CaptBillB

One & All,

Wrote this last Wednesday on board one of 'Airscam Airways' (Airtran) planes after one of the worst experiences in many years of flying just about every airline in existence.

As the Boeing 717 aircraft slices through the frigid atmosphere found at 33,000 feet heading towards the Florida Keys for another round of swordfish, sailfish, and tarpon fishing, I sit fuming at AirScam’s (AirTran) latest gimmick to squeeze their outdoor’s oriented customers out of whatever loose change they have after paying for their fares.

After attending a 3 day Baird Symposium hosted by Sea Grant and U.R.I. at the Mannises Hotel on Block Island, I found that the most reasonable price to head down to the ‘Smilin Islands’ would be on the budget and no-frills AirScam Airways. Because of scheduling, the best price and times to be found was out of Newark’s Liberty International Airport (strike one).

My traveling companion had a family emergency 18 hours before the scheduled departure and had to cancel the reservations. Well, after dickering via their ‘customer service agents’ for nearly an hour about ‘company policies, AirScam offered a $10. voucher in exchange for the full priced flight to Fort Lauderdale (strike two).

Well, getting up at 0215 to make an 0630 flight time out of EWR is not as easy as it used to be, but never-the-less, I was out the door within 6 minutes of the alarms insistent summons to hit the deck. Driving down to Liberty is an adventure in itself (GPS plotting mandated) if you’d like to arrive on time to park and to be dropped off at Terminal A where AirScam’s ‘customer service center’ is located.

I was fully prepared to pay the $25 for the extra bag (rod tube), but was shocked to find that they pulled out a tape measure to calculate whether my duffel bag was ‘oversized.’ Please understand that while it is large, it was not overweight 39 lb, but when they added up the length, width, and height, and it comes out larger than 61 inches, you’re going to get whacked with a $39. dollar fee in addition to the fee for the second bag= $64. Being told to 'Pay the charge or leave the bag!' by one of the 'service agents' did not improve my mood. BS to the Nth degree!

No amount of reasoning- including the fact that I’ve flown on AirScam at least a half dozen times in the recent past with that exact bag with no hassles. "Company policy' is the stated reason for the changes. Be very aware that both Airscam's policy and their employees' attitudes totally suck.

Anglers and hunters should be very aware that this ‘policy’ seems to apply to outdoor oriented gear only as golfers with bags that are double the size of a typical gear duffle (and weigh as much as the same amount of gold found at Fort Knox) are routinely plopped on the planes without being hassled what-so-ever. Needless to say that this ‘frequent flyer’ on Airscam won’t be booking any future flights with them.

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Bill
www.billfishcharter.com

Relentless

Bill,

My son was down to Costa Rica believe it or not his company sent him there to learn spanish. Needless to say he raised his hand high and was eager to go. He works for EF Tours which sells school trips to places like Coasta Rica, Europe, DC and other areas where college and high school students travel.

He had no problems on the flight down but coming back his flight was delayed from Costa Rica to Miami. He along with 19 others ran through the airport arrived together, (20 bodies) for the final leg home on the same airline ti arrive at the gate to find the receptionist closing the door. Now this is 20 people right there with paid seats going north. They would not wait 10 minutes to load these folks.

It was their own airline from the previous leg and they gave them a voucher for a meal and a 100 flight voucher. I guess they should have used their new spanish with the folks at the gate and that may have helped.

Airtran is one I have flown once and was not impressed. I am a big fan of Jetblue even though some flights cost more money. SW is good also but limited destinations like the Caribbean.

Bill, does AIRTRAN let you bring coolers home with fish, I heard some airlines are starting not to allow it.

Thanks,

Dave

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Capt Dave Waldrip
www.relentlesscharters.com