[nagdu] Air Charters and the Future

Tue Aug 18 20:13:19 UTC 2009

Hello again Linda and listers,

    Personally I'm tired of the attitude and lack of innovation among 
airlines when it comes to addressing these issues that would benefit both us 
and them. As far as I'm concerned all they do is give us excuses for not 
implementing suggestions the flying public gives them. If only one of them 
would take these suggestions seriously and act on them things would change 
for the better. If they continue on their current course I would have no 
hard feelings if they all crashed and burned! I'm saying this based on all 
of the horror stories many of us have heard on the news or experienced over 
the years particularly when it came to blindness-related issues.

        The move away from scheduled airtravel to the use of air charters is 
all ready taking wing and at a very rapid rate. Thus the skys are all ready 
filling with planes full of passengers tired of the commercial airtravel rat 
race. I was surprised to discover that for the cost of two first-class 
tickets on a commercial carrier we could charter a turbo prop or a small jet 
for the same price and receive superior service. If you use your favorite 
search engine to look up "Air charters" or similar searches you'll be 
surprised with what you come up with.

    Air taxi service isn't to far off either. A network of air taxi services 
is expected to be in place by the year 2015. As for too many planes in the 
air more people will fly around on chartered planes and there will be fewer 
commercial jets in the air. When the air charter move gains more momentum 
I'm sure it will bring about its own set of accessibility and other concerns 
for guide dog teams. Just wanted to give everyone a heads-up on the future 
of airtravel.

Peter Donahue

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Linda Gwizdak" <linda.gwizdak at cox.net>
To: "NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users" 
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Tuesday, August 18, 2009 1:39 PM
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Air Charters and the extra seat

Peter,
It sure would be nice if the airlines put in wider seats. But, dream on, we
all know that the airlines seem to be nickel and diming us for everything
and they want to cram in as many people as possible. I don't like what is
going on and I fly as little as possible.

Charter planes?  Could be a good alternative to look into.  But I don't
think this would become a real common thing because logistacally speaking -
what would happen with the skies clogged with aircraft like a Los Angeles
freeway? But, a great thought! (grin!)

Linda and Landon
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Peter Donahue" <pdonahue1 at sbcglobal.net>
To: "NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users"
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Saturday, August 15, 2009 9:50 AM
Subject: [nagdu] Air Charters and the extra seat

>
> Hello Dar and listers,
>
>        We're leaving for our chapter meeting in a bit so I'll be brief.
> Fortunately the flight to Detroit wasn't full so I was able to fly
> courtesy
> of Southwest but was required to purchess the extra seat to come home. And
> interestingly enough the flights back to San Antonio weren't completely
> full. Southwest refunded the extra seat amount, but this is an
> embarassing,
> patronizing, and one more way the airlines "Flex their muscles" to clean
> out
> the pockets of the flying publics. Installing extra-wide seats and selling
> them for a slightly higher fare would be a far better alternative than
> insulting someone in front of a plane full of passengers. There is a move
> a
> foot to urge airlines to install extra-wide seats to better acommodate
> large
> passengers without their being subject to such disgusting treatment. NAGDU
> and the NFB may want to jump on this move as extra-wide seats would mean
> more room for large dogs to occupy. Mr. President I believe this is food
> for
> thought.
>
>    One more thing I find unfortunate is that the obeas are the
> "Scapegoats"
> that get the worst insults. The attitude of the ignorant and the
> uninformed
> is that the way to not having to buy an extra seat when you fly is to lose
> weight. Their are individuals whose body structure or who have other
> medical
> conditions that make the need for additional seat space necessary.
>
>    I've heard that on many charter flights this is less of a problem as
> seating is far more luxurius and they tend to be wider. The standard seat
> width in coach on a commercial airliner is 17 inches. Basically the policy
> is that if you can't fit in that amount of space with both seat arms down
> you must purchess an additional seat. Oh yes. And the airlines say it's
> FAA
> policy and a matter of safety. Sound familliar? I checked both the FAA and
> DOT Web Sites and did not find any such seating criteria on either one.
> Again doesn't this sound familliar? These Passenger of Size, (POS)
> policies
> are set by individual airlines and not the FAA as the airlines want you to
> believe.
>
>    If the move to require airlines to install extra-wide seating to better
> accommodate passengers of size gathers momentum this could benefit guide
> dog
> users as such seating would enable large dogs to fit under them more
> comfortably hence something for us to consider and to possibly take a
> position on in the future. Now I gotta go.
>
> Peter Donahue
>
>
>
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