On: Max: Boeing 'inappropriately coached' pilots in te...

[helsinkiandrew]

> Investigators accused Boeing and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) officials of "attempting to cover up important information".

This will hamper peoples trust in both Boeing and the FAA for years. It doesn't take much for flyers to choose an alternate flight that isn't on a Boeing. And for overseas aviation authorities to not trust FAA airworthiness certificates.

[avh02 → helsinkiandrew]

you'd be surprised at how often they'll change a plane out. In europe at least I tend to get told about that, but not sure how much of a right i have to object to or refund that flight. Pretty sure part of the terms and conditions are "we can change your plane out for operational reasons".

[waheoo → avh02]

So ask for a ticket with the terms of conditions allowing you to refuse that switch and be able to wait for a suitable replacement.

[umanwizard → waheoo]

Are you seriously suggesting it’s possible for normal consumers to negotiate boilerplate in airline ticket contracts?

[markdown → umanwizard]

Maybe they meant pay for a more expensive ticket. In my country the national airline sells different types of tickets. You can get cheap non-refundable, non-transferable tickets, or you can pay more to get a ticket that allows you to reschedule any time.

[waheoo → umanwizard]

Yes.

Are you suggesting they can't?

I didn't say they would succeed, but that's not really the point. If people don't ask for this, no airline will implement it.

The airline industry has made customer segmentation an artform. They manage to charge hundreds of people different prices for the exact same service.

You don't think they can add a premium upgrade that lets you choose the aircraft type?

Get outta here.

Maybe that's what's wrong with the world. People aren't taught to ask for the things they want and just blindly accept the status quo.

Don't bother responding. The downvotes for my suggestion speaks for itself.

Sheople.

[II2II → waheoo]

> I didn't say they would succeed, but that's not really the point. If people don't ask for this, no airline will implement it.

If you address the right people in the right way in writing, you may elicit a written response and (if you're extremely lucky) some form of compensation. It is very doubtful that many companies that can afford a 747 Max will change their operations unless political pressure is put on them due to an extreme imbalance of power.

If we lived in a world where the imbalance did not exist, things would be different. In some cases, we can see that in smaller airlines which tend to be more responsive to customer concerns and needs. But those companies are flying much smaller planes to start with.

[waheoo → II2II]

There are plenty of operators that already have flight routes not serviced by Boeing. They would more than happy to guarantee certain tickets a certain flight with a certain seat.