Ronnicas latest blog post: God is Too Efficient to Waste Our Time

Southwest has a lot going for them and thankfully WestJet up here has taken note and is following suit with their customer service. The whole no reserved seating leaves a bit to be desired, but on the whole, at least the people are friendly.

It all does come down to the dollars, and yes, disposing of dirty plane water must have it’s own insanity tied to it in the state of California, yet it is one of those things that make you wonder: if they’re not going to look after the main tool of their trade, how well are they going to look after me? Do you take financial advice from someone who is poor? Do you take your car to be serviced at Harley Davidson? I’m not doubting the fact that the aircraft are likely in top working condition, however, when things start to slide, how far do they slide before it effects you?

Planes were kept clean way back when because at some point, someone actually cared as opposed to just a bunch of flight crew punching a clock and waiting for their next vacation day. I get it, and I work hard too which is really the true shame of it all.

Somewhere along the way, travel by air lost its luster for us AND the airlines.

Back when planes were sparkling clean? I think that was a combination of knee-jerk habit – the nuts that drove the first airplanes needed to keep track of how much oil and other fluids was lost, per flight. Clean the plane each flight, and you can measure the smears to gauge how the engine is doing. There may also have been a leftover compulsion to a clean plane, to back when the ‘skin’ was fabric (before aluminum and other metal skins). And keeping the petrol wiped down help delay saturating the whole flaming kaboodle.

Another issue was the glamour attached to early commercial aviation. The advertising and entire airport concept were ‘space age’ – a touch of the luxury the rich afforded, available to most of the ‘common’ man. Remember, about that time most gas stations hired guys to run out when you pulled up, one would fill your gas tank, another check the oil, while the third was checking tire pressure and washing your windows. Keeping the airplane clean was part of the petroleum industry image of ‘clean’ fuel and clean transportation – no coal smoke, stench, and sparks here!

I think there was concern, that the more grit and grime you let accumulate on the plane, the more drag – and reduction in fuel efficiency per mile. Thus the wash.

I imagine that most airlines ran into time crunches – trying to fly more routes with fewer planes – and shaving maintenance cycles, including washing the plane, to make schedule.

While airlines are going broke, they still hire accountants to figure out that going from meals to salads can me 3 cents more on the stock dividends – why, they couldn’t drop the menu fast enough. When you fly many planes, many times a day, the little expenses will add up. I imagine if they found that dropping a (union) job to wash the plane, dropping the cost of the water and cleanser, and I suppose in California at least, the cost of disposing the dirty water, saved them more money than leaving the plane dirty cost them in fuel efficiency – they would let the plane fly looking like they didn’t care.

I recall the song about “The poor they got hope, the Rich can buy soap” from the Lee Marvin, Clint Eastwood musical “Paint Your Wagon. I imagine the airlines ‘rich’ enough to have adequate delays before having to send a plane off again may well be rich enough to have someone clean the silly thing, maybe even do the routine maintenance on a routine schedule. Almost like they cared about their people as well as customers. But then, if there were a rich airline like that, likely no one else would figure out why they were getting alone OK.

I was returning from a job interview maybe ten years ago, on a Southwest flight. The cabin was chilly, and that bitty airplane blanket felt really comfortable. So I asked the flight attendant where I could buy one for my own. And she tore the tag off the thing and told me to keep it. I have it across my legs right now. Maybe 3′ by 5′, more or less, still as soft, warm. And I still think highly of Southwest. Even if I never did find out where to buy a real airplane blanket.

Brad K.s latest blog post: Hey, That’s what I say, too!