WE went to a party last night and the host was a man who is an Air Traffic Controller at the Hilliard Fl Air Traffic center. He hired on in 1981 after President Regan fired the controllers who went on strike and now has 25 years in and is counting the days to retire out. The FAA is on a serious recruitng mission as many controllers that came on in the early 80's will be retiring soon.
According to him the FAA has not kept up wiith the increase in air traffic. He said they are have twice the workload and half the work force they they used to have. Something to ponder when you are at 35,000 feet.
I asked him from his perspective what are the best and the worst airlines to fly on. He said the top ones are,SouthWest,Air Tran,Jet Blue and Continental. The flight crews are pleasant,acknowlede instructions and work with the controllers.
The worst are Delta and NorthWest,both companies have forced their flight crews to give major concessions in their pay and benefits.
Delta guys sometimes go out of their way to screw Delta, at times they will "bust a clearance" deliberately and then get vectored to the rear thus using more fuel and crew hours. NorthWest in addition to having disgruntled flight crews is stll flying 35 year old DC 9's that dod not have modern GPS navagational aids. GPS aids can get the planes to fly on a direct course in,but NorthWest planes have to dogleg in the old way.
So keep that in mind for your next reservation. During the Speedco Tour I used, SouthWest, AirTran, US Air, and Delta. I liked Air Tran the best as you get free XM out of your seat arm rest, they give you a cheapie head set and you can listen to Dave Nemo at 30,000 feet.
According to him the FAA has not kept up wiith the increase in air traffic. He said they are have twice the workload and half the work force they they used to have. Something to ponder when you are at 35,000 feet.
I asked him from his perspective what are the best and the worst airlines to fly on. He said the top ones are,SouthWest,Air Tran,Jet Blue and Continental. The flight crews are pleasant,acknowlede instructions and work with the controllers.
The worst are Delta and NorthWest,both companies have forced their flight crews to give major concessions in their pay and benefits.
Delta guys sometimes go out of their way to screw Delta, at times they will "bust a clearance" deliberately and then get vectored to the rear thus using more fuel and crew hours. NorthWest in addition to having disgruntled flight crews is stll flying 35 year old DC 9's that dod not have modern GPS navagational aids. GPS aids can get the planes to fly on a direct course in,but NorthWest planes have to dogleg in the old way.
So keep that in mind for your next reservation. During the Speedco Tour I used, SouthWest, AirTran, US Air, and Delta. I liked Air Tran the best as you get free XM out of your seat arm rest, they give you a cheapie head set and you can listen to Dave Nemo at 30,000 feet.
