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With every airplane ticket I purchase, included in the total price is the "Passenger Facility Charge." But more times than not, I often don't feel very facilitated.
For example, have you ever gone into the rest room at the airport and had any of the following experiences:
1. Broken stall or toilet
2. No toilet paper
3. They are out of hand towels
4. The Hand dryer is broken
5. The rest room is filthy
6. The rest room is unavailable.
Okay, enough with the bathroom humor. Here are a few more things that you're paying for and may not be supplied:
1. The elevator isn't working-->Walk down the steps. The baggage handlers are outside at baggage claim and with more people carrying on, and more families with kids doing the same have you ever seen the lines of a family of five trying to get strollers, babies and more down a flight of steps.
2. The up escalator isn't working but the down is. They do work both ways but that means someone managing them.
3. The airport supplies hand sanitizer but it's always empty.
4.The trash cans are full of trash, but no one is emptying them for hours.
5. There's no one else parked at the curb, your pick up is waiting and as you're walking up the traffic marshall chases them away as they are pointing at you. Or worse, you get chased and the other person who has been there longer is allowed to wait without any official markings.
6. Some of the dining (um that's a stretch) are never open for the first flight out or last flights in. Worse, take a red eye and starve. The excuse is that concession operators can't afford to stay open. I say, lower the rent so they can stay open and SERVE the public, not be empty and NOT SERVING.
7. The so called "free Wi-Fi" isn't working or is so slow it's not really there for most of us who need speed.
Year's ago growing up watching Adam-12 on TV I recall the saying, "To Protect and Serve." Well public facilities have been yelling about reduced tax subsidies, but in this case, the travel public is paying every time we fly, and yet, being facilitated seems to be going out the window.
What triggered this? Another "surprise" at San Diego International Airport today. But it wasn't with TSA which has since the "incident" a few months back, gotten uber friendly. I even had a very kind TSA agent offer to help move my bags to stimulate traffic flow through the belts.
No, it was the fact that because yesterday was a holiday things like restrooms weren't as clean as they should be first thing in the morning, and the hand sanitizer was empty. Things like that are too easily fixed, but management wants to earn higher salaries, while the working stiff who works for minimum wage can't earn holiday pay because of profitability. Yet, we the travel public pay the "fee" with every ticket and yet, we end up feeling un-facilitated.
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