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Chris Elliott: "Elites ruining air travel"/Uses FT as example

Chris Elliott: "Elites ruining air travel"/Uses FT as example

Old Jun 16, 2008, 4:32 pm
  #1  
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Chris Elliott: "Elites ruining air travel"/Uses FT as example

HERE
Thoughts?

He is so wrong. He uses examples that can be applied to any passenger, elite or discount coach. I just .....
United737522 is offline  
Old Jun 16, 2008, 4:38 pm
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What an idiot. He quotes only the few cases that serve his narrowminded envious ends while ignoring all of the everyday occurrences. I have witnessed far more of his bad behavior from non-Elites over the years. Far more. Clearly, this BOY is trying to make a name for himself by skewing the facts. He must be training to be a politician!

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Old Jun 16, 2008, 4:47 pm
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Originally Posted by markwtaylor
What an idiot.

I am inclined to agree with that, reading another piece of his. It's about boarding efficiently.

The savviest air travelers stand in the boarding area at least one zone before theyre called. As that zone winds down, they move in closer, anticipating their number will be next. And theyre at the gate before its their turn.
Great... let's encourage gate lice. That's real efficient.
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Old Jun 16, 2008, 4:56 pm
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And did you notice his personal example that has him standing in the first class line for a flight?! Hmmm.....I guess he's one of us evil elite, F-flying rabid monsters!

Now I'm off to buy the loudest 70s track suit I can, and prepare to run screaming through the airport, "I'm first class/elite, I get to go first!!!!"

[SARCASM]What an amazing journalist he is - so objective and intelligent![\SARCASM]

Perhaps he's trying to recreate the airline version of the French Revolution?
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Old Jun 16, 2008, 5:04 pm
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And here is my email to him, for what it's worth:

As both a Psychiatrist and a frequent traveller, I would counter that I have seen many flyers, be they elite, First Class or Economy Class acting in some of the ways described, not just the group you single out. I would challenge you to provide some hard, factual statistics to prove your point.

Your comments about being in a First Class line when the gentleman intruded upon everyone only undermines your suggestion that First Class passengers are all boorish and to be driven off the airplane - why then were you flying in that cabin, I wonder, if you are so superior to elites and F class pax?

I have noticed a departure from intelligent, objective journalism to sensationalism. Congratulations on stirring up controversy and getting more attention paid to yourself, however you will find such tactics will lead you to eventual irrelevancy in the bigger picture.

Part of professional journalism involves not distorting so that a minority of people seem to represent a larger group, but perhaps you have lost sight of that?

Feel free to stop flying and drive - we're all better off without self-righteous people policing the airports!

Best Wishes for your future travels.
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Old Jun 16, 2008, 5:06 pm
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I take offense at his dragging FT into the mix with a sweeping generalization that we (FT'ers) are all elitists. Clearly he only took a cursory and superficial approach to the limited research and thought that went into his article/diatribe.
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Old Jun 16, 2008, 5:39 pm
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Originally Posted by rhw88
I take offense at his dragging FT into the mix with a sweeping generalization that we (FT'ers) are all elitists.
It's not sweeping, nor is it a generalization. The generalization writes itself for the uninitiated: this board almost entirely focuses on accrual of miles and points so as to attain status. OK, fine. Having said that, some cursory reading here will indeed reveal that there is a lot of complaining about minutiae along with whining about upgrades and airline policies that prevent overuse of same. Let's add to this that there are a group of posters spread all over the airline boards who seem to live for nothing else other than status, thereby leading the uninitiated to think they are status-obsessed and have nothing else in their lives. Never mind that these people are probably road warriors, so their status is indeed very important to them. But someone who peeks in on the site and doesn't have background information can easily reach the conclusion that any one poster on any given day could be a self-important toolbag.

Whether or not most FTer's are elitists in their off-website lives doesn't matter: perception by outsiders of their writings on the board is what counts in this example. And if they look to be elitists, that outsider (Elliott) will label them such. I personally think there are tons of people here who look down their nose at those who fly in Y or those who fly WN...and with terms like "Kettles" and "great unwashed" getting thrown around fairly regularly, I'm afraid that there might be a loss of understanding among those who do not frequent FT. Those people who look down their nose also do a great job of looking like they come off as better than those other people who do fly WN or regularly sit in Y, whether because of their personal means or their lack of status.

Long story short: perception is way more important than truth. And the truth is that a perception of elitism is dominant here. YMMV of course.
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Old Jun 16, 2008, 5:45 pm
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Originally Posted by United737522
HERE
Thoughts?

He is so wrong. He uses examples that can be applied to any passenger, elite or discount coach. I just .....
Talk about generalizations! I mean, if I was next to a guy giving me tips on how to get a free drink and generally sharing the ins and outs of the system, I'd be pretty happy. Sure there are some people who have affluenza of the air travel strain, but for the most part he's way off the mark.
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Old Jun 16, 2008, 5:49 pm
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See threads: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=835137

and

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=835092

And..

Does "Ombudsman" mean ***hole?
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Old Jun 16, 2008, 5:49 pm
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There are a lot of things I'd put on the list of "what has ruined air travel" before I have elites on there. All of his gripes are legitimate, to a degree, but they're relatively minor problems.
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Old Jun 16, 2008, 5:52 pm
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Originally Posted by RandyNZ
Perhaps he's trying to recreate the airline version of the French Revolution?
-"Let them eat pretzels!"

-"Off with their headsets!"

-"Cozy knitted travel booties for sale at Mme. Defarge.com!"
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Old Jun 16, 2008, 6:26 pm
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i read the article. what people need to realize is that flying sucks and flying alot really sucks, so paying a premium to make it tolerable when you are flying constantly makes sense for the business traveller. If you are a travel editor flying for pleasure on your once a month jaunt, you are not the world weary customer the airlines need to be profitable--so they won;t cater to you.
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Old Jun 17, 2008, 5:22 am
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What a jerk!

His mention of Flyertalk in a negative light was unwarranted.

I've seen a much higher percentage of "issues" coming from coach than I've ever seen from the front of the plane. Any of us that fly weekly know this to be true.

In one way or another, people pay to be in first class, if someone in coach wants "the best of both worlds", they need to book in business class (if their airline has 'middle class') and shut up.

You can always bring your own food on board, save money on the flight and smile all the way to your destination knowing you pocketed a bundle. Slap on the noise-cancelling headphones, blinders and a real pillow and you're all set.

Leave the folks in the front of the plane alone. We're paying for the airline to exist for your benefit!
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Old Jun 17, 2008, 6:12 am
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I'd love to know what airline he is flying with gourmet meals with unlimited alcohol being served in F. I wouldn't call any food served on a domestic flight gourmet and on an international flight with a few exceptions, you still get free alcohol in Y so that can't be a differentiator. (Of course, he isn't the food critic so maybe he just has really bad taste in food). Since he mentioned the 'red carpet' it sounds like United - if he thinks their food on any flight is gourmet then all I have to say is wow!

The rest of his article is typical tall poppy class baiting. Yes, there are obnoxious elites, and yes there are obnoxious first class passengers. There are however obnoxious people in every walk of life, and in every part of a plane. You just notice peoples behavior more when you are sitting shoulder to shoulder with them with few distractions.

Clearly he has never watched "Airline" and seen the behavior of passengers on Southwest - an airline that has no elites, no first class, no frills etc - plenty of downright obnoxious people there. (Interestingly if you compare it to the UK version of the show with Easyjet, there seemed like a lot less obnoxious people on Easyjet (well other than drunk footballers). Both airlines have the same model, just different nationalities of passengers - and of course different film editors)

The fact is, if he has such a problem with elites and first class passengers, he can get pretty much anywhere in the country on Southwest, JetBlue, and Spirit and never have to worry about red carpets, lavish meals, or self-entitled card wavers again. Of course, he wouldn't get an F class seat then....
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Old Jun 17, 2008, 8:26 am
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Who cares what he writes? Jerks are jerks no matter who or where they are seated.

Cheers
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