European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 15, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Saturday february 15. 1988 stars and stripes Page 17 tra Valert uling bitty Sta Pleton International Airport in Denver wait for Luggage. Our studies show he said that any time the passenger Rabin is full customers perceive the flight 33 less Good passengers no longer expect Good service said Dan Smith a consumer affairs representative for the International airline passenger association in Dallas. The latest Survey of the group released last year found that half the 9,300 american respondents Felt air travel had deteriorated since 1981 As a result of deregulation. In 1981, in contrast 31 percent Felt it had deteriorated. Others said air travel had not been affected or had improved most respondents picked american As the Domestic airline with the Best in flight and ground service followed by Delta and United. Eastern was rated worst followed by us air and pan american. Of the foreign carriers respondents picked Swissair and Lufthansa As the Best and British airways a italia and mexicans As the worst. I Don t even complain any Foresaid Marvin Bryan of Cherry Hill n.j., Salee manager for a National toy company who says he has flown three million Miles. I expect mediocrity to  grievances included poor food overbooking ferocious baggage handling rude ticket agents and inexperienced flight attendants. What annoys him As it annoys others who travel on Short notice As part of their jobs is that he is paying Price reserved by design for those who do not have the flexibility to take advantage of the rules covering the Bottom fares. Bryan said that because of the turmoil in the planes with people stuffing Duffel bags onto his jacket in the overhead bins he no longer travelled in business clothes but wore jeans and left a Day Early. Twenty years ago they needed me he said of the airlines. Now. He said they Don t need  this assertion was challenged by Martin r. Shugrue vice chairman of pan american. Actually he said Competition is forcing carriers to stress service. Airline seats today he said Are assuming aspects of a  As with anything that is bought and sold he said successful marketing of a seat depends on differentiating your product from others by. Service in the Case of airlines. N Al Tail to on of Imarata Cut when the airlines look for ways to offer lower fares or even stay i business As Eastern demonstrated recently. Union leaders say reduced pay and staff cuts Are atthe Root of some service deterioration an assertion of Erma Bombeck be of the things your Mother never tells you about marriage to the importance of your husband s chair. You make a lifelong commitment think ing he can sit on any chair and be Happy. What a Little fool you Are. The first three months or so he does t make a fuss about it. He just pulls you on his Lap and says this chair is Fine for the both of us. It in t until after the first year that he shoves you off his Lap and begins to get Picky. The chair will be too straight for he Back and too Short for his legs. The arms won t feel Good and there will be no support of his neck. The great chair Hunt to of. The Canvas Butterfly chair in shocking Pink that picks up the third color in the carpet will last Only six months. He won t openly complain but he will sit there lifeless and pained and whisper. I m ready to get out of the chair now. Could someone give me a hand you get airline executives dispute. Paying outrageous salaries does not equal Superior service said Shugrue of pan am. He acknowledged that some of the labor savings could be seen As underwriting the fare cuts. I would have to say flight attendants Are in a worse mood said Patty Martin who files for pan am and Heads the airline s chapter of the Independent Union of flight attendants. She said there used to be 14 flight attendants on a b-747, which carries 400 or More passengers. Now she said there Are often 12, an sometimes Only 10 or 11. At christmastime last year she said one flight had Only 8. I can t do 3 people s work she said. Martin recalled one passenger who tired of waiting for someone to collect his food tray and dumped it in the aisle saying i m not going to keep sitting Here with this on my  she also said she no Longor had any time to talk with passengers. All i say now is Chicken or beef " Che added. She said that some new attendants were put aloft with Only two weeks training she said she received five weeks and that half did t know How to open the overhead  Maryann j. Dotts a religious teacher at a Florida methodist Church said she flew on Delta air lines to san Francisco to go to the super bowl last year and saw two flight attendants arguing loudly and bitterly in the aisle. Schorr complained of cutting his pants and leg on a protruding seat hinge on a trans world airlines plane from Rome last november. To make matters worse he wrote the airline he had already had a fractured foot and had requested a Bulkhead seat. This turned out to be unavailable he said. When he bloodied his other leg a flight attendant moved him to an empty seat in business class he said. But he went on a flight service manager then angrily ordered him Back to the coach Cabin. Other passengers also complained in his behalf. Last month Schorr was offered a Check for $75.35 to repair his torn clothes As a full settlement of his claim. He rejected it. The idea. The antique chair out of grandma s attic with the narrow Back and wings coming out of it will also fall into Disfavour when he discovers there is no place to put his tackle Box and files when he sorts them. The wooden Rocker that follows is too Slippery and he keeps falling out of it so that is replaced by a padded Rocker that makes him sick when it moves Back and Forth. Thirteen daddy chairs later you suggest he pick out his own. His Choice is a Recliner Type that needs half a football Field to do All of its tricks. If it had a water Elk it would look like a dental chair. A Compromise to suggested with a Large chair with leather arms that to very understated. The first time he sits in it like a ramrod and asks when do you pull the switch you know it s on its Way out beanbags contours with ottomans without arms a Twa spokesman said a new Check had been mailed to the passenger and that the manager involved had been suitably disciplined. Plaskett of american air Lanei denied that new lower wage Scales for starting employees were attracting less competent people. Even at starting pay of $13,000 for a flight attendant rather than $18,000, he said we re getting better educated More enthusiastic  the airline is very selective he said. Of 48,000 applicants for jobs last year american picked 1,625. Foo service another area of airline cutbacks is. Probably where much of the Glamour went. According to the latest figures from aviation Dally Northwest and pan am spent the most on food for each passenger $6.06. Twa spent $5.81 and american $5.20 and us air $2. Figures for previous years were not compiled by the Industry newsletter but airline executives acknowledged that food expenses were generally Down. Continental for example in an Effort to trim costs As Well As improve food Quality said it would cease serving hot lunches and breakfasts and shift to cold cuts cheese fresh fruit and Yogurt. Scrambling eggs for a plateful of passengers is almost impossible said o Donnell. And you have to keep doctoring them with chemicals to keep them from turning  Plaskett acknowledged that passengers might have a legitimate complaint Over the loss of non Stop service under the Hub and spoke system fostered by deregulation. Where the government once saw to it that different airline systems meshed carriers Are now reluctant to yield their passengers to a competitor at an interchange Point. So they each build spokes that feed traffic into their own hubs necessitating stops on flights for those who do not live in hubs like new York Chicago Dallas and Denver. The Hub system also Means that air traffic tends to pour in at Peak times aggravating congestion and. Lengthening Takeoff Landing and baggage delays. With headrests Loose cushions plastic bucket seat tufted arms Queen Anne Early attic victorian and recliners. All history. It is his throne whence All orders come change the Channel turn it up get me a cold  has the paper come yet did you lock All the doors Tell them i la Call them  i knew the danish chair out of White naugahyde that fit so Well with the sofa was out when it made him sweat when he had his Wool Bathrobe on and the read ing Light trained on his newspaper. So we went shop Ping again. That s Iii he said. The perfect chair. Now that s what i need. It s soft you can lie Back in it get your feet off the floor and really relax. What do they Call it they Call it a bed. C Langtim to met Send lilt