Why US Airlines Suck

United Delta Scare Lines and American Airlines these are nicknames for the three big American

airlines

that no one uses, but they describe what this video is about. Now you might look at the title and think, wait a minute, I don't think they're that bad, but when you consider that they are among the most profitable

airlines

in the world, you'd think they could offer a little more than mediocre on a good day to customers. Americans. Flying is simply not a pleasant experience, but few people stop to consider why these three. Mass airlines in particular have failed to improve the customer experience here, that's why US airlines

suck

.

Do you want to join me on a flight in my favorite business class in the world? q suite if I hit 500,000 subscribers during 2021, I will bring three of you on a flight with me in q suite and all you have to do is subscribe, it takes a second, it's free and it really helps me. I'm so excited to do this with you and now let's get on with the video. The video was made in partnership with Kobe. If you don't know him, he does fantastic analyzes of a variety of issues facing aviation, while this video addresses why US airlines

suck

.

Will make a video that will take a closer look at why American airports. It sucks so I'll link to his channel in the video description. As always, let's start with a brief history of the American airline industry because American aviation used to be the height of elegance and glamor and being a flight attendant or pilot was among the most prestigious. jobs in the country for a long time the golden age was a time in the mid 20th century when everything related to aviation was opulent airlines like pan am were among the most aspirational brands in the world for good reason now i won't go into why the golden age ended because that's a topic for a future video, but let's just say this is a stark contrast to the current American aviation industry.

Over time, innovations in aviation made flying more accessible to the general public, which in turn led to lower prices. The aviation industry went from being a luxury industry with large operating margins on expensive tickets to simply covering operating costs, so flying went from a luxury to a necessity and this is where the problems begin in terms of experience. Today's video will be broken down into different contributing factors. To paint a complete picture of why flying has become so miserable in the US, it's difficult to fully break it down because it's like asking which came first, the chicken or the egg, many of these issues are part of a feedback loop. with other issues and work together. to give us the fantastically inconsistent experience we all enjoy today, so how will this video be structured?

First, we will look at the business model and the markets in which these airlines operate. Second, we'll cover the three reasons why airlines suck. The conflict of competence between employees and management. Lastly, lack of responsibility, we will start by looking at the cabins in both economy and business class and then delve into the main topic of service in all honesty. I think US airlines do a fantastic job in most other aspects, they have innovative rewards programs. In many ways their adoption of technology is industry-leading, their coveted policies are among the best in the world, they are affordable in a timely manner, and they offer good compensation without forcing you to work like crazy.

Unfortunately, the inflight experience, particularly the service, can be so bad that it counteracts all of these positive elements. That being said, let's delve into why Middle Eastern airlines have no choice but to be the best. If you watched my previous video, you would know that the reason they have to be so good is the same reason we airlines really are. There is no reason to be good Here is an interesting example Why do you think there are no airlines that offer flights from Europe to Australia or New Zealand via the US? The distance from London to Auckland is only 300 miles longer through the US than through Hong Kong.

Kong and allows people to avoid taking two consecutive red eyes as they normally would across Asia. Many people generally prefer to fly west rather than east from a jet lag perspective. Also, Air New Zealand did this route for a while, but why don't all US airlines do it because anyone, regardless of nationality and destination, must go through immigration and check their bags back into the US. , which would require a US visa, in other words, even when connecting between two countries that have nothing to do with the US, you need a US visa to connect flights here.

What is the consequence of this international transit in the US does not exist and because of this, US airlines do not need to compete with anyone else for product quality as long as they offer a comparable price? comfort level for competitors on direct international routes, they just need to be able to keep up with the price and that's something we US ​​airlines have mastered. This brings us to the first reason why US airlines are unpredictable when it comes to cabins, Delta United and American are in the market. to operate non-stop flights internationally there is no international connecting network only for this reason we cannot compare them with Middle Eastern airlines in any way Delta flies from New York to Mumbai on this route Qatar Airways and Emirates compete for their passengers, but delta doesn't really have to compete and neither does air india.

Both airlines offer dramatically worse products than their Middle Eastern competitors, but there is no reason for Delta to have a better product since they have the benefit of time. with savings in place they could even fly a creaky old 707 with 1950 seats and people would choose them as long as it was non-stop, plus in most of their international markets US airlines operate so-called joint ventures that reduce the competition throughout the Atlantic. delta has a joint venture with klm air france and virgin atlantic united has a joint venture with lufthansa group and american has a joint venture with british airways iberia and thin air.

The same applies to almost every other region they serve. What is a joint venture? one of the strongest forms of partnership airlines can have, through which they coordinate schedules, sell tickets on each other's flights, and divide revenue accordingly to provide so-called metallic neutrality, where the benefits of elites and experience In general, they should be as similar as possible to each other. These companies require the government. approval because they can eliminate all competition in certain markets, so between them there are only three main airline groups competing throughout the Atlantic. If you book a Lufthansa flight but it turns out that United operates, you may not be happy, but the airline will tell you that. to hit land because they are basically the same airline for transatlantic purposes;

In other words, United has no reason to surpass Lufthansa, so at this point one might wonder why one of them doesn't break the mold. only one of them is trying to recapture the golden age and make flying in the US a pleasure again. Let's be honest, even the airline that generally gets the highest quotes from Delta isn't particularly attractive compared to international alternatives and they don't really have a motivation to break the mold, another reason why you could say Singapore airlines or The emirates are so good that they are run by the government and therefore serve as ambassadors for their home countries.

Legacy American airlines, by contrast, are not tools of American expression abroad, they have no mandate. of the federal government to impress the public, so their main goal is always to impress their shareholders more than their customers, what makes matters worse is the fact that American airlines even operate in a nationwide pseudo-oligopoly, a type market that is dominated by only a few players. There are currently 58 airlines operating in the U.S., but Delta United and American are so ubiquitous and have such a robust roof structure that they are essentially the only option for millions of Americans, especially those in less populated areas, as nearly half of all domestic air traffic flow is only through these three airlines and as a general rule, when competition is weak, innovation will be weaker.

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To take on much of the blame and deal with frustrated crowds in such a challenging work environment, it's no surprise that flight attendants want as much authority as possible to take charge in these situations and hold their employers accountable when things go wrong. . It's also not surprising that flight attendants can sometimes assume the worst and lash out at the abuse they face daily. This brings us to the second reason why US airlines suck. Based on what I have just said, it seems vital to protect workers and their rights, which is the exact function. From Airline Unions Unfortunately, unions contribute to much of the poor service we experience when flying in the US, the problem is obviously not the unions themselves and many workers around the world successfully rely on unions while They get great results at work, the reason unions can blame for much of the toxic service culture at American airlines is that they create an us-versus-them mentality among airline employees and leadership employees.

They often feel unheard by the controlling forces within the airline, which inevitably leads to dissatisfaction. Dealing with the daily struggles of delays, unruly passengers and abuse, so I imagine it can often seem like a death knell to customer service staff when you don't like your boss or don't feel heard, just dont do it. You want to work hard to make your boss look good, so what reason is there really to provide extraordinary service, especially if your hard work goes unappreciated? This is an area where Delta excels more than United and American Delta is widely praised for having the most consistent service of all US airlines and they are union-free, but their employees rank highest in terms of employee satisfaction.

Management goes to great lengths to recognize employees with massive annual profit-sharing schemes and if there is a problem they can go directly to the airline rather than union reps, but even on the delta service they often don't. is memorable, many of us haveWe've had that lovely older flight attendant who warmly reminds us of our grandparents and is excited to look after us, but you may notice that it's rare to see flight attendants aged 40 or older on many of the world's major airlines - in fact, most of the Staff leave major airlines after a few years or at most a decade on the job because there is no real benefit in them staying longer, unlike Middle Eastern airlines, everything in the US is seniority.

First class and business class crews will almost certainly be the airline's oldest and most experienced. Unfortunately, this is usually a bad thing since working in these booths has nothing to do with working hard or receiving positive feedback, but rather who has been there. longer, whether they provide good service or not, ironically, all the excited new recruits who want to provide good service are often in the back of the plane, where it is harder for them to leave an impression given the number of passengers they They should take care, and what if you get bad service, really bad service, who do you complain to?

Well, normally you use the purser, the flight attendant in charge of all the crew on board and supervises the service, for example, Qatar Airways has a million flight attendants with different powers. positions on a single flight ranging from inflight supervisor inflight services coordinator invite happiness inflight agent we love our customers agent etc. okay, that's an exaggeration, but they have at least three levels of authority and each one reports to the one above, in the meantime there are no You may think that there are flight attendants on American airlines because each flight has a flight attendant who calls himself a supervisor They basically get paid a few extra bucks to read the ads, make sure the doors are locked, and a few other details like that that they don't have.

Any extra power and you can guess that the lack of accountability also provides less urgency to provide top-notch service. level every time. This is the third reason why the experience simply isn't up to par with international airlines, so let's go over this one more time. To get a concise conclusion from this video, why do US airlines suck? The first reason is that they don't really compete with international airlines, and as long as they offer what is acceptable throughout the US airline industry, they have nothing to drive them to improve. The second reason is the flight attendants.

We often feel that the airline is working against the interests of its employees, creating constant conflicts between customer-facing employees and senior management. The third reason is that US airlines don't have flight attendants, so no one monitors the level of service on board or holds people accountable when they make mistakes.