[originalbuckeye]

I usually like Southwest. Just had a trip where both the flight attendants in the front couldn’t have cared less about service. As one came through with a trash bag, I asked if I could get another soda. Didn’t acknowledge my request, but later did come back with the soda. Maybe it was a racial thing though, as I am white.

[Dr. Sivana]

It's not so hard to understand why this is: lack of competition.

I have lived in cities with three cable companies. They don't get any better. People shop on price and offerings, not on quality of service or meeting service windows. The same thing with airlines. Most people shop on price/convenience.

To the degree there is less competition, it is because the product/service sold does not lend itself to numerous players. It is not like bottled barbeque sauce where there can be dozens of players fighting for store shelf space or sales on Amazon. Only a handful will run lines on the phone line right-of-ways. If they lease lines from existing players (like competing phone companies do), it is hardly a separate offering. There are only so many landing slots at airports, so those airlines with a hub presence (e.g. Delta in Atlanta, United in Chicago) have a huge advantage.

And yet, even cable companies and airlines do have competition. The competition for cable companies is satellite, rooftop antennas and broadband Internet.

The competition for airlines is alternative airports, people's personal cars, and (in the Boston-DC corridor) Amtrak.

[Tenacious 1]

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[exDemMom]

My son and I flew Spirit last year, and were unimpressed. For a bargain airline, the tickets were somewhat pricy, and they charged for everything. Most airlines serve drinks and snacks for free, but not Spirit.

Delta, on the other hand, not only served free drinks twice on a 3 hour flight but also several snacks. In addition, they upgraded my seat (free of charge) to one where I had tons of legroom and actually had to stretch to reach my carry-on stowed under the seat ahead of me.

I’ll avoid Spirit in the future.