In the golden age of fly , pilots were rockstars . Many were helicoptered from airline HQ to the gate and never mete out with metal detector , drome concourses , and painful concession food for thought . And while , yes , thefood ’s gotten respectable , the life of a pilot ai n’t what it used to be . Now they get to their planes like the rest of us ( minus thelengthy security measures lines ) and put up with many of the same annoyances that make fly unpleasant for rider . And even though you do n’t have much fundamental interaction with them past a civil nod and a satisfying " give thanks you for fly " when you deplane , they feel your pain in the ass . Or , at least , that ’s what it seemed like when we asked a lot of them how they would change flying ; aside from , of course , insisting they should once again be helicoptered to the logic gate . Who have intercourse , maybe they ’re trying toscore some point over the trajectory attendants , but here are six fly fix they ’d like to see .
Schedule more nonstop flights
Part of the reasonAmerica ’s most delayed airportshave so many delay is because of the spoke - and - hub system , where ostensibly everyone has to connect through Dallas if they ’re vanish across more than two land . This system causes domino - core delays and results in more passenger being stuck due to missed connections . More round-the-clock flightswould facilitate a passel of those problems . As one pilot put it:“Connecting through a hub will salvage you money , but it also stimulate a lot of the headaches travelers suffer . Often connecter are scheduled so tightly that a venial wait will cause problem , and even if you are able-bodied to roll and make your next flight , your bags may not be so favourable . "
Make airports quieter
In some countries , logic gate agent and airport personnel office wo n’t make PA announcement unless there is a lawful emergency . In America , it ’s not rare to have four announcements lead on at once . " We have this insane infatuation with PA announcements , " said Patrick Smith , who penned the pilot tell - allCockpit Confidentialand runsAskThePilot.com . " So much of it is just needless . " Do we really need to be remind to never go for packages from strangers over a clamor loudspeaker ? plausibly not . And making airports quieter , more reposeful place would go a long fashion to boil down the accent of flying .
Put Wi-Fi and power outlets in every seat
Some airlines , like Virgin and Alaska , already have A / C outlets at every tush so you ’re not panicking to finda charging stationduring your 30 - minute layover at O’Hare . But if every airline did it –andadded Wi - Fi to the experience – passenger would almost for sure forget about everything they went through to get to the plane . See , we have intercourse there was an ulterior motive !
Simplify the international arrival process
Anyone who ’s arrived in the US and then had to change sheet acknowledge the commission of run low through customs , retrieving your bags , re - checking those bags , and going BACK through aerodrome security . It ’s unbelievably ineffective and actually deter people from flying through ( and/or visit ) America , hurting our internal airline business in the process . " We ’re the only country in the world where you have to do that , " Smith said . " Hundreds , if not 1000 of passenger miss connections every twenty-four hours . So people do n’t fly through here and that benefits the airway from other countries . "
Increase monitoring of airline competition and mergers
Some of usmay call up whenwe had literally dozens of airlines to select from . Now we basically have seven . And it seems every class there ’s a new merger that not only further point of accumulation competition , but somehow pass water your reservation twice as puzzling . And it ’s not by accident . “Airlines get it on to play games with the competition in decree to drive them out of business , " one pilot burner severalise us under strict anonymity . " They ’ll sell ticket at a going on a sure path to undersell a inauguration or clog up a certain airport to take all the uncommitted slots . This puts startups at an obvious disadvantage . At the same meter , some outside airlines are subsidized by their governments and , thus , the playing field is significantly angle in their favor . "
Offer passengers more food vouchers and onboard freebies
Would n’t it be nice if after the gate agent tell you the next flight to Omaha was n’t exit for nine hours , he then offer you a nice warm cookie ? Of course it would . Contrary to what you might have heard , the air hose are n’t legally required to give you a voucher for food for thought or drinks in many delay situations , but as one external pilot told us , " It would really go a long way . "
In fact , many pilot film agreed that go a step further – and providing more than than just a can of sal soda and free pretzel on each flight – would do a lot to amend the passenger experience . Said one commercial-grade pilot : " They take to extend a modest meal on flight over four hours again . “We did learn one little - known closed book that you should absolutely gather away : " We as pilot program have the authorisation to tell the fetal alcohol syndrome to give free [ lush ] drinks and TV if we have a delay that causes an inconvenience . We do n’t let the rider know about the drink though , we just do n’t charge them when they order – otherwise , we ’d have a plane full of belligerent people . "
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