I don't disagree that this was no just about the bottle of water, but about a poor product and service. However, my point was simply that it was in the grand scheme of things a pretty low grade complaint. There are people on here who have been royally shafted, lied to, stranded, lost bags for months on end and treated like dirt. Two bottles of water and a glass wasn't such a big deal.
The Business Class product of US based airlines has lagged behind international standards for a decade and I don't think there is a single carrier in the US that honestly provides a better business class product than most of the top tier international carriers. Even European Carriers who have joined the US carriers in the race to the bottom havn't sunk nearly as low as their US based competitors. Of course, this is because US carriers are protected. The US government requires their employees to travel on US based carriers, the cabotage rules are anti competitive and the regional monopolies that have been allowed to develop significantly reduce choice. Add to that the market distortions created by frequent flyer incentive schemes and you get one of the least competitive, poor functioning markets in the world. US consumers have ended up with high fares, low quality services and airlines that are less profitable than most other markets in the world. It is astonishing that nothing has been done to reform this mess. Meanwhile, managers bleed vast sums of money from the cash flow rich companies in the form of bonuses and incentives and then file bankruptcy when it all goes **** up. The US government rewards this behaviour by allowing ever greater consolidation and so the circle continues.
|