Lifehacker offers up some tips on social engineering (the “cool” and “conscious” way to say manipulating) tactics to employ if you would like to get your airplane seat bumped up to first class. Note too, the comments. Some prefer the snug feeling of a warm blanket of honesty than the plushness of a wide leather site in the front berth.
airlines
The Setting Sun of Delta, Ah! It Burns!
By 5.1.06
It’s not just cleaning the airplanes, now customer service appears to be on a volunteer basis as well. Dawn writes in a horrific tale of a flight from Dallas to Orlando that ended up taking over a day.
Continental’s Customer Service Plane Goes Boom
By 4.27.06
Thanks to Continental’s incompetence, Adam had to spend an entire night on the floor of the Newark airport.
Fly the Friendly Skies in a Coffin
By 4.25.06
Call it “Standing Tomb Only” airplane seating, a new cost-cutting measure proposes shuttling passengers across the sky strapped into coffin-sized spaces.
Delta, Signalling Impending Doom, Asks Workers to Volunteer to Clean Aircraft
By 4.20.06
Delta workers, how would you like a free t-shirt?
For a Cause, Stewardesses Take Naughty Poses
By 4.18.06
United Airline attendants are stripping to their skivvies and draping themselves over WWII trainer planes, to raise money and awareness about retiring stewardesses being stripped of their pensions.
AirTran Wins, Midwest Loses in Fastest Telephone Customer Service
By 4.17.06
Here’s the results of our week-long investigation into how fast it took airlines to pick up the phone.
Time to Human, Airlines, Day 5
By 4.14.06
All week we’ve been calling the airlines to see how long it takes their customer service reps to answer the phone. Here’s today’s rankings:
Time to Human, Airlines, Day 4
By 4.13.06
Midwest, while once again the loser, performed slightly better today.
Air India Now Offers Business Caste Seating
By 4.13.06
The inimitable Onion peels back another layer of airline customer service and bares the soul of humanity. That’s fillet of sole, of course, reheated and served in a hermetically sealed container, for $8.99.
Time to Human, Airlines, Day 3
By 4.12.06
Nothing can stop us from calling up all the airlines and comparing how fast it takes a carbon-based life form to pick up the phone. Not even the tinkly pianissimo of Midwest’s hold line. We foil all the automated response system’s attempts to pry out more information about an actual ticket using the short circuit shortcuts provided by GetHuman.
Time to Human, Airlines, Day 2
By 4.11.06
We’re calling the major airlines this week to see how long it takes them to pick up.
Swiss Air Price Efficiency Like Broken Cuckoo Clock
By 4.11.06
Has Swiss International Airline been snorting fermented milk-maiden lactate?
Time to Human, Airlines, Day 1
By 4.10.06
The statistics train keeps on rolling. We called up many major airlines this afternoon and here’s how long it took for them to pick up.
Shocking New Evidence Reveals Airlines Suck
By 4.6.06
Department of Proving What We Already Know: A study shows that airline quality and consumer satisfaction has plummeted to new lows.
Airplanes Start Charging You For Peanuts
By 4.4.06
In Ireland, we have a discount flyer called RyanAir. Although flying in a RyanAir jet is hygenically similar to flying through the friendly skies in a Time Square porn theater circa Taxi Driver, you can fly to most of Europe’s hot spots for as little as a couple euros, if you order your tickets a couple months in advance. Of course, where they gouge you is in buying standard airplane amentities. A vacuum-sealed bag of peanuts will cost you more than you paid for your ticket. 250ml cans of soda cost more per milliliter than liquid smack. And so on.
Continental’s Tagline Enrages Man, to Comedic Effect
By 3.24.06
Continental’s tagline always reminds us off that old jazz standard about heroin addiction, “Straighten Up and Fly Right.”
