David Stempler Quotations

We have heard no complaints yet. People are a little startled the first time. Your hair blows a bit.

If we can get together and decide (on a) path in the next five years we can avoid the gridlock we've experienced this summer. Otherwise, it's going to get worse.

I think they should really drop the change fee through the end of the year, or really reduce it to something low like $25. Let's say you got a relatively cheap ticket. With $100 on top of it, it's suddenly not much of a deal.

People are really panicking. All I can tell them is they shouldn't worry too much about it, that they have to remember to some degree they really didn't pay for the miles.

It doesn't have anything to do with in-flight safety, but they may cause delays and disruptions. The FAA may go in and inspect and the airlines might not be able to prove that it's in compliance.

We need a big shake-up in the way this is done because the skies are getting more crowded.

Traditionally when you went to hotels or car rental, you had a reservation but no ticket. I like to have paper tickets to be able to move quickly around airports and change flights, but if you lost it, it was a major pain. You don't have to worry about losing an e-ticket.

There are just so many multiple factors that it's hard to see very far down into the future.

We've had passengers stranded on taxiways for longer than that. I think it's really going to be a session for the secretary to browbeat people and really deflect blame from the Department of Transportation and the FAA.

Even if Delta pilots don't strike and something is worked out with the flight attendants, there's still a long road ahead to get out of bankruptcy. There are still a lot of bullets to be dodged.

Fares will be down, crowds will be up, delays will be longer. You're more likely to be in the middle seat, or next to someone in the middle seat, or sitting at the gate because you got bumped off the airplane.

The status remains quo as far as passengers are concerned. The tickets are good, everything functions normally, there's no real impact.

The situation got out of hand and got away from them.

People didn't pay for these miles. These are loyalty points. People seem to think they have some dollar amount invested there and they don't.

The bloom is off the rose in many ways. Operationally and financially, they're like anybody else now.

Taking it out to Denver is a new approach, because it goes into the United system out West ... as opposed to bringing it into O'Hare with short flights.

Not only do we have the potential for all these different airline strikes, but we also have the potential for extreme weather like we had last year.

The irritation level is just a lot higher.

I'm not saying it's not a valid area to be concerned about, but we need to not isolate one particular component of a larger problem and think that's going to really help.

In Las Vegas, you have a big convention business and, to the extent they have one card that they could easily use it both there and at their home airports, that would save some time.

Canceled flights really irritate passengers tremendously, because you're stuck, and you usually can't get out of an airport for a day or more, and so it really disrupts their travel many times more than a delayed flight.

All in all, it's a formula for lots of delays and long lines.

Air travelers should be aware of all their options before they reach an airport, and that means looking at other airlines and airports, car rentals and even trains.

The enemy in this process is us we the passengers have basically sent a signal to the airlines that we only really care about the price of a ticket, that low fare.