in North Dakota. Download the program overview here. Find Martin’s blog at http://martinrottler.com/.
The news:
- ‘The future of GA is up to each of us,’ Fuller tells pilots
- Airline Carry-on Bag Fees Rile Cardin, Schumer
- Iceland volcano: Airlines face ‘logistical nightmare’
- Ash cloud costing airlines £130m a day
- Frontier And Midwest Airlines Merge
- UAL-Continental Merger Would Lead on High-Fare Overseas Routes
- Non-Stealth Teamed With Stealth Air Wing
- DARPA chief sounds the alarm: We need more nerds!!
We also have the This Week in Aviation history segment from David, and the Airplane Geeks Australia Desk report.
Follow the @AirplaneGeeks on Twitter, send us email at thegeeks@airplanegeeks.com, or leave a message on our listener line: (361) GEEKS01.
F-15 Strike Eagle courtesy Photography by Hank Plumley.
Opening and closing music is provided by Brother Love from the Album Of The Year CD. Visit his site at http://www.brotherloverocks.com/.
A Virtual Dan, eh Rob?
Already packaged up and ready to go…along with a Virtual You…and Max…and I can even arrange a Virtual Martin if he wants, so that he can meet the real Grant some time!
Cheers guys!
Steve
Just wanted to add a little insight about airline deregulation after listening to the podcast a 2nd time.
Historically, airline deregulation was not about the airlines. It was 100% a passenger-based move.
“Whenever competition is feasible it is, for all its imperfections, superior to regulation as a means of serving the public interest.”
— Alfred Kahn
And you can hear it directly from Dr. Kahn’s mouth if you go all the way back to Episode 30 when he was our guest!
[John wries:]
Hi guys!
I listened to your last episode and I wonder if you guys are a little off track with the purpose of the bag fees.
I have a feeling that the fees were implemented with quick cash in mind but the true benefit lies in the tax implications. When a customer compares fares say Southwest and American, they may not be seeing a clear picture of what the total cost of their travel would be and that may be a benefit for the airline charging the extra fees but the true benefit I believe comes from how heavily a ticket is taxed as opposed to the fee the airline keeps without having to pay the ticketing taxes.
Thus, who cares what the ticket price is as long as we can keep piling these fees on and minimizing tax implications.
What do you think?
[New listener Eric writes:]
Hey guys,
I’m a new listener, having stumbled across the podcast by way of Brett Snyder, aka the Cranky Flier. I’m a huge airplane–especially airline–nerd, and I really enjoy the news, humor, entertainment and commentary you guys provide every week. I really like the variety of opinions and experts you have on the show. I live in Wichita and have had the privilege of hearing Rob speak hear, and have seen Dan around the social media scene, so it’s cool to hear from these smart and witty guys every week (do I get bonus points for that comment?).
Keep up the great work, and let me know if you ever need a guest-geek.
[Shawn makes a good point:]
Just another thought on the economic impact of whats going on in europe with the volcanic ash…… were constantly hearing about how its costing the airlines X amount of dollars every day which is massive and they probably havent seen this kinda hit since 9/11 which could be devastating….. but also lets not forget the hurt that hotels, restaurants, rental cars, tourist attractions, etc., etc all over the world that are losing money in this as well from the stranded travelers not making it to their destinations.
Just one thought on a great show, guys. David, did you really say that you did not want “some grunt” to throw your bag on the wrong flight? Surely you didn’t mean it the way it sounded.
One of the largest customer service problems the airlines have these days is a result of their considering all their below the wing personnel as just “some grunts”, interchangeable, minimum wage robots. The resulting mess on the ramp: mishandled bags, fueling problems, tow accidents, etc, is a direct result.
As for why the airlines can’t get the bags to the claim area faster in this modern age …. its because they do the same way they have done it for 50+ years: one bag at a time, muscled out of the bag bin by a ramper on his knees, onto a conveyer belt, manually into the bag cart, drive to the terminal, onto another belt, and up to you. Of the aircraft I flew, only the 767 had containerized baggage to make this process more efficient. The 757, with 184 passengers, had to be manually unloaded, one bag at a time.
Just one thought on a great show, guys. David, did you really say that you did not want “some grunt” to throw your bag on the wrong flight? Surely you didn’t mean it the way it sounded.
One of the largest customer service problems the airlines have these days is a result of their considering all their below the wing personnel as just “some grunts”, interchangeable, minimum wage robots. The resulting mess on the ramp: mishandled bags, fueling problems, tow accidents, etc, is a direct result.
As for why the airlines can’t get the bags to the claim area faster in this modern age …. its because they do the same way they have done it for 50+ years: one bag at a time, muscled out of the bag bin by a ramper on his knees, onto a conveyer belt, manually into the bag cart, drive to the terminal, onto another belt, and up to you. Of the aircraft I flew, only the 767 had containerized baggage to make this process more efficient. The 757, with 184 passengers, had to be manually unloaded, one bag at a time.