Carol Anne Gotbaum in Police CustodyIgnorance seems to be everywhere. Countless times on the evening news we here about people getting beaten and robbed in broad day light, all the while surrounded by bystanders who do absolutely nothing. If you still don’t believe me just read this winner:

91-Year-Old Beating Victim Calls Bystanders ‘Low-Class’

So it’s no surprise I guess that so many people just kept on walking by Carol Anne Gotbaum in Phoenix International Airport on September 28 as she just screamed in vain, alone.

People heard “I’m not a terrorist!!!” over and over, labeled her as loony and kept on walking. What she was really saying was “I need help!” but no one wanted to or bothered to interpret that from her screams. Finally when TSA agents did approach her, I assume she was labeled as such by them too because their action’s judged by the video reflected as much. Of course the airport police showed up shortly there after and simply ‘followed procedure…’ That involved 4(?) cops pouncing on Mrs. Gotbaum, and proceeding to drag her to the worst possible place - A holding cell, but to her it was probably a dungeon in the belly of a big ominous metropolitan superstructure lacking of feelings or emotions. No one did anything to comfort her - It’s all just ‘procedure’ anymore anyway, right?

This is clearly a case of a person in trouble, not a person who was any kind of real threat. She’s a middle aged mother of 3 for God sakes- Not a terrorist, as Mrs. Gotbaum tried to say so hard in vain.

If people just cared a little more, maybe just went out of their way that day in the airport, I predict Mrs. Gotbaum could have gotten out of there even before the police showed up. Her husband thinks so too-

You can read the CNN article regarding that here.

I would have approached Mrs. Gotbaum with a caring tone, a respectful attitude, and a willingness to help, but that’s just me. Call me too sensitive, or call me whatever you want.

But definitely don’t call me ignorant.
~Capt’n Chris

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President Bush at O’Hare in 2001From the way it looks, 2007 will be the worst year for delays and cancellations of any on record. 28% of flights in the first seven months were delayed, cancelled or diverted.

Back on July 6th of this year I wrote an article entitled Summer 2007 To Be Worst EVER For Delays! Near the end of that article I predicted that if the airlines didn’t do something themselves about all these problems, the government would.

So, it’s no surprise that recently President Bush directed aviation officials and regulators to reduce air traffic delays by next summer so we don’t get a repeat of this one. Last month Bush enlisted Transportation Secretary Mary Peters to work with the industry and report back by year-end with some solutions. Possibilities such as government-mandated flight reductions, capacity caps and congestion pricing are all being studied.

Although very premature at this point, I still think we should at least examine the prospect of another possibility- Could the airline industry ever face complete re-regulation? Or at least a re-regulated state of existence to the extent that the government would have a larger role in controlling what the airlines do then it does now, but not quite what it had when the industry was a regulated entity?

Alright, I’ll go first…
(If you were a member you could post comments below - Register Here)

Sure that’s a possibility (I’m no expert, I just point the plane) but personally I don’t think the government really wants to regulate the airline industry again, and here’s a few reasons why.

• A large preoccupation in the Middle East with it’s associated capital expenditures and government resource requirements
• A much stronger national environment today arguing in favor of less government is more
• A lot of pressure from the airline lobby

With the worst year on record so far with delays and their resulting customer unhappiness, I thought re-regulation would be an interesting prospect to at least take a look at. Either way, 2007 is sure to be a benchmark for all future measurements of airline performance.

~Capt’n Chris

Filed under: Editorials | |

Well yesterday I got into a (somewhat heated) debate over my last post, Southwest and the “Tail(s) of Two Hotties.” Granted it was with a friend, actually one of my best friends, who is just as opinionated as I am, so go figure. But I have a lot of respect for him, he raised some good points, and I would like to re-post them here. Note: I did ask him to sign up for the site but he’s rather busy as the founder of a big company and so I understand as he just doesn’t have any time except for that required of an occasional visit now and then. For the sake of anonymity, I’ll just refer to him as LKKIII.

My friend’s main points:

• Southwest should not be telling it’s customers how to dress
• Hottie #1 is not looking for 15 minutes of fame
• Southwest should put it’s customers first, not it’s employees
• My friend’s quote: “I wouldn’t have thought you’d have a problem with skimpy dressed women on airplanes, I was surprised”

I’m going to address my friend’s points now.

Southwest should not be telling it’s customers how to dress
I agree, but I guess I just didn’t do a good enough job of saying that in the post- My main focus was on the 15 minutes of fame element, the part I still disagree with as far as everything is concerned.

Hottie #1 is not looking for 15 minutes of fame
My friend said that Hottie #1 is being offered money and invites to appear on national TV, as opposed to pursuing it. Well I suppose that’s true. But isn’t Hottie #2? I can’t imagine she isn’t… So where has she been?

Southwest should put it’s customers first, not it’s employees
Ah…. Okay well I understand that’s a staple of modern business today, and I’m not going to argue with someone of my friend’s statue and position in the business world over it. I’m not saying that’s wrong either.

But exactly not doing that is one of the things that has made Southwest “work.” What I mean by that is this: In an industry where employee morale seems to determine to a large extent an airline’s ultimate success or failure, Southwest has demonstrated that by empowering their employees and making them feel important, they then become owners and therefore show a higher sense of concern for the company’s overall well being by default. Southwest president Colleen Barrett recently stated “We are in the customer-service business; we happen to offer air transportation. We consider our employees to be our number one customer, our passengers our second and our shareholders our third. If we give great customer service to our employees as leaders, they will in turn provide it to their customers, who are the passengers. And the rewards will be there for our shareholders.” I believe that any company is only as good as it’s employees.

My friend’s quote: “I wouldn’t have thought you’d have a problem with skimpy dressed women on airplanes, I was surprised”
I don’t. In fact the last thing I typed was: “Maybe Southwest will see all this as a wake up call and finally revert to it’s old (and much more preferred - Author) flight attendant uniforms…? Fingers crossed”

And with that I leave you with this: Go to Southwest’s website and take advantage of their new “Skimpy Fares” sale!

And to my friend, thank you for your interesting viewpoints and I hope to one day see you join up here.

~Capt’n Chris

Filed under: Editorials | |

Kyla Ebbert - Hottie #1Well it sure seems like Southwest Airlines has been in the news a lot lately, and none of these recent news worthies have had anything to do with cheap fares. First it was an attractive, young, and very blond Hooters Waitress named Kyla Ebbert. Then it was Setara Qassim, an equitably hot brunette who was asked by a Southwest Flight Attendant to cover up as well. [Her assets also, presumably? Author].

I won’t get into the details of either [newsworthy?] story as the networks have done a fine job of saturating us with that. But, I did come away from both of these ‘ordeals’ with additional observations (other then the obvious) that I’d like to share with you. And for the sake of complete grammatical laziness, from now on I will refer to the young women, Kyla Ebbert and Setara Qassim, as Hottie #1 and Hottie #2, respectively.

Okay, where do I begin? Well for starters a lot of people are saying that Hottie #1’s skirt wasn’t too short, but I did find a reference to something shall we say, quite interesting. In doing research for this article, I found this: On NationalLedger.Com, they talk about the Good Morning America interview with Matt Lauer, specially when Hottie #1 sat down. You could say it was sort of like Sharon Stone’s famous “exposure” in the movie Basic Instinct. Except with panties on (white panties, to be exact). And this was the same skirt Hottie #1 was wearing on the Southwest flight. Go figure! Unless it’s already been edited, you can see what I’m talking about by clicking this link, you pervert.

Moving on, if you’re a beautiful young female with a stronger balance sheet then ExxonMobil and a flight attendant tells you to cover up, how far you run with it when you get off the airplane is up to you- Or, you could just jump right out of the airplane at 35,000 feet and start early. It sure seems as though Hottie #1 did just that, doesn’t it? I mean she’s been on every news broadcast around. I wouldn’t be surprised if she even goes on Dr. Phil to work through her Southwest inspired “trauma.”

Update: Since starting this article I’ve learned that Hottie #1 is really going on Dr. Phil! Yes!!! The show is set to air on Tuesday, September 18, 2007. If you don’t believe me, CLICK HERE or HERE. Folks I wish I could make this stuff up, really, I’d be in a whole different career.

Now, I don’t want you to think I don’t have any compassion here folks, really… I do! What both of these women went through must have been embarrassing. I just have a problem in general with what people are willing to do in order to get 15 minutes of fame. Southwest said it apologised back in August and it should have been left at that.

So, having to deal with one woman’s pursuit of fame at their expense, Southwest has decided to take this story run with it themselves. And so in their typical good old fashioned humor, they’ve turned it into a marketing ploy with the Skimpy Fare sale for the next 10 days… And I say good for Southwest.

But at first Southwest wasn’t going to apologise for anything. In wanting to uphold the time honored tradition of putting their employees first, Southwest president Colleen Barrett said in a speech recently at Texas Christian University “I just can’t do that to the customer service supe (supervisor), he handled the situation discreetly and with patience, and he did not deny her boarding.” According to that same source Barret also said “I’m sure she will probably have a movie contract by next week…”

Setara Qassim
Hottie #2Hottie #2 has yet to do much of anything along any of the same attention getting lines (that I could find), other then this interview. Why? I have no idea. Perhaps she realized she actually wouldn’t get long lasting fame and fortune from it.

Out of curiosity though, I did an extensive Internet search on Hottie #2, however. Other then the usual single news article, re-printed on various news sources, I did find something interesting. Hottie #2’s picture came up on a WireImage.Com listing from 2006. In case you’ve never heard of WireImage, their About Us page says in part that they’re “an authority for celebrity imagery.” Here’s the picture I’m referring to: here.

I presume it’s the same person as in the WireImage photo. That distinctive name, same hair color, figure, etc. It was taken at the Korn “See You on the Other Side” Tour Launch Party at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery on Friday January 13, 2006 in LA. And actually I have no idea what to make of it other then she’s Hollywood Elite who frequents such events. But WireImage took the time to take her pic, cite her name, etc and I just find that interesting. A Google search of the other girl (her sister?) in the pic doesn’t return anything meaningful and life-changing either. Oh well, poo-hoo I’m devastated.

And with that folks… This dog, goat, horse & pony show must come to an end. Or will it? Maybe Southwest will see all this as a wake up call and finally revert to it’s old (and much more preferred - Author) flight attendant uniforms…?

Fingers crossed!
~Capt’n Chris

Filed under: Editorials | |

This is my least favorite day of the year. I wasn’t even going to make a post about it. I’m so disgusted by the events of September 11th, 2001 that I can’t stand to think about it- What it did to over 3,000 people… What it did to the world we live in now…. What it did to my industry. All of it… I hate it.

But then it dawned on me that people are starting to forget that day. Not that they’re forgetting the actual date, but rather, they’re forgetting how that day made them feel. People are like that, it’s just more comfortable for them. But that works to our disadvantage, because as soon as we forget, we get attacked again.

The videos of the jets slamming into the towers on 9/11 should be played every September 11th, if that’s what it’s going to take to keep people from forgetting.

Goodnight all
~Capt’n Chris

Filed under: Editorials | |