Northwest Airlines
When a smaller, "discount" airline (let's call them "TransAmericanWorld Express")
lured me to LaGuardia for my flight only to reveal ten minutes prior to boarding
that my plane was now leaving from JFK Airport and I'd have to switch airlines and
wait another three hours to fly, I knew it was time to return to good ol' faithful Northwest Airlines.
All that hassle could have been
avoided by flying Northwest, the airline whose website
proudly boasts of a new Tentative Labor Agreement! What could be better?
Yes, Northwest Airlines flies to hundreds of destinations and with minimal loss of
life, but why must they treat their customers like peons, subjecting them to
annoying airline delays, mishaps and malcontents? Everyone has their grab bag of
Northwest horror stories. My parents were stranded in a Florida airport for six
hours as Northwest changed one tire on their plane. Before that, they were
trapped in the Alcatraz of layovers, Detroit, listening to the airport CNN all night
long as Northwest made up their mind about whether it was raining or not. During
my recent ordeal at LaGuardia, Northwest came within a hair of tossing me onto a
flight that they knew was never going to reach its final destination.
The question remains: Why do we keep feeding the Northwest monster, strike after
strike, reroute after reroute? Northwest is not the only shark in the sea of airline
companies; in fact, many passengers feel that there is nothing redeeming in
the airline conglomerates whatsoever. One could write volumes on the food alone.
And yet, what are you gonna do about it, punk? Sadly, the American airline patron
has no options. We're ping-pong balls to these corporate giants who shuttle us from
one city to another the speediest, most convenient way possible. Don't talk to me
about trains or buses: they're fun, but they're obviously not the fastest, easiest way to
get anywhere the majority of the time.
Northwest services Madison, Wis.–my #1 vacation destination–so I keep going
back, feeding the habit, getting my fix. Someday perhaps the Midwest Expresses of
the world will rise up, lower their prices and spearhead the Golden Age of Air
Travel. Until then, sigh, okay, I guess I'll fly Northwest.
— Sara J. Brenneis (sara at flakmag dot com)
