business

God help us real road warriors. Delta cares more about nickles and dimes than it does about the frequent fliers who fill their seats every week. I'm on the verge of instructing my secretary to find a new preferred carrier.

After waiting for my daughter for 9 hours last week and her being "delayed" 2 hours yesterday, you'll have to do a lot more than that to convince me to fly Delta.

And just think, if we had truly high speed rail you would get all these things as part of your ticket price. There is no such thing as priority boarding, because everyone can board at the same time. The seats have plenty of leg room, and on trips over 500 miles you can eat a gourmet meal in the dining car. On shorter trips you can buy a freshly made sandwich or other items from vending machines right on the train. Or go to the bar car and have a drink while you chat with others. WiFi is standard with many operators in Europe. You can use your cell phone without an attendant telling you to shut if off, so you can stay in touch during your trip. There is no fasten your set belt sign, and you can freely roam about the cabin without worrying you will fall in someone's lap trying to get to the restrooms, which are a lot bigger than those small closet ones on airplanes. Oh, and there is no turbulence to worry about. They are on-time 98% of the time. Think of Minneapolis to Chicago in 2.5 hours. Duluth in 1 hour 15 minutes. They are very fast at 200 to 224 mph, extremely safe, and the seats are extremely comfortable, with a fold-out tables and plugins for your laptop. You don't have to stand in a long line at security or get a body pat down or a wholebody scan. And they are state-of-the-art technology, instead of polluting diesel powered locomotives that are noisy and take forever to accelerate or stop. Every year it is something new with the airlines, and every change is geared to help them survive and take more money out of your wallet. Think about it. It's time has come.

"Executive Vice President Glen Hauenstein said the airline wants to allow customers to "control not just their transportation, but their experience" and is packaging extras to add value. "We are just at our infancy of how many other products we can sell," he said."' See what you have to look forward to. Pretty soon they will want to charge you for that soda or coffee, or those wonderful peanuts. Newspaper, anyone? That will be $5. Want the convenience of booking your next flight on your mobile device? That will be $10. There is no end to what they will try to sell you. We're just cattle to Delta.

I intend to "control my experience," elsewhere.

In-flight Security Officer would be nice. For $10 per passenger per flight would hire the Best Security money can buy.

"We are just at our infancy of how many other products we can sell,"... I used to fly at least once a month. Last year I flew once, and drove for the rest of our trips. The only reason I see for flying any more is for overseas trips. The drive is a part of the overall experience, something enjoyable, rather than something to be endured, which is most flying now.