Curmudgeon's Corner

Having just returned from Colorado and a round trip on Midwest Airlines, I am reminded of just how much we all will lose if AirTran prevails in its take over bid.

Even the Saver flight has extended leg room with the typical 2 X 3 seating configuration. That will go the way of the Dodo bird if AirTran has its way.

The people on the ground and onboard, reservations advisors, ticket attendants, pilots and flight attendants are the most courteous I’ve encountered in many years of air travel. I have yet, by the way, to encounter any Midwest employee who wants the AirTran deal to go forward.

The cookies are a treat that I usually pass up, except on this trip I enjoyed them on both flights. I guess I feared this might well be my last chance to enjoy Midwest.

I watched as the “cattle” who had been loaded aboard an AirTran flight from somewhere to Denver fought over getting to the luggage carousel. It was if they had already been brutalized sufficiently and were simply going to do whatever it took to get away from that airport as quickly as possible.

I watched at the boarding gates and compared the Midwest passengers to the AirTran passengers. Maybe it was my predisposition against this deal, but I thought there was a look of resignation on many of those AirTran passenger faces contrasted with anticipation on the faces of the Midwest passengers.

There is simply an overall good feeling about Midwest…even when there is a weather delay or maintenance delay. I haven’t seen that for many years with any other airline, and I fear I’m at the point where I’ll not see it for much longer in Milwaukee.

All the promises in the world will not suffice. If AirTran gets its way, you and I will suffer…whether or not we are air passengers. Our communities will suffer; our employers will suffer; our institutions will suffer and our state will suffer. I know that this is “uncurmudgeonly” of me, but I will feel a real sense of loss the day Midwest is taken away from us…if that happens.