08/08/08 August 8, 2008. Refuse to fly. 
News headlines from April 7, 2008:
A new survey out this morning says airline complaints jumped 60%.
Discount carrier Skybus third airline in one week to declare bankruptcy.
United and U.S. Airways are charging $25 extra for checking a second bag.
Southwest had to ground planes for mishandled maintenance.
Nearly one-third of commercial flights in the US either arrived late or was canceled in January this year.
It’s no secret that the airlines are in bad shape. And yet, for some reason, they are taking out their bad news on us. They are making their passengers suffer.
I witnessed or experienced all of these things on a recent flight with my family, have you?
Have you waited more than an hour at security terminals, only to miss your flight? Have you been humiliated by having to take off practically all of your clothes in order to go through the detectors at the airports? Been reduced to a camisole? Has the TSA made your child cry?
Have you gotten through all of this to then wait and wait and wait while your flight is delayed…thirty minutes? …two hours? …overnight? …indefinitely? Have you heard announcements that your flight is overbooked? That they’ll offer you $500 NOT to fly.
Have you then boarded your flight and been given horrible service, no snacks, and THEN had to wait more than half an hour to land? Have you had your bottle of water confiscated at the security check point? Really? A bottle of water?
I’ve had it. And I’m trying to do something about it.
Let’s boycott the airlines on 08/08. Why that date? No reason, except that it’s catchy. But more importantly, it’s a Friday, a busy travel day.
We can show the airlines that we passengers matter, that we are the ones who they should be appeasing, not their stockholders.
The plan is simple: See how the airlines like it when no one is flying them.
- If you weren’t going to fly that day, don’t worry about it.
- If you are planning to fly that weekend, then arrange for your flight to be on Thursday or Saturday. Do everything you can not to fly on 08/08/08.
- And if you have to fly on 08/08/08, think of how nice your flight will be if it is practically empty. You’ll never want to go back to overbooked, overcrowded flights again.
The airlines have two duties…to get us from A to B safely, and to treat us like human beings, not just bodies. Spread the word…keep our bodies off the airplanes on 08/08/08.
And let’s make them sweat for a change.
