Thumbs Up and Thumbs Down for Airline

There was a road trip last week from Des Moines and I feel compelled to share an experience  with one of the major airlines.  I am certain these remarks will be received favorably, well, almost. 

The itinerary was from Des Moines to Denver to Spokane for a week’s worth of work for Optimist International www.optimist.orgwww.optimist.org.  The flight to Denver was uneventful on United Airlines, www.ual.com one that I have made several times on an Airbus 319.  Turns out the same plane was used on the second leg and I actually wound up in the same seat.  It’s what happened at the end of the flight that is of note.

I gathered my belongings, deplaned, got my luggage and was picked up by the shuttle  to my destination in Coeur d’ Alene.  It was then I realized, my tablet and keyboard were still in the front seat pocket of seat 10B. Panic raced through my mind for two reasons. There was a lot of important stuff on the tablet and I felt I would never see I again.  The other thought was how was I going to tell my wife back home that I was absent minded enough to be dumb enough to leave something like that on an airplane.  (I just told her, since I know she reads my blog) J

I called United, made a lost and file claim and hoped.  (Said a prayer too) I would have to wait two days before I could expect to hear anything. Turns out the tablet was found in the seat pocket of United Economy Plus by a gate agent.  I had it back in less than three days and obviously it still works fine since this was written on it.  Kudos go out to the folks from United for the system in place to find  lost or in this case, left behind items.  It’s a top notch system.

Now, remember almost?  I flew economy home and not economy plus for a reason and that’s the price. I believe the airline is getting a little greedy when it comes to pricing for the sake of an additional six inches of leg room.  When considering Economy Plus on the way home I was astounded that seats for a two hour and 14 minute flight were between $79 and $89.  (Exit row seating even higher)  Is the cost of nearly $15 per extra inch of legroom really worth it. (the exit rows were empty until people moved into them, at no cost just before takeoff.)

It’s the opinion of this frequent flier that United would probably glean more revenue if pricing for those extra inches was a little bit more reasonable. An extra 90 bucks for legroom is a bit much.

Did I mention Thailand……next time on the blog.