Pete Buttigieg is a failure at the U.S. Department of Transportation - UPDATE: He's improved!!

[Pressure]

You really don't think fining the airlines will help at all?
I'm pretty confident that if they were being cracked down on they would find a way to solve the issue pretty quickly. You say less offerings, but I don't see any reason why it wouldn't just lead to a race to comply with the competing airlines.

I don’t think it will have any meaningful effect, unless it’s to keep them from overbooking.

Pilots are being overworked and that’s not something I personally want when I travel.

He should put More effort on increasing staffing levels for the TSA as that’s something he directly has control over and it’s a problem.

 

[mastermind]

Also, there are pilots available:

But it’s not at all clear that there are true shortages. The airlines make more money with overly lean staffing, and this “shortage” is mostly about maximizing profits. According to FAA data assembled by the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), over the last eight and a half years 54,533 new pilots received FAA certification, while during the same time, the largest mainline and cargo carriers hired 36,951 pilots to cover expansion, pilot attrition, and to replace the 15,000 pilots who have retired since 2013.

So there is actually a surplus of certified pilots. As ALPA also points out, there may not be enough pilots at salaries the big airlines are willing to pay, kind of like Amazon being short of warehouse workers at going wages.

The airlines aren’t hiring people.

 

[LOST IN THE SAUCE]

I don’t think it will have any meaningful effect, unless it’s to keep them from overbooking.

Pilots are being overworked and that’s not something I personally want when I travel.

He should put More effort on increasing staffing levels for the TSA as that’s something he directly has control over and it’s a problem.

Punishing the airlines for the unfair business practice of overbooking seems like a positive, and the fines would push them to hire more staff to deal with the issue of being understaffed. Seems like a win - win to me.
Why would these major airlines just eat the fines and continue to fukk up afterwards. That seems completely illogical to me. We know that there is no actual lack of workers available, they would just need to offer wages that would attract these workers. With the record profits some of these airlines are experiencing, I don't think offering higher wages would be an issue.

 

[Pressure]

Punishing the airlines for the unfair business practice of overbooking seems like a positive, and the fines would push them to hire more staff to deal with the issue of being understaffed. Seems like a win - win to me.
Why would these major airlines just eat the fines and continue to fukk up afterwards. That seems completely illogical to me. We know that there is no actual lack of workers available, they would just need to offer wages that would attract these workers. With the record profits some of these airlines are experiencing, I don't think offering higher wages would be an issue.

Sure. But it will just lead to increased fares and ultimately the same struggles for Americans to travel.

These are first world problems.

I’d rather discuss what the infrastructure deal is going to do with food desserts and public transportation but to each their own.

But we’re only talking about this because Stoller likes to talk about breaking up and nationalizing businesses and @FAH1223 loves stoller.

 

[LOST IN THE SAUCE]

Sure. But it will just lead to increased fares and ultimately the same struggles for Americans to travel.

These are first world problems.

I’d rather discuss what the infrastructure deal is going to do with food desserts and public transportation but to each their own.

But we’re only talking about this because Stoller likes to talk about breaking up and nationalizing businesses and @FAH1223 loves stoller.

Fares have already been increasing, but with mass amounts of flights being cancelled on top of it, so I still don't see any reason not to crack down.
If these companies can't bring the price down through competition, then there's always the option of breaking up and nationalizing the businesses.

We can can have multiple discussions on multiple topics. There's no reason to hand wave this discussion for another.

 

[Pressure]

Fares have already been increasing, but with mass amounts of flights being cancelled on top of it, so I still don't see any reason not to crack down.
If these companies can't bring the price down through competition, then there's always the option of breaking up and nationalizing the businesses.

We can can have multiple discussions on multiple topics. There's no reason to hand wave this discussion for another.

You just want them to do something. Not because it’s going to fix the issue.

That’s fine, but let’s not shroud it in it being a policy that’s addressing the underlying issue.

 

[LOST IN THE SAUCE]

You just want them to do something. Not because it’s going to fix the issue.

That’s fine, but let’s not shroud it in it being a policy that’s addressing the underlying issue.

I'm only just now learning about what the DOT could do, so

I just think that any company using unfair businesses practices should be properly punished. I don't understand your defeatist attitude when the solution seems to have already been drawn out pretty convincingly. I don't know why I keep getting into these dumb back and forths with you. You never have anything meaningful to add.

Looks to me like you don't actually care about consumers being taken advantage of, or trying to reel in these out of control corporations. You've already been provided an example of how the DOT has used fines in the past to help protect consumers, so it's weird you're still arguing that it won't help. I'm going to guess that you saw Bernie and Progressives calling for it so you felt the need to jump in just to go against the left.

 

[KFBF]

they gave him the job because he isnt from harlem

He got the job because he kneecapped Bernie and helped Biden secure the primary. Him being gay was just a bonus.

 

[Pressure]

I'm only just now learning about what the DOT could do, so

I just think that any company using unfair businesses practices should be properly punished. I don't understand your defeatist attitude when the solution seems to have already been drawn out pretty convincingly. I don't know why I keep getting into these dumb back and forths with you. You never have anything meaningful to add.

Looks to me like you don't actually care about consumers being taken advantage of, or trying to reel in these out of control corporations. You've already been provided an example of how the DOT has used fines in the past to help protect consumers, so it's weird you're still arguing that it won't help. I'm going to guess that you saw Bernie and Progressives calling for it so you felt the need to jump in just to go against the left.

Flight delays have always been a thing. We know the underlying issues as to why. I’d rather they address the underlying issues.

I’ve asked a simple question, how will fines alleviate issues of flights being rerouted due to weather and flights being canceled due to crew shortages.

I could give a fukk if the the DOT fines everything, but this discussion is more about red meat for a base than it is about addressing the issues in a meaningful way.

You guys keep talking about the Obama fines, but the circumstances of those actions are different than these.

As far as progressives, I’ve voted for progressives in every primary election. My local rep is progressive. I helped work on her campaign. I volunteered and spent a lot of money on the Warren campaign. I criticized the no dem party from pushing down a progressive candidate for someone they felt was owed the now vacant senate seat. But none of that has to do with a discussion on effective governance and is just a red herring.

“I just learned what the DOT is.”

 

[LOST IN THE SAUCE]

Flight delays have always been a thing. We know the underlying issues as to why. I’d rather they address the underlying issues.

I’ve asked a simple question, how will fines alleviate issues of flights being rerouted due to weather and flights being canceled due to crew shortages.

I could give a fukk if the the DOT fines everything, but this discussion is more about red meat for a base than it is about addressing the issues in a meaningful way.

You guys keep talking about the Obama fines, but the circumstances of those actions are different than these.

As far as progressives, I’ve voted for progressives in every primary election. My local rep is progressive. I helped work on her campaign. I volunteered and spent a lot of money on the Warren campaign. I criticized the no dem party from pushing down a progressive candidate for someone they felt was owed the now vacant senate seat. But none of that has to do with a discussion on effective governance and is just a red herring.

“I just learned what the DOT is.”

You're just arguing to argue. The issue pretty clearly seems to be shytty business practices and mismanagement that prioritized making money at the expense of consumers. That kind of behavior should be punished. You don't agree and you apparently don't think these mass cancellations can be prevented, I think they can and I think if they won't straighten up on their own then the government should step in. We can leave it at that.

 

[Pressure]

You're just arguing to argue. The issue pretty clearly seems to be shytty business practices and mismanagement that prioritized making money at the expense of consumers. That kind of behavior should be punished. You don't agree and you apparently don't think these mass cancellations can be prevented, I think they can and I think if they won't straighten up on their own then the government should step in. We can leave it at that.

So you quotes a post referring to the same crew shortages and underlying conditions that I’ve said repeatedly as an argument against my initial assertion.

I can’t wait until you get 100 posts so you can litter TLR with this hair brained shyt.

 

[Pressure]

Do you disagree there are a shortage in workers?
Do you agree this is the result of airlines misusing Covid funds meant to retain workers and instead in furloughing them or offering early retirement?

As long as there is a shortage of workers and high demand all the fines will do is lead to less offerings. Which imo should be the concern here when airlines are booking more flights than they can staff.

@LOST IN THE SAUCE you gotta read better.

 

[LOST IN THE SAUCE]

Flight delays have always been a thing. We know the underlying issues as to why. I’d rather they address the underlying issues.

I’ve asked a simple question, how will fines alleviate issues of flights being rerouted due to weather and flights being canceled due to crew shortages.

The wave of mass cancellations is not due to weather. It's due to bad business.

Punishing the airlines for the unfair business practice of overbooking seems like a positive, and the fines would push them to hire more staff to deal with the issue of being understaffed. Seems like a win - win to me.
Why would these major airlines just eat the fines and continue to fukk up afterwards. That seems completely illogical to me. We know that there is no actual lack of workers available, they would just need to offer wages that would attract these workers. With the record profits some of these airlines are experiencing, I don't think offering higher wages would be an issue.

This is how I believe fines will alleviate the issue. I don't believe there is an actual worker shortage. There is understaffing. You think the cancellations are unavoidable, and I think they can be prevented but they are refusing to act. We are going in circles.

@LOST IN THE SAUCE you gotta read better.

 

[FAH1223]

SOHH… @Pressure what regulatory action should DOT be taking?

 

[Pressure]

SOHH… @Pressure what regulatory action should DOT be taking?

With regard to what? That's a fairly open ended question and I think viewing it as a merely "Regulatory" issue is missing the point altogether, but more on that later.



Is the DOT responding accordingly to customer complaints? They should speed the process up as 30 days for acknowledgement and 60 days for a response is a bit out of the scope in my opinion. If they see trends based on the complaints they see or learn that airlines are not meeting their legal obligation to point customers to the DOT consumer complaint site ( File a Consumer Complaint | US Department of Transportation ) then they should fine the airlines the max based on each transgression.

He needs to determine the best way to address the worldwide pilot shortage. Lets just look at the raw numbers.

Traditionally the US had a large portion of commercial pilots who came from the military. I believe it used to be somewhere near 80% years ago and now it's likely half that if not less. Big reason for that change was due to upping the commitment for pilots from four to 10 years due to the cost of training so folks weren't as willing to join the military to ease into a commercial pilot gig.

We've also come close to the mandatory retirement age for pilots. Of the 119k licensed commercial pilots, 24k are overage the mandatory retirement age of 65 (another 8k are within the 60-64 age range). We have 45k flights a day, with 55k commercial pilots for the big six airlines.
A 737 holds two pilots and we have 24k 737 flights per day. Take into consideration that pilots can only fly 8-10 hours a day we can easily accept the premise that we have too few pilots for the number of flights.
But none of this is on Pete and really tracks back across multiple administrations despite the alarm sounding for the better part of a decade. Estimates suggest we're short 80k Commercial pilots .

From a consumer perspective as noted above, Airlines need to stop booking flights they know they can't fill. But that's easier said than done since bookings happen long before pilot schedules are put out, but the data is there to determine if this is an ongoing practice for airlines and if it becomes an ongoing issue then they should be fined.
The Jacobin left criticized Pete for doing something he should do and do more of and that's explain to customers what their legal obligations are when experiencing overbooked and canceled flights. While it doesn't get you to your destination earlier, it does put some money back in your pocket. That said, either you are okay with the current policy of overbooking flights or you think it shouldn't exist. Your call, but the financial incentives exist to discourage airlines from purposefully practicing in gross overbooking. Consumer need to exercise their rights. Shout to lord free market @dead7.

All of this needs to be looked over and rolled back:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/trump-airline-protection/2020/11/30/df944016-3324-11eb-8d38-6aea1adb3839_story.html