1. Parks and Recreation. Does United really have to show this east, west, south, and north? All four mainline flights had the pilot episode. Sorry Amy, you’re not funny.
2. Passengers that chew tobacco. Especially when they’re sitting next to you.
3. Embraer 120’s. If anyone disagrees with me, sorry, I won’t be able to hear you because I lost my hearing on this aircraft. 😉
4. Pilots that use “ah” every second word. “Ah…. folks…. ah…. from…. ah…. the…. ah…. flight…. ah…. deck this is…. ah…. your…. ah…. Captain.” Usually there are only a few “ah’s” here and there, but the captain of United 44 last night added an “ah” after basically every word for his whole announcement. Figured you’d have the routine figured out by the time you’re a 767 captain.
5. Passengers that complain about the lack of frills in coach. This alone is a reason I’m considering not booking the exit row anymore. While the main added benefit of Economy Plus is extra legroom, the fact that most people up there fly more than once every couple of years is kind of nice too. When you’re in the exit row on United, seated right behind you are the once a year flyers. Why? Because anyone that reserves row 12 on the ex-Ted A320 obviously booked their ticket 11 months ago.
Nothing pisses me off more than a whole row of passengers doing nothing but bitching like the guy seated behind me on UA99 to TPA this morning did. “They want to charge us for our bags, how dare they. I heard we should just take all our bags to the gate and they’ll check them there for free.” And then, “Huh, I have to pay extra to sit in the exit row? Are you kidding me?” Of course the flight attendant explaining the situation to him followed by “but I only work here” didn’t help either. Those are only minor complaints, but c’mon folks, travel in the past few years is as cheap as it has ever been. For our $29 fares we deserve respect and good customer service, but that’s about it. I probably wouldn’t have an issue with this if I didn’t fly 250 segments a year and had to hear the same idiotic complaints every single time.
RE: #3
What's that? No, never touched the stuff...
Actually, I still love EMB-120s. I was stuck in a CRJ today and I sure missed row nine on the "bro".
Lucky, in response to your stammering pilot, there are some pilots who are forgetful. I flew on a US Airways flight to PHX one day and the pilot thanked us nonchalantly for flying in "America West Airlines". All the passengers were laughing. :)
@Lucky -- Yes, you have the right to complain about their complaining here... as I basically said in my comment. But then, we also have the right to complain about your complaining. That's only fair, so please DON'T complain about that.
I like exit row because of the space. I often don't have the need to recline, and certainly don't just because it's available to me. It's an interesting dillema -- on long flights you...
@Lucky -- Yes, you have the right to complain about their complaining here... as I basically said in my comment. But then, we also have the right to complain about your complaining. That's only fair, so please DON'T complain about that.
I like exit row because of the space. I often don't have the need to recline, and certainly don't just because it's available to me. It's an interesting dillema -- on long flights you get much more space in exit row seats than regular E+ seats, but you're also more likely to have to deal with seat bumping from the E- passengers behind you.
Argh I had 9C on the EMB-120 this weekend.. there were 5 total people in the plane, and someone had 9B reserved... they didn't even move once we tookoff... so annoying.
@ Pat -- ROFL! You're correct.
@ Sam -- Fair enough, but how about showing one bad episode when flying eastbound and another bad episode flying westbound. Variety is the spice of life. ;)
@ Beau -- If you enjoy them so much, I have a suggestion. Go sit down in a tiny closet in a tight chair and put on some really loud nice. You'll get the same thrill, minus the 500 mile minimums.
...@ Pat -- ROFL! You're correct.
@ Sam -- Fair enough, but how about showing one bad episode when flying eastbound and another bad episode flying westbound. Variety is the spice of life. ;)
@ Beau -- If you enjoy them so much, I have a suggestion. Go sit down in a tiny closet in a tight chair and put on some really loud nice. You'll get the same thrill, minus the 500 mile minimums.
@ Tom -- Oh yeah, the documentaries are just awful. I miss NBC in-flight. It's all about comedies, in my book. The worst had to be the new "Top Groomer" show, much like "Top Chef" except about groomers. Seriously?
@ Brian -- Yep, have had that happen once or twice!
@ UAPremierGuy -- As usual? Wow, I'm flattered! :D
@ RDimperio -- Trust me, you don't even want to get me started on that.
@ ktpc2005 -- I guess Amy saw Tina's success and decided she wanted her share of the pie. Utter fail.
@ Oliver & Eric -- It's a free country, and they certainly have the right to complain, but I also have the right to complain about their complaining. OK? :D
The real reason I don't like the exit row is because I have a soul. I don't have it in me to recline in someone that has substantially less legroom than I do. In Economy Plus, on the other hand, I have no problem reclining.
@ Jim -- That's cool!
I have to agree with Oliver. Are you really considering not booking exit row seats just because of some folks complaining? That's what headphones and media devices are for. I mean, with 250 segments a year, comfort should be very basic need you look for (First, then y+, then exit). After 100s of hours in the air, you can't expect something new and exciting. If you want that, take up cruising...or criss-crossing the country by...
I have to agree with Oliver. Are you really considering not booking exit row seats just because of some folks complaining? That's what headphones and media devices are for. I mean, with 250 segments a year, comfort should be very basic need you look for (First, then y+, then exit). After 100s of hours in the air, you can't expect something new and exciting. If you want that, take up cruising...or criss-crossing the country by train or greyhound (ewww...that would be a nightmare).
The "pit" scenes in "Parks and Recreation" are literally filmed across the street from my apartment in Sherman Oaks, so I like seeing it -- a touch of home at 37,000 feet.
Re #5 -- hey, it's a free country. You get to gripe here on your blog, they get to gripe on the plane. And for what it's worth, complaining about the degrading of economy service is a common thing on Flyertalk -- have you stopped visiting there? And last I checked, no one's actually forcing you to fly 250 segments, so don't whine about that, okay? ;)
I watched two episodes of Parks and Rec and thought it was terrible. I think they tried to be the Office, but failed. Im surprised they havnt cancelled the show.
I remember back in February that when I went on a business trip from PVD-ORD-MSY-ORD-PVD, each plane had the same shows on it. Im glad I always have my laptop and some DVDs.
From the title I thought you were about to blog about Hunter's upgrd podcast comments!
Dead on, as usual. Especially about Parks and Recreation. Not. Funny.
Add to #5 the folks who can't respectfully use the overhead bin. I've been in the Row ~30 exit on the international 777s a bunch lately and of course right behind there is the cattle section.
It drives me absolutely nuts when I fill up my bin and close it and by the time boarding is complete the folks behind me have shoved all theri junk in front of my bag such that i have to unpack/repack the bin to access my stuff so I can work on the plane.
I hear you about that Parks & Recreation. It seems like it has been the same episode of the show for several months? I'm not too keen on some of the documentaries they show either.
Im happy to say I love emb-120's on SAN/CLD-LAX, they're a ton of fun :) But yes they are a bit noisy.
I have to defend the EMB120s-What fun aircraft to fly on. Ill agree that for a flight longer than an hour they would be terrible, but for those short sectors they fly you wouldnt be very productive on any other plane anyways, so you might as well enjoy yourself in some of the best seats around (9BC). For flights like LAX-SFO, Id rather the E120 than E+ in any mainline UA plane.
They really arent THAT loud...
#5: the complaining is about to get a whole lot worse:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hQ_4E5LjxgpYVOQSgcRasHgsO0JgD9AVQL8O1
#1: consider it one of the things you have to suffer for cheaper fares, the shows pays UA forcing passengers to watch it, and each fare gets a 5 cent subsidy.
Lucky, it could be worse. You could be stuck in F next to a 1P who didn't get their meal choice and have to listen to them question everyone in the cabin re their status to determine if they were wronged. ;)