You, me and an ever increasing disillusioned public. As transport costs inevitably rise and work-from-home technology rapidly improves, mass transport will become mainly a leisure associated occupation.
The only method of mass transport that still treatsd its customers like human beings are cruise ships.
Buses, trains and especially air transport treat their customers like cattle, so why are they surprised when the respond accordingly?
Well, yes, except that of course Pax numbers continue to rise because RYR and co have made it possible for people to travel, who never could before.
Eevn five years ago, there is no way a bunch of Belgian students would have been able to fly 1500NM for a few days American-style "spring break". These are not people who are treated like cattle by airlines every day of the week; they're kids for whom the trip should have been something at least slightly special.
I'm getting on RYR in 6 hours time for a trip FKB-STN-FKB. Total cost, including the silly EUR 5 booking fee per segment: EUR 30, return, for a 24-hour trip to the UK. At that price I don't expect anything very special, and I know that if I turn up with two pieces of hand luggage, I will be hit hard. That's because I know that restricting the amount of hand luggage is one of the ways that they make it possible to have the flight at that price in the first place.
I fly RYR about 4-5 times per year and they've yet to let me down. Last time I went on Air France I spent 24 hours waiting for them to sort out a strike. No PAX compensation for strikes... even if it's the
airline's own staff on strike.
