I've been away for a week and I have a lot on my mind. Not that having a lot on my mind is so unusual. It's the being away for a week part that is. Really.
First, let me tell you what happened to me on my way home from Chicago. Tell me if it doesn't give you a window into the world of some airlines and help explain why they are having a tough time making ends meet.
On my packed US Airways flight back to Pittsburgh, a stewardess asked if three people wouldn't mind being put on the next flight to the 'Burgh in return for a round trip ticket anywhere. Two people put their hands up. I held back. When I saw two uniformed pilots come on board, I knew my "position" was stronger. They had to get a crew to Pittsburgh and they needed one last seat! I raised my hand and told the stewardess I would give up my seat for two tix. She said "oh no." I told her to feel free to come back if things didn't work and that I was still willing to trade.... for two. Three minutes later, she was back and now I'm sitting at home with two free round-trip tix thinking my winter ski trip to Colorado is one step closer to reality!
The plane they put me on got me home only 30-minutes later than I was originally scheduled. Why? Because it was more than three hours late arriving in Chicago, having been held up because a worker installing carpet had apparently left a cutting tool on the plane. Before they figured that out though, all the passengers had to disembark the plane and go through security. All the luggage had to be re-screened as well.
What do these two instances tell me? That airlines are cutting too many corners too close. The scheduled crews that day likely left no wiggle room. A delay here or there and the next thing you know, the entire schedule collapses unless you can get a crew someplace to fly a plane someplace else. As for the cutter, do we really want to know that nearly two years after 9/11, there was no screening of the plane coming out of the work hangar and that the cutting tool was only found by chance? There is no comfort for flyers with that thought in their head.
Next up, a thanks to all of you reading this column and checking out this web site. Thepittsburghchannel.com had nearly 7 million page views last month. Thats the second largest number ever. Second only to wintry, stormy January. I guess this Internet thing is catching on, eh?
By the way, our coverage of the Democratic National Convention was a destination for a lot of viewers. With team coverage of the goings on, three primetime hours a night of streaming plus being the home of "shove it", is there any wonder. Seriously, Pittsburgh is a Presidential hotspot. The rich delegate pool from Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio can all be reached through TV & Internet here and there is no shortage of "opportunities" from both camps.
We'll close this column with a "thank you" to Peggy Phillip. Peggy is the longtime News Director at WMC in Memphis and an all around great person. So great in fact that she "linked" her Memphis blog to this column last week because of all the interest in the Teresa Heinz Kerry remarks. Yes, those remarks. You should know that our coverage on this site and on WTAE was the standard by which other media was judged. That makes you media savvy, because you already knew that. So, thanks to you too!
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