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Scuba Forum / General / January 2004

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Heading to Florida...Give Song a miss!!

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Bob Denton - 08 Jan 2004 23:20 GMT
I just retuned to Florida, from New York on Song. They are the worst
excuse for an airline I have ever encountered.  I fly 2 or 3 times a
month, and I would never even consider these jokers again.

The lunacy  started when I checked in 1 1/2 hours early and was not
issued a boarding pass, but a "seat request". I then stood in line at
the gate, while they took an hour to handle around 10 passengers. I
wasn't served  until they had boarded 1/2 the plane. I was given a
seat assignment, not in any way related to my confirmed seat
assignments I had made a few weeks earlier.
The flight was 100% full and of course no pillows nor blankets were
available.
I was hungry and ordered a $8 wrap (worth around $3) and requested a
receipt when I paid. I was informed that they to not produce receipts
unless requested at the time the food is ordered. I explained that the
receipt was worth $8 to me. The surly stew stated she would have to
hand write one. Of course it never arrived.

They had a limited number of DISH channels on the plane but they kept
going out every few minutes, so it was impossible to watch anything
that lasted more than a few minutes.

When I arrived in New York, I was told that my bags (containing my
coat) went through Atlanta and would be delivered later to my hotel. I
explained that I didn't have coat  as it was in my bag and in the 20s
out side, and would have to wait. I eventually got my bag and coat  3
hours later and arrived late for my meeting.

The return flight was another bad joke. They board by zones...3 is in
the back, then 2 then 1. The idiot at the gate obviously couldn't
count to 3 and boarded the 100% full flight starting with zone 2, then
zone 3 then zone 1.  Of course there was mayhem with the zone 3 people
trying to get past the Zone 2 people. The flight was heading for West
Palm (God's waiting room) and the many geriatrics added to the
confusion. I hadn't eaten prior to the 11:30 flight. Song heavily
promotes it's on board food sales. In addition they offer no amenities
what-so-ever. The food wasn't bad on the flight to New York, so I
decided I would order. They handed menus to everyone.  I was in row 30
in a 757. It took 1 1/2 hours to get a coke. When the food cart came
by I was asked if I would like to eat. I ordered their special
sandwich of the day. I was informed it was sold out. I ordered the
wrap..also sood out. I ordered the third item, a chicken salad...that
too was sold out. I was then told they were actually sold out of
everything. When I said that I hadn't eaten all day, I was starving
and they had been pushing their menu like crazy, her response was
"Write to the company and ask them to put more food on the plane". I
realized if I didn't control myself, I would probably be placed in
hand cuffs as I lunged for the stews throat.

When the plane landed and the pilot was standing at the door, I told
him how I was really unhappy sitting in a plane for 3 hours with
nothing to eat, because they couldn't get their logistics right. The
only response was from the bimbo stews and that was to move along, you
are blocking traffic.

The worst thing about this is  I booked my flight on Delta, paid for
my flight on Delta but was actually placed on a discount airline by
Delta without my consent.

Beware the next time you book on Delta Airlines. If you see the word
Song anywhere, try another airline...pay a few dollars more, but don't
make the same mistake I did!

With the slightest attempt at customer service, they could have
diffused the situation, but the surly attitude of ALL the flight crew
as well as the pitiful logistics in booking and food service makes
this a bad choice for a vacation to Florida.

YMMV!
Bob Denton
Gulf Stream International
Delray Beach, Florida
www.sinkthestink.com
Manufacturers of Sink the Stink
Salty - 09 Jan 2004 06:37 GMT
> I just retuned to Florida, from New York on Song. They are the worst
> excuse for an airline I have ever encountered.  I fly 2 or 3 times a
> month, and I would never even consider these jokers again.
<snip>

Bob, I've never heard of Song. What made you book with them in the
first place ??  You could have easily caught Continental, US Air,
Air-Tran, United or another well-known company. Going from NY, you had
your choice of LaGuardia, JFK, Newark or even ABE if you wanted to
drive 2 hours from Newark. Basically, you had a full platter of
choices so I'm not sure how you ended up with this problem.
rnf2 - 09 Jan 2004 06:51 GMT
> > I just retuned to Florida, from New York on Song. They are the worst
> > excuse for an airline I have ever encountered.  I fly 2 or 3 times a
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
> drive 2 hours from Newark. Basically, you had a full platter of
> choices so I'm not sure how you ended up with this problem.

He booked Delta IIRC, it's buried in the boring bits in the middle of the
post :)

Delta shoved him off their decks onto a subsidury.

rhys
Charlie Hammond - 09 Jan 2004 14:17 GMT
>I just retuned to Florida, from New York on Song. They are the worst
>excuse for an airline I have ever encountered.  I fly 2 or 3 times a
>month, and I would never even consider these jokers again.

I'v flow Delta's Song 757's about three times since they started this
"economy" service.  All from Palm Beach (PBI) to Boston (BOS).  So far
as I'm concerned, they're bigger but not much different than the 737's
Delta used to fly on the same route as "Delta Express".  Both are
cattle cars -- althought the 757's do have marginally better bins
for carry-on bags.  My guess is that Song will fail more-or-less the
same way as Delta Express did.

On the other hand, I did not experience the sort of problem you did
with your seat assignement.  This is something that can and does happen
with any airline -- they all overbook.  Likewise, luggage can and does
go astray  -- although with 100% matching of bags to passengers, it
should not.  (Note to TSA: Airport "security" isn't what you think it is!)

Personally, I wouldn't blow off Delta/Song on this one experience.
If they have the cheapest and most convenient flight, I'd try it again.
I will almost certainly fly song again.
Southwest's open seating system works as well as anthing.

On the other hand -- none of Song's 757's that I've flown have had the
seatback video installed.  I am not looking forward to traveling in a
flying video arcade!  So maybe I'll be writing off Song in the future --
or maybe it won't be that bad.

Now about boarding by rows vs zones -- neither one works.  Getting people
into a large cattle car...  ah, I mean into an airplane just takes time.
Last October I was on a 747 from Germany to the USE.  In Frankford we
all boarded at once -- no rows or zones used.  It all seemed to go as
well as any of ther row zone systems that I've exprienced.

Now if some Airline wants my business and wants me to be willing to pay
a premium, here is what they should do:  Take 737's or 757's and instead
of six-accross seating, make them five-accross with seats that are
3-4 inches wider.  I would GLADLY pay the 10-15% premium that would be
required to preserve the same profit.  I'm not asking for first class
or even business class treatment.  Just the same, economy seat but
wide enough that both I and the person next to me can have our arms
at our sides at the same time.  

(You can do the same thing with 767's, making them six-accross instead
of seven-accross.  This would save enve MORE room since you now
would not need two aisles -- 3-3 instead of 2-3-2.)

Signature

     Charlie Hammond -- Hewlett-Packard Company -- Ft Lauderdale  FL  USA
         (hammond@not@peek.ssr.hp.com -- remove "@not" when replying)
     All opinions expressed are my own and not necessarily my employer's.

Greg Mossman - 09 Jan 2004 20:22 GMT
> Now if some Airline wants my business and wants me to be willing to pay
> a premium, here is what they should do:  Take 737's or 757's and instead
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
> wide enough that both I and the person next to me can have our arms
> at our sides at the same time.

I think the premium would be a bit more than 10-15%.  Include the loss of
revenue from first and business-class seats by passengers who agree with
you.  And more leg room would be nice too.
Charlie Hammond - 12 Jan 2004 15:13 GMT
>> Now if some Airline wants my business and wants me to be willing to pay
>> a premium, here is what they should do:  Take 737's or 757's and instead
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
>
>I think the premium would be a bit more than 10-15%.  

Well, one seat out of six is 16-2/3%.  Ther must be SOME savings
from not processing tickets, handling baggage, etc.

>Include the loss of revenue from first and business-class seats
>by passengers who agree with you.  

I admint I did not consider that -- I was thinking of the one-class
plants that Southwest, AirTran, Song, Jet Blue and the like operate.

Actually, I expet that people who pay 2-3 times (or more!) the price
to fly on the same aircraft will mostly continue to do so -- prestige.

>And more leg room would be nice too.

I've been on American flights where they've done that -- worthless
in my opinion.  Leg room is meaningless when I have to keep my
arms crossed in front of me.

Actually, the added width would add a suprising amount of subjective
leg room.  Hey, I might even be able to cross my legs without kicking
the passenger next to me and being kneecapped when the beverage cart
comes by.

Signature

     Charlie Hammond -- Hewlett-Packard Company -- Ft Lauderdale  FL  USA
         (hammond@not@peek.ssr.hp.com -- remove "@not" when replying)
     All opinions expressed are my own and not necessarily my employer's.

Den73740 - 10 Jan 2004 05:14 GMT
>Subject: Heading to Florida...Give Song a miss!!
>From: Bob Denton bdenton@soytek.com
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
>excuse for an airline I have ever encountered.  I fly 2 or 3 times a
>month, and I would never even consider these jokers again.

I tried to book with them and the web site wasn't working.  Try Jet Blue if
they are flying where you are going. I think you'll like them.

Dennis
DownTime - 10 Jan 2004 14:46 GMT
> I just retuned to Florida, from New York on Song. They are the worst
> excuse for an airline I have ever encountered.  I fly 2 or 3 times a
[quoted text clipped - 8 lines]
> www.sinkthestink.com
> Manufacturers of Sink the Stink

i fly approxiamtely 40 weeks per year for work, and on occasion i have ended
up on song. mostly due to scheduling at the time of reservation. while my
experience has not been as bad as yours, in the future i will tend to avoid
them whenever possible.

that sure is a sneaky way for delta to get you on that carrier, but if you
look closely while booking online, you will see that it is not listed as a
normal delta flight. once you get the hang of it, you will be able to tell
the sub-carrier by the flight number.
 
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