Air Travel insights

I work for an airline. I like my job. Those usually are oxymoronic statements, but they are true. In my position I get to see and help with the daily behind the scene operations of the airline on the day-to-day level. With all the news revolving around how airlines are doing a horrible job I have just one thing to say. Poppycock! Airlines are in one of the hardest industries to operate. It's not due to competition. It's not due to environmental issues. It's not due to product quality. It's due to government interferrence and utter fiscal incompetence.
The airlines have pumped BILLIONS of dollars into the federal coffers under the guise of developing and implementing a new Air Traffic Control system. After all, the current one is from the 1950's! Yes that's right. It's 50 year old technology. Did they even call it "technology" back then? And after all these years and the billions of dollars collected in taxes has anything been done? Nope. The airlines are all investing in new technology that is high tech. We spend millions on top of millions to ensure our flights are safe, efficient and economical. Traveling by air has never been safer or less expensive than it is now. But you'd be surprised what we see everyday. The common Customer checks bags, travels occasionally and has few if any problems along their trip. Then there are the business customers. They are the road warriors. They know how to travel to make the most of their flights. What time to go, what to pack, how the system works. They are the ones who are most understanding when weather stands between you and your destination. They realize that it's not the fault of the employee at the gate or ticket counter that the flight is late or broken or oversold. They are the ones that make life easy. Then there are the customers who travel once every 150 years. They check in a transmission for a 1975 Buick and wonder why they are charged extra since it only weighs 140 lbs. Heck, bubba carried it in from the car. They want meal service on a 45 min flight and expect to get a window seat even if they didn't check in early. They can't understand why the person at the gate didn't hold the flight for them while they stood in line at McDonalds. They pack meats, cheese, bottles of wine, and the medicine they need every 2 hours into their checked bags on a 4 hour flight. Then when the flight is delayed due to weather they don't understand why they can't get their bag that is buried in the aircraft belly under 120 other bags. While it's always a challenge serving even those customers, they are our customers and we'll take them the same as everyone else. We try to help "educate" them as we go hoping that as they travel more they'll come to graduate to frequent traveler or who knows even business customer. But until that happens, can't we at least ask that they wrap up and drain that transmission before they check it in?