Favorite Airline(s)

[+ WilliamM]

Professor's Salaries in the 1960s

 

$30K certainly was a good salary for a professor in 1967. I was one then' date=' too, and my salary was $6850. [/quote']

 

 

Charlie, your salary of $6850 was relatively impressive for 1967.

 

Ruth Silva (the professor's name) was the leading expert on presidential succession, and worked with Congress to write the 25th amendment to the Constitution. As you remember, the ratification of the amendment allowed President Nixon to chose Gerald Ford for vice president, with congressional approval.

 

If Silva had been a man, the salary would have been higher. There were few female political science professors in the 1960s. Frankly, as lowly grad students, we were in awe of her significant accomplishments. She was a tough lady, but fair...in high demand as a dissertation advisor.

[Pegasus]

I've been flying Southwest Airlines out of Dallas-Love Field for many years and don't think you can it for customer service, convenience and lower fares (and no baggage fees).

[Guest]

How do you avoid Flying?....besides Business Class on most airlines is pretty damn good. Some will say that they only fly First Class, but seriously...Business Class can't make you happy? And as far as #3 is concerned, well don't even get me started LOL LOL you left out some great cities...what's up with that?

 

Three-class service is pretty unusual for domestic flights. Usually on domestic flights, it's either 1st class or coach. 1st class on domestic flights is usually not as nice as Business class on international flights. This is especially true of those airlines which don't have a 1st class internationally, such as Delta or USAirways.

[Guest]

My view of airlines is that I'm willing to show loyalty to any airline which rewards my loyalty. And by rewarding my loyalty, I mean I want to be upgraded when I travel long distances. As a corollary, I need to be hooked up with an airline that flies to a lot of places, so that I'm physically able to give them my loyalty. I would never fly Southwest for a number of reasons. Firstly, they don't fly internationally, nor code-share, so I couldn't use them exclusively even if I wanted to. Secondly, they don't have a first class (nor offer meals), so there is nothing they could do to reward me that I'd be interested in. Thirdly, they don't have business lounges. Fourthly, my loyalty wouldn't even result in the most basic better treatment such better seats (i.e. exit row) or priority check-in or boarding. Similarly, Virgin America is probably great for the occasional flyer, but they don't fly to a lot of places, they don't code share, and they're not members of alliances. So I can't give them loyalty, nor could they reward me if I did.

I had gold status with United, but they repeatedly treated me rudely, which I don't like even if I'm not a loyal customer, but which I find completely unacceptable when I'm a demonstrated loyal customer. To make matters worse, I accumulated hundreds of thousands of miles and could never use them to upgrade. The last straw was when I couldn't even use my 500-mile certificates to upgrade from friggin' Denver to Oakland. I cashed in my miles for a top of the line Apple laptop and switched to USAirways, where I've been loyal to them, and they've been nice to me. I had a similar, but not quite as severe problem with being unable to use my Delta miles, even when I was a Gold Medallion member.

I would say that US Airways is probably not a good airline for the casual flyer. They have all of those silly checked bags, etc., charges, and they don't even offer entertainment on trans-continental flights (movies only if you're going to another continent or to Hawaii). However, I usually get complimentary upgrades domestically, and I can usually use my miles to upgrade internationally. I was, in fact, able to upgrade on my last two inter-continental trips, one to Germany and the prior one to Tel Aviv, where the horizontal flat beds were a true luxury (they only have business class).

I'm going to Singapore in February, and I thought I might have to jump ship because US Airways doesn't fly there. Not to worry, I was able to use my US Airways miles for Star Alliance code share flights: Lufthansa nonstop SFO to FRA, then Singapore Airlines nonstop from FRA to SIN (I already picked out my roast duck meal!), then Asiana Airlines from SIN to Seoul, then United from Seoul back to SFO. All business class.

If loyalty weren't an issue, Jet Blue or Virgin America would be fine. But I fly enough that I want to be able to show an airline loyalty--and that would be whatever airline rewards that loyalty. So I take US Airways from SFO to Philadelphia or Charlotte, and take a book for the long flight. I can always rent the movie on Netflix...