7 things airline companies wouldn’t tell you – words Al Woods
Image taken from Unsplash.com
More than ever before, we can witness millions of people across the globe taken into the sky. Safety, speed, convenience, and comfort are just some of the many reasons many people prefer air travel. Some of the major reasons range from vacation trips to business, personal, and medical reasons.
As a result of stiff competition, passenger satisfaction has improved, not forgetting that fares have really gone down. As the airline industry keeps innovating and expanding different options and services to meet customer satisfaction, still, the industry falls short of some few aspects. And there are so many things that you probably don’t know about what goes on in the airline industry, with your airline company or on the plane you’re traveling on.
In this piece, we’ll look at seven things airline companies won’t tell you.
1. You May Have No Legal Rights to Fight Overbooking
Just like in any other business, airline companies need to meet certain financial targets and goals. They may, therefore, go through some extreme measures in order to meet these goals. And just like we had earlier mentioned, the fact that the industry is experiencing stiff competition can be reason enough for them to overbook. In addition to this, the moment you’re booked in, you automatically accept the company’s terms and conditions. This means that you may be forced to forfeit your seat at some point.
However, delayed flights, on the other hand may qualify for compensation or refund. Steve Hill from DelayedFlights.org explains that if your flight is delayed for more than three hours, you can receive compensation from the airline. The same applies when your flight is canceled by your airline due to reasons from their own part. As a matter of fact, some airline companies will even refund you for overbooked flights, especially in the UK.
2. They Are Stingy on Fuel
Even the price of aviation fuel keeps on fluctuating, there’s no denying that it is still costly considering the amount of fuel a plane engine uses per hour. According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), planes are only required to take off with 45 minutes extra fuel. They don’t operate the same way you fill up your tank before a long trip. This extra fuel is what they use in case the plane is delayed for landing. Luckily, only about 0.5% of crashes have been due to fuel exhaustion.
3. Your Pilot May Be Taking A Nap
Isn’t it a good thing that the cockpit is out of bounds? This way, no one would ever know what’s going on behind the doors. Why else would they come up with the term auto-piloting? This is a system that does exactly that. The pilot doesn’t always steer the aircraft. With the right coordinates in the system, most of their work is cut out. So, from time to time, your pilot may be nodding off.
4. It’s Not as Clean as It Looks
Well, not every airline company will have strict hygienic measures on their planes. This is why you should always ensure to bring your own sanitizing towels, your own clean blankets, and never walk barefoot on the carpet. It’s been spilled on with everything you can imagine.
5. The Seats Are Getting Smaller
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If you thought that you were going crazy, well, be assured that you are ok. Back in the day, the average legroom was about 35 inches. This has so far been shrunk down to 31 inches. This is to squeeze in more seats into the plane. Soon, they may require to fill out your height and weight before booking you in.
6. The Oxygen Masks Don’t Last for Long
They come in handy especially when the cabin is depressurized. However, what they don’t tell you is that the oxygen masks are attached to oxygen tanks that contain a limited supply of oxygen to last you for 15 minutes. But, it’s both safe and more efficient this way than having a bunch of oxygen canisters, which may be highly explosive.
7. Planes Get Struck By Lighting
Statistically, flying is the safest means to travel. But some things may get you off balance if you come to think about it. Your worry isn’t the lighting though, its strong winds. Planes have been designed to take powerful jolts of lightning strikes.
Now, with that in mind, it’s fair to mention that technology is on our side. But as the competition soars on, things may work well towards better service delivery as well as safety. All in all, these are some of the things you should never expect an airline company to tell you.
