Service Reductions Make it Harder to Find a Mileage Run

2008 is drawing to an end, and it is time for me to start booking mileage runs for 2009. Ideally, I need to fly at least 50,000 miles next year to maintain my Platinum Status with American Airlines. Unfortunately, I will face the same challenges that most other flyers face: fewer flights to fewer destinations at a higher cost.

As I've mentioned before, the two cities that offer me the largest miles on a domestic mileage run are Seattle, Washington and Portland, Oregon. I did two mileage runs to each of them in 2008. Unfortunately, as I look for flights to those cities, I see that my opportunities for a good mileage run have diminished.

I did a trip last year to Seattle, flying Austin to DFW to Oakland to Seattle. With my bonus miles for having Platinum status, I earned over 5,200 miles for that one way trip. However, I cannot do that routing any more because American Airlines no longer flies into Oakland.

I did a trip to Seattle last year flying Austin to Chicago (ORD) to Seattle, earning almost 5,400 miles for the one-way segment, and then doing it again on the return flight, allowing me to earn almost 11,000 miles on a one-day turnaround. But American has cut back on service between ORD and SEA, making it impossible to do that trip. The best I can do now is fly through Chicago, then return on a direct flight through Dallas arriving Austin at 9 o'clock the next morning. With that routing, I'd earn 1,200 fewer miles than I did on my original flights through ORD. That is a big loss!

I can come close to that total by flying AUS-DFW-SFO-SEA-LAX-DFW-AUS, but that would still be an overnight mileage run, arriving AUS at 9 a.m. on Sunday.

So, I not only have fewer options on MRs to Seattle, I also have to pay more. Most r/t tickets to Seattle will cost me $267. Two years ago I could do that trip for $180-200.

I face a similar dilemma on a mileage run to Portland. I did this one twice last year, flying there and back through ORD. However, American has reduced service between Chicago and Portland, leaving me with only one option: Austin to Dallas to Portland and back. I used to earn almost 11,000 total miles for a mileage run through Chicago. With the more direct routing through Dallas, I'll earn less than 8,500. The price for the ticket has not gone up since last year, it is still $218, but with the loss of the Chicago flights, I am getting much less value for my dollar.

This may prove to be a challenging year. With the slowdown in the economy, many major airlines are expected to do even more cutbacks on the number of flights. Hopefully, with much lower fuel costs, they will be able to drop their ticket prices enough to make these mileage runs more appealing.

Fuel Prices Drop Causing Airlines to Lose Money

As fuel prices skyrocketed last summer, the airlines saw their bottom lines battered. Airlines lost staggering amounts of money as the price for a barrel of oil approached $150. Gerard Arpey, CEO of AMR, American Airlines' parent corporation said during the summer "The U.S. airline industry as it is constituted today was not built for $125- or $130-per-barrel oil."

Obviously, the airlines needed fuel prices to drop. Well, they got what they asked for, but in an Alice in Wonderland version of reality, declining fuel prices have caused some airlines to lose money!

The airlines have used fuel hedges to buy fuel at a certain price in the future, then come out ahead as long as fuel prices rose past that level. Southwest Airlines has been doing that very successfully since the early 1990s and other airlines have started to do it too. They were getting ready for an environment in which experts said we would be paying $5 for a gallon of gas by the end of 2008.

Fortunately for us but unfortunately for the airlines, fuel prices plummeted, something they were not prepared for.

I checked my local service station today: the price for a gallon of gas has dropped 60% since its summertime high. The price for a barrel of oil on December 5 was $40.81, a drop of 70% since August. In a normal world, this would be a blessing for the airlines, allowing them to drop fuel surcharges and return to profitability. But this is not a normal world.

According to Purchasing.com, United Airlines lost "$519 million in non-cash, net mark-to-market losses on its fuel hedge contracts, as a result of the drop in oil prices at the end of the quarter." In other words, they are buying fuel at a much higher cost than they would without the hedges.

Southwest Airlines lost almost a quarter of a billion dollars in the third quarter FY 2008, its first non-profitable quarter since 1991. Things may not get better for Southwest in 2009 when it is committed to buy almost 75% of its fuel at $73 a barrel, almost 80% more than the current price.

American Airlines did not hedge as heavily as Southwest: it will purchase 37% of its fuel next year at $91 a barrel. That would be a great price if oil had gone up from its summertime high, but is not a good deal given current prices.

The airlines have responded by grounding (and sometime selling) aircraft. They have reduced the number of available seats in the hope that it would increase per-flight capacity. Unfortunately the global economic meltdown of the last few months has only made things worse. According to Tulsa World, , American flew 14.5% fewer miles in November 2008 than in November 2007 on a capacity reduction of 9.3%. In other words, they are fewer seats in the air, but the percentage of empty seats has still increased. "American's load factor — the percentage of seats filled — was 76.6 percent systemwide in November, a drop of 4.6 percentage points from a year ago."

So, the load factor is dropping while the airlines are losing money on lower fuel prices. It is not a pretty picture.

So far, the airlines have kept their fuel surcharges as they continue to charge coach passengers for everything from checked baggage to pillows to potato chips while offering fewer flights at a time when the economy is sagging and we have no idea how low it will go before it starts to improve.

I hope 2009 will be a good year for all travelers, but so far, there is no indication that this will occur.

How I Find a Mileage Run, and Get the Best Value for my Miles

Earlier this month Frankenmeg wrote to me and said, "I would be interested in knowing how you come up with routes to earn the most miles... and spending the least." Two good questions!

Since I do all of my mileage runs (MRs) on American Airlines, I'll focus on AA and its website.

My first suggestion to anyone who wants to do mileage runs is to visit FlyerTalk, one of the finest travel sites on the web. You'll find forums where you can get information about the major airlines, hotel chains, car rental companies, restaurants, and places to visit around the world. FlyerTalk and its members, I call them the FT Experts, are an incredible resource that I have used many times to get advice when traveling. Best of all, there is no charge to use FlyerTalk!

Anyone interested in doing mileage runs should start at FlyerTalk's Mileage Run Forum: in my opinion, this is the greatest source of mileage run information anywhere on the web. There is a Mileage Run Discussion forum: I suggest that you start by reading the two "stickys" at the top of the forum, entitled Mileage Run Tools Update and Mileage Run Tools, Part 2. These areas will give you a fabulous education on how to become a successful mileage runner. It provided me with my introduction into the world of mileage runs.

The Mileage Run Deals forum features deals that FlyerTalk members (FTers) have found that I probably would have otherwise missed, so it is a great source. Sometimes you will see an MR from your airport but on a different airline; if so, take a moment to see if your airline will match.

After reviewing what's new on FlyterTalk, I check the cost for a ticket to either Portland or Seattle, those are the two most distant locations I can fly to in the lower 48 states. Sometimes there will be some good deals, sometimes not. What makes it a good deal? I explained that in a previous post.

Sometimes I will use the multi-city feature on the AA.com website to see if I can add miles to a trip without adding cost. For example, instead of looking for the price for Austin-Seattle, I'll check Austin-Chicago-Seattle. For the return trip I may try Seattle-Los Angeles-Austin rather than a direct route. Sometimes that works, sometimes it does not.

If an airline has launched new service from Austin to another city and has a special sale price, I'll check to see if AA is matching that price.

Other times I may just check some random routes, such as Austin-Chicago-Tampa, or Austin-Minneapolis-Denver.

Does it take time to find a good MR? Absolutely, but I find it to be well worth it!

Geting the best value for my miles
You can visit the AA website and see exactly how many miles it costs to get a free ticket using your AAdvantage miles. Some of those trips are a good deal, some are not.

I have a friend who travels a lot for work, going to Europe or the Orient every three weeks, and she has been doing this for years. She has flown over 3 million miles on AA and has more miles than she can ever spend. This gentleman is in the same situation. For these people, any deal is a good deal because they have so many miles that they basically have no value.

I am not in the category, I do very little business travel, so my miles are very valuable to me and I must try to get the best value I can for them.

My last mileage run was to Portland, I earned almost 11,000 miles and paid approximately two cents per mile. That was a good deal. What about spending those miles?

Let's say I want to take a trip to New York City. I just checked AA.com and saw that a r/t coach ticket to NYC in January, non-refundable fare, would cost $300. If I want so use miles I can use 25,000 miles for that trip if MileSAAver seats are available. If MileSAAver seats are not available the trip will cost 50,000 miles.

Let's say I can get the 25,000 mile ticket. My calculator tells me that AA is only giving me 1.2 cents for my miles ($300/25,000). I earned the miles at two cents or more, but am only getting 1.2 cents value for them. This is NOT a good deal.

Let's try another trip, using AA's international travel partners. Let's say I want to fly Business Class to Bangkok, taking Cathay Pacific from Los Angeles to Bangkok and back. (My wife and I did this trip in 2007.) I found that ticket with a March 2009 itinerary for $10,951, or 110,000 AAdnantage miles. On that ticket, they are giving me almost 10 cents value for each mile ($10,951/110,000). So, with my MRs, I am earning miles at two cents each, but get amost 10 cents each in credit for them. Is this a good deal? Absolutely!

So, what is the best value for your miles? It all depends on how many miles you have and where you plan to go.

Happy Flier Featured in Budget Travel Magazine

Hundreds of thousands of people, maybe even millions of people, have started blogs in the last year. These blogs cover a variety of topics and sometimes it is difficult to be recognized.

The front cover of the November 2008 edition of Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel magazine highlights articles about 7 legendary surf town, vacation rentals and "How to Start a Travel Blog."

The blog article, entitled "Blogger on Board" features suggestions from the editors of 8 travel blogs on how you can start your own site. I am happy to say that Happy Flier was one of the eight blogs recognized by Budget Travel!

It's a short article, but does include many valuable tips. I hope you will take a moment to read it, and also visit the other blogs that are listed.

• My Next Adventure
• Did Someone Say RV Road Trip
• Follow Alena
• Function of Time
• Linköpinglivin
• Pret a Voyager

American Airlines Moves Forward After Challenging 3rd Quarter

This continues to be a challenging time for the airline industry, but American Airlines is moving forward as it plans for better days to come.

First, the bad news. During the 3rd quarter FY 2008, American lost $360 million. But, a one-time $432 million gain from the sale of American Beacon Advisors and a $27 million one-time charge for employee severance and aircraft expenses, helped American's parent company, AMR Corporation, to post a profit of $45 million. How impressive is that? Southwest Airlines, which had turned a profit during every quarter since 1991, lost $120 million during the same period. United Airlines lost $252 million, Delta lost $50 million, and US Airways lost $865 million.

During the quarter, American paid $3.57 for a gallon of fuel, up 64 percent from the $2.17 it paid a year ago. As fuel costs continue to drop (now at $67 a barrel, down from $145 a barrel during the summer), the outlook for the airlines should brighten.

American's management apparently sees a brighter future; American announced that it will purchase 42 of Boeing's new 787-9 Dreamliners. Delivery will start in 2012 and run through 2018, with American holding an option to purchase 50 additional 787s. With this announcement, American made a crucial decision for the future of the airline.

The two largest manufacturers of commercial aircraft are Boeing and Airbus. The two companies have taken a decidedly different approach to the future of air travel. Airbus is going with its mammoth A-380, the world's largest commercial aircraft. The double-deck A-380 can seat up to 525 passengers. However, it is so large (its wingspan is 48 feet wider than the Boeing 747) that some airports cannot handle it: it is too wide and too heavy. However, most major international airports, (JFK, London Heathrow, Frankfurt, Sydney, Tokyo, etc) will be able to handle this behemoth. As of September 2008, Airbus has already delivered the first aircraft to Singapore Airlines, Emirates, and Qantas. Airbus has taken orders for 192 A-380s, and has delivered 8.

Boeing decided that the future of aircraft is in the smaller 787 Dreamliner that will seat 210-250 passengers, and have a range of 14,000-15,000 km (8,700-9,300 miles). The 787 is made of composite materials, is highly fuel efficient compared to any aircraft currently flying, and will be able to fly into almost any airport without the need for airport modifications. The 787 is already one of the most successful aircraft in history: Boeing has taken orders for more than 920 of the aircraft, orders totaling more than $110 billion!

There is only one problem: none of them have ever flown! Boeing sold all of these aircraft before the first one even rolled out of the factory! As of this date, they have not yet had the first test flight of the 787 and are substantially behind schedule on manufacturing the plane. A strike by Boeing machinists has not helped, closing all Boeing factories for eight weeks. The strike was settled this weekend and the production lines should be up and running by the middle of this week. Hopefully, the first 787 test flight will take place in 2009.

So, the two manufacturers have a different view of the future of flight, and American has decided that the smaller 787 Dreamliner is their future. Hopefully, the deliveries actually will start in 2012.

American also announced that it will accept delivery of 76 Boeing 737-800 aircraft in 2009 and 2010. These aircarft will replace the aging MD-80s. The 737s get 20-30% better fuel mileage than the MD-80, and as a newer aircraft, will be easier to maintain. (Some of the MD-80s have been flying since 1982!) The purchase is a good start, American currently flies over 300 MD-80s, so there is still a long way to go.

American has the second oldest fleet of aircraft among the top 10 US carriers. These purchases show that AA is serious about modernizing.

In other news
American has always given its AAdvantage members a minimum of 500 miles for each flight, regardless of how short it is. So, even though my Austin-DFW flight is only 183 miles, I have received 500 for the flight. American has announced that effective January 1, 2009, only AAdvantage members with elite status (Gold, Platinum, Executive Platinum) will receive that bonus. All other passengers will earn only the actual mileage.

A few years ago, passengers, regardless of status, could earn 1,000 miles for making a reservation online at AA.com. With that bonus, a passenger taking a round-trip flight between Austin and DFW would earn 2,000 miles (500 for each flight, and the online bonus). Now the online bonus is gone, and so is the 500 mile minimum award. A non-elite passenger making the trip now will earn 366 miles (183 per flight), a drop of 82%. And to make it worse, they won't even get the small bag of free peanuts. Oh well, at least they can look forward to flying on new 737s in the future!

Outstanding Mileage Run to Portland

Some mileage runs go well, some do not. This was my final mileage run of 2008, and it went as well as I could possibly hope.

My flight departed Austin exactly on time at 6 a.m., the flight to Chicago O'Hare was very smooth, arriving on time at 8:30. The Chicago sky was dark and overcast, but not nearly as bad as it was when I came through in September.

We were greeted by overcast skies at O'Hare. This was a huge improvement over the record-setting rain I experienced on my previous flight into ORD. (click on photo for larger image)

I had a two-hour layover at O'Hare, allowing me time to visit the Admiral's Club, have a cup of coffee, and relax.

At 10:25 I was on my way to Portland, and the flight could not have gone any smoother. I've come to expect turbulence as we fly over the Rockies, but there was none today. We had a spectacular view of Mount Hood as we flew by.

Fortunately I was sitting on the right side of the aircraft and got this wonderful view of Mount Hood. (click on photo for larger image)

We were so close to Mount Hood that some passengers were looking for climbers. (click on photo for larger image)

We landed at at Portland right on time at 12:50. I'd be returning to Chicago on the same plane, with a 1:50 departure. Since we got in on time, I at least had the chance to refill my water bottle and buy a snack for the return flight without rushing.

It was a beautiful day in Portland, the sky was bright and clear. I really wished I had enough time to go into town, but that was not to be.

An Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 takes to the sky as a Horizon Air Bombardier CRJ-700 taxis to the terminal. (click on photo for larger image)

It's college football season in America: Horizon Air has painted some of its aircraft with the names and logos of the teams that play in the Pacific 10 Conference. This plane carries the colors of the Oregon State Univeristy Beavers. (click on photo for larger image)

Forty-five minutes after we landed I was back on the plane in the same seat, 20B. I joked with the flight attendant "I had so much fun on the flight from Chicago that I decided to fly back there with you!" We departed Portland on time and had a very smooth trip to O'Hare, highlighted by more spectacular scenery.

Mount St. Helens is on the right, with Mount Rainier in the background. It's late October, the mountains have more snow on them than they did during the September mileage run. (click on photo for larger image)

The only problem was that we had a strong tailwind, the pilot said it was 120 knots, and that got us into Chicago 45 minutes early. That sounds good, but they were not expecting us so soon and there was no gate for us, so we sat for 10 minutes before we pulled into the terminal.

Once we got to the terminal I rushed to the Admirals Club, hoping that they could book me on an earlier flight to Austin, but I was out of luck. As the AAngel told me (the fabulous ladies at the AC are known as AAngels) "we have some very comfortable chairs that you can sit in for the next two hours."

With no other option, that is what I did. My Austin flight departed at 10 p.m. and arrived right on time at 12:30 a.m. I was home before 1:30.

And so, I have now completed my final mileage run for 2008. This was a good one: all my flights were on time or early, no weather problems, and I earned almost 11,000 miles for a very low cost per mile (two cents). I'll start looking for 2009 MRs, hopefully the schedule will allow me to spend more time at my future destinations.

Final Mileage Run of the Year

Next week I will take my final mileage run of 2008.

The mileage run (MR) will be the same one I did in mid-September, Austin-Chicago-Portland and back in one day. I leave at 6 a.m. and return around midnight. I'll spend less than an hour in at the Portland airport and will earn almost 11,000 miles.

There are still two and a half months left in 2008, plenty of time to do additional MRs, but there is no reason for me to do this.

I have earned 64,000 EQMs for the year and have qualified for Platinum status for 2009. Unless my employer decides to send me on two trips to Beijing and back (highly unlikely since we do not do any business in China), there is no chance of me earning 100,000 EQMs and Executive Platinum status for next year.

So, unless an incredible bargain appears (highly unlikely during the Thanksgiving-Christmas time frame), my next MR will be the last for the year. I could spend $200-$300 on a flight in November and December, but it makes more sense to spend that money on flights after January 1, flights that will help me make Platinum again next year. So next week will be the final flight of the year.

It was a good year, featuring two international MRs, some trips to Portland and Seattle, and a vacation trip to Orlando with my wife. I have almost 115,000 more miles in my account now than I did in January, and have almost enough miles to cover the next trip to Asia for my wife and I are planning for next year.

I'll keep looking for bargains, but it looks like next week will indeed be my last MR of 2008.

Is This the World's Strangest Runway?

We all know what a runway looks like: a long straight concrete path stretching thousands of feet with grassy areas on the side. I've never been in a plane that had to take advantage of those grassy areas, but I have seen photos and videos of planes that have slid off the runway, coming to a safe stop on the grass.

Given the value of the grassy area, take a look at the runway at Funchal Airport on the Portuguese island of Madeira! I've never seen anything like it.

Yes, there are stranger runways in remote areas, but those are normally designed to handle small Cessnas and the like: this runway can handle a 747! It's interesting that the local website shows an entirely different view of the runway. No need to frighten the tourists.

The only runway I have flown on that comes close to this is at New York's LaGuardia: that runway is built on pylons extending out into Flushing Bay. As you approach the runway all you see is water; you get lower and lower and still see nothing but water. Finally, you touch down on the end of the runway; the pilot saw it coming, but the passengers did not.

I found that landing to be nerve-wracking, I can't imagine what it would be like to land at Madeira and see a drop of over 185 feet (57 meters) so nearby.

If this is not the world's strangest runway, it certainly ranks near the top of the list!

American Airlines to Look at New Pricing System

Little more than a month ago, I wrote about the declining state of customer service offered by the major airlines, and their increasing need to produce revenue in response to dramatic increases in oil prices. I wrote, "Sadly, air travel is starting to resemble restaurant service more and more. Passengers used to get free meals, free beverages, free blankets and pillows, a selection of newspapers on each flight, and paid no charge for checking their baggage. Those are the old days. We are now moving to restaurant-style a-la-carte pricing."

Oh, how I wish I had been wrong. Sadly I was not.

Today, the Associated Press, ABC News, and other outlets report that American Airlines is considering implementing an a-la-carte pricing system for flights next year. The goal is to give passengers lower fares, and have them only pay for the benefits they want.

Daniel Garton, American Airlines' executive vice president of marketing, said, "We as an industry have opted to not just raise (ticket) prices but to raise prices and change the fee structure." He added that if there was not a change, "you're not going to be talking about fees — you're going to be talking about lost service ... being able to have a flight to San Diego."

Experts said American was trying to match Air Canada which adopted a-la-carte pricing earlier this year. It's worth noting that Air Canada is also the only North American airline to lower its fuel surcharges as the price of oil drops. Oil closed at $93.88 today, down from $145 a barrel in July. Sadly, the fuel surcharges implemented at that time remain on most airlines, but that is another story. Let's take a look at Air Canada and its pricing system.

I visited the Air Canada site and looked at prices for a round trip ticket from Toronto to Calgary, leaving October 27 and returning October 30.

Air Canada refers to its base service as Tango. A suitable name, whenever I think of the Tango, I always think of Canada! Well, maybe not.

Tango is their lowest class of service. Their next classes are Tango Plus (can you do a paso doble with the gate attendant before boarding?), Latitude, and Executive Class.

Prices for a non-stop flight on October 27 with Tango class service range from $133 to $344. These prices are in American dollars, and do not include "tax, fees, and some other charges." Tango is the way to go if you only want to fly and don't want to pay for anything extra. The other classes, which offer additional service and their ticket prices, are Tango Plus $176-$387, Latitude $456-667, and Executive Class $1,532-1,766.

Tango is the basic service, you will pay for everything else. The first charge, if you wish, is for Air Canada's On My Way TM service, and will cost $25-35. This service is designed to help you if your flight is delayed or cancelled within 48 hours of departure. For this fee you will get access to special Customer Service Representatives, priority rebooking on the first available flight, free hotel accommodations and car rental, and appropriate meal vouchers.

Air Canada says On My Way TM service is unique among North American airlines. I doubt I would pay this fee for a summertime flight when the chances of a cancellation are low, but it could be a very wise insurance investment when flying in Canada during the winter. The free hotel and car rental options are well worth the cost! Bravo to Air Canada for developing such a service!

The $25-35 fee is the same for all four classes of service.

Other charges for flying Tango include $25 for a call center and airport service fee. You will also pay this fee with Tango Plus, but it is included with Latitude and Executive Class. The Air Canada site does not explain what an airport service fee is.

An any-time fare change fee is $75 plus the fare difference. The fee is only $50 for Tango Plus, and there is no charge for the two higher classes. Same day airport changes are $150 with Tango, $50 with Tango Plus, and again, no charge with the two higher classes.

Pay for your "Onboard cafe" food service in advance, and it is only $6 (an $8 value) in the first two classes. Travelers in the two higher classes receive complimentary meal and beverage service.

If you want to select your seat in advance, you will pay $15-22 in Tango class, but get it free of charge in the three other classes. At this point, Tango Plus looks like a much better deal: pay an extra $40-$60, but save the fee for selecting your seat in advance, and have to pay less if you need to change your flight.

You cannot access the Maple Leaf lounges with a Tango ticket, but Tango Plus and Latitude can enter the lounge for $25, while Executive Class passengers can use the lounge with no extra fee.

If you are saving your Air Canada Aeroplan miles, Tango Plus is the better deal. You'll receive 100% of your miles in Tango Plus (and the two other classes) , but only 25% in Tango if you do not have elite status. Finally, if you make your reservation online, you will earn 1 mile for every $3 you spend for your Tango ticket, 1 mile for every $2 you spend in Tango Plus, and 1 mile for every dollar you spend for the two higher classes.

Some of the extra features at no extra charge in Latitude and Executive Class service include: priority check-in, baggage handling, and boarding; same-day standby; fully refundable ticket; access to special hotel and car rental offers; discount parking at the airport, and of course, much better service while in the air.

All four classes will allow you to check your first bag at no charge; the two Tango classes will charge $25 for the second bag, while there is no additional charge in the two higher classes.

With Air Canada a-la-carte pricing, you can even lower the price of your ticket. If you have no bags to check, you'll save $3. If you are in Tango class and don't want to earn Aeroplan miles, you'll save $3, and Tango class passengers can save another $5 if they agree to not change their itinerary.

And there you have it, a-la-carte pricing!

Was that easy for you to follow, or was it more complicated? Initially, it seems more complicated, but I think people will adjust as time goes on. We may even see a variety of options.

Look elsewhere in the travel industry. Some hotels offer a bed and little more while others offer a much more expensive all-inclusive service that includes meals, pool access, and other amenities. We don't find it odd to deal with that. Air Canada does the same, offering the basic Tango service, or the all-inclusive Executive Class.

Is this an example of what American Airlines will do, or will they do add extra options? Will passengers be able to reserve a pillow or blanket for $6 when making their reservation? What about paying for a beer in advance, making it that much easier for the flight attendants to serve you without having to deal with collecting payment? Only time will tell.

The future is coming and there is nothing we can do to stop it. The only question is, when will it arrive?

Quote of the Week

Has airline service changed? This quote answers that question nicely.

"Who would have thought, after 30 years, that we'd be a flying 7-Eleven? You know, I mean we used to serve omelets and crepes for breakfast, and now it's 'Would you like to buy stackable chips or a big chocolate chip cookie for $3?'"

Becky Gilbert, American Airlines flight attendant
and a three-decade veteran of the industry.

She was quoted in the New York Times article "Flying the Unfriendly Skies." Take a few minutes to read it, it gives some valuable insights into the lives of flight attendants (FA).

Michelle Higgins, a writer for the Times, spent a few days working as a FA for American Airlines. Years ago, stewardesses, as they were known then, had glamorous jobs. Now, with staff reductions, service reductions, increased security requriements and the growing number of unhappy passengers caused by those issues, the glamor is gone.

I'll be sure to smile at the flight attendants the next time I fly.