Airlines: Take the poor off the plane

by Tom Johansmeyer on

My recent post on passenger rudeness and airline employee customer service generated a considerable amount of discussion. What really struck me was the number of readers who cited the overlapping factors of deregulation, lower fares and increasingly crowded flights. Basically, because flights are cheaper, more people can afford them, and service levels can’t be sustained in light of both increased passenger traffic and ostensibly lower revenue per available seat mile.

So, it seems to me the solution to fear and loathing in the skies is to boot the poor – to make air travel unaffordable. In doing so, you reclaim the regulated-industry experience that everyone seemed to enjoy, whether or not regulation itself is actually necessary.

What I’ve learned from many readers – and airline industry employees – is that we need to return to the days of getting dressed up to fly, dignified behavior and a higher cost for better service. Translation: we need the “right” people in seats … even in coach. And that means setting up financial barriers to entry. If we restrict travel to the elite, the experience, I seem to be hearing, would be far better.Make no mistake about it: every complaint about the impact of low fares on the industry, especially when compared to the days of airline regulation, is a tacit admission that a specific group of people should be excluded from air travel based on disposable income. Of course, any price does this, as you need to have the funds available to purchase an item that’s for sale, but the notion that air travel is too cheap implies that, like an upscale restaurant, it should be inherently exclusive.

With higher fares, limiting air travel only to those who could afford it, fewer people would experience different parts of the country or the world. Some currently flying would have to turn to cars or buses instead. It’s easy to see how these travel experiences, without access to flights, could turn ugly quickly. The flights themselves, however, would be far better, comprised only of passengers with the means to purchase higher-priced tickets.

I, frankly, have no stance on whether air travel should exclude large portions of the proletariat. Rather, I support pricing that is driven by an efficient market (which also means that I’m not a fan of regulation). Yet, I do see the implications of what some would consider to be “appropriate” fares – rather than the cheap stuff we encounter out in the market now – as turning the airlines into a transportation equivalent to a private club.

Is this what people intend through their lamentations about flight pricing?

So, we can solve the customer service problem, it seems, by taking the poor – and perhaps the lower middle class – out of the equation. Those left will have to pay a bit more, but at least they’ll be surrounded by “desirable” travelers. The rest of us? Well, we’ll have plenty of leg room at home, I suspect.

[photo by stevendepolo via Flickr]

Daily Pampering: The art of food and exclusivity at Rao’s New York

by Justin Delaney on

Today’s Daily Pampering comes from one of our Seed.com writers, who found a little luxury – albeit in uncommon form – in a hidden New York gem…

When we walked into Rao’s New York, the record did not scratch to a stop as it does in popular metaphor. We would have welcomed such subtly. It was more akin to the entire record player crashing onto the floor in slow motion. We were out of place, and it was blatantly obvious. Here we were, dressed as though we had a small town prom to get to later in the evening. The rest of the room? Bombastic Italians, casually dressed. I saw a tracksuit or two, t-shirts everywhere, and nary a tie in sight.

“The web,” I nodded discouragingly to myself, “what a freaking liar.”

We had done research for our dinner, and the Internet made a point to instruct us to wear “our nicest clothes.” I had spent an hour that day looking for new cuff links specifically for this meal. Cuff Links, mind you, that no one would ever notice. But I thought what the hell, nice dinner date in New York, best Italian restaurant in the city, and the hardest reservation this side of El Bulli. I am wearing new cuff links, dammit.

Here I threw you in the deep end without properly explaining the context. Rao’s is allegedly the best Italian restaurant in New York. They have 10 tables, 1 dinner seating, and only open their doors Monday through Friday. To mitigate this extremely limited dinner availability, they use a “standing reservation” program with their regulars. Regulars come on the same night weekly, having done so for decades, so they essentially own their table for that specific night. Outside of this, they only take reservations for one or two tables each night, and those reservations go years in advance. They take under 300 new reservations per year, and even sold a reservation on eBay with a $20,000 “buy it now” price. If you call them, an Italian voice plainly instructs that they are no longer taking reservations. This is not a hard place to get into. It is an impossible place to get into.

Rao’s does not welcome you with open arms, provided they welcome you at all. We walked in with our aforementioned prom outfits on, and were immediately presented with a psychological gauntlet. The maitre d’ claimed we had no reservation. He walked into the back for a few minutes, and come back shaking his head. I nervously tugged on my jacket and my date fussed with her small silver clutch. We pulled up emails on our iPhone attempting to outsmart his gambit with hard evidence. This just exasperated the issue because he mistook the date of the message for the date of our reservation. Eventually, he smiled and pointed to a table that had been ready for us before we even walked in. They were just screwing with us.

Our meal felt earned at this point, and we were ready to order. Calm now, I took a slow cursory glance around the room. It appeared as though we had walked straight onto a Scorsese set. I could envision Pesci beating some guy to near death next to the bar while Ray Liotta nervously shuttered the front door. Aside from my imaginative wandering though, the restaurant felt fairly prosaic. I suppose that is the charm. The modest surroundings lend a feel of honesty to the experience that dressing it up would likely disprove. Like the fresh ingredients they use, Rao’s wastes no time on filler with garish aesthetics either.

There is no menu. The maitre d’ came up, sat down, and told us all about their food: the firmness of their fusilli, the freshness of the pomodoro, the thinness of the veal. Had I no restraint, I would have drooled an Arno river into my lap. It was dinner foreplay, and man this guy was a good kisser. The bad blood of our vetting had vanished, and he was extremely affable and gracious. Like a culinary consultant, he helped us design our meal without being even the slightest bit pushy.

Mozzarella was spoken about at length, as were peppers, mussels, and calamari. We settled on 3 antipasti, 2 pastas, a meat course, and 2 desserts. To start, we had some lightly breaded calamari, firm but yielding. We also had a plate of cooked red peppers and delicious fresh mozzarella with tomato and basil to round out our antipasti trio. For pastas, we had a penne vodka and fusilli pomodoro, with a side of meatballs that textured like ambrosia clouds sent from heaven. Lastly, the veal parm came out to thunderous applause, in my head. Rich cheeses smothered the veal just to the brink that it seemed the distinct flavors had reached some sort of bicameral agreement in which neither would overpower the other. Each dish passed the next like Ludwig Van’s slamming hands – intense, perfect, and to be appreciated for a long time.

I pondered if humans could explode, and then I ate more.

The meal was near perfect, easily a 9 out of 10. Dessert was a sliver of homemade New York cheesecake and a few scoops of black raspberry ice cream. So, is Rao’s all hype? Absolutely not. They fed us a meal that we will never forget. It is a shame we will probably not be able to go back for a very long time. I really wanted to try the seafood salad. Maybe they will take a 2015 reservation?

Luckily for those without marathon patience or old world connections, Rao’s operates a near perfect replica of the New York experience at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. They have 2 dining rooms and a full bar to accommodate foodie pilgrims. Also, unlike their Bronx East Harlem flagship, dinner is served nightly. Check out their menu on Zagat here.

Pricing at Rao’s New York is reasonable considering its massive reputation and exclusivity. Antipasti dishes range from $11 to around $20. Pasta Courses start a little under $20 and scale upwards of $30. A meat course will set you back $20 to $40. The meatballs, which defy the boundaries of goodness, cost a mere $11 for a pair. Dessert offerings cost $10 or less.

Justin Delaney is a Seed.com contributor. All the photos above are copyright Justin Delaney. Read his blog (and check out more of his top-notch photos) at Goboogo.

Pregnant passenger badgered into body scanner

by Tom Johansmeyer on

At Chicago‘s O’Hare International Airport, a pregnant passenger saw that she’d have to go through the full body scanner and instead asked for a TSA pat-down. Her request fell on deaf ears, she told The Consumerist, and was pushed into the decision to get scanned. According to the logic applied by the TSA folks, the passenger says, “Oh it is less than an ultrasound, and it’s really easy so just go through.”

She continues, on The Consumerist:

They repeated again for me to just go through the scanner and it would be done in 5 seconds. I was literally in tears because I wanted a pat-down instead of going through the machine, and I felt they declined me that option. No matter how much I pushed for a hand pat-down, they pushed harder for the machine.

Since the TSA is obligated to offer an alternative to the body scan, the pregnant passenger‘s request was legitimate. There’s no word on where the TSA staffers came up with the medical advice, but I’m not sure I’d take their word for it.

[photo by mahalie via Flickr]

State Department issues travel alert in response to planned Qur’an burnings

by McLean Robbins on

The State Department has issued a worldwide Travel Alert in response to media reports of planned Qur’an burnings in Florida. The alert urges U.S. citizens to be cautious of “the potential for anti-U.S. demonstrations in many countries in response to stated plans by a church in Florida to burn Qur’ans on the anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.”

The alert continues by saying that “demonstrations, some violent, have already taken place in several countries, including Afghanistan and Indonesia, in response to media reports of the church’s plans. The potential for further protests and demonstrations, some of which may turn violent, remains high. We urge you to pay attention to local reaction to the situation, and to avoid areas where demonstrations may take place.”

Guardian reported yesterday that the Gainsville, Fla.-based church and Rev Terry Jones plan to move forward with the burning despite condemnation by Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and other religious and political figures.

This Travel Alert expires on September 30, 2010.

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Get off a cruise and into custody: Passenger wrongly nailed as hooker

by Tom Johansmeyer on

What do you do when your mom is arrested for prostitution? Well, you probably claim that she didn’t do it. After all, she’s your mom, and nobody admits to guilt on these things anyway. If you were Paola Londono’s kid, you’d actually be right to proclaim her innocence.

Thanks to a clerical error in the Osceola County Sheriff’s office, Londono, from Orlando, was arrested when she stepped off a cruise ship for allegedly making a living in the world’s oldest profession. She spent more than 36 hours in the Broward County pokey, because she had the same name as the actual suspect, who is seven years younger … five inches taller and 40 pounds lighter. The younger Londono is going to face charge of heroin possession and possession of drug paraphernalia – in addition to prostitution.

[photo by indi.ca via Flickr]