Craig Ferguson Show Last Night: Slams CAL, Praises DAL

[Voice Of Reason]

tonight's episode 1000th (CBS Tues going on Weds: 12:37-1:37a eastern)

I wouldn't be surprised if he mentions it again and again and again. DVR (or watch) tonight's episode too, and he'll likely work it in it another way. (Although tonight's is the special celebration episode, so not sure if it is all prerecorded or what.
Great show anyway.

 

[Voice Of Reason]

This is exactly right. He is a "court jester" and if you've read Shakespeare you know that the role of the court jester was not primarily to make jokes, but to speak the truth through jokes. This was the only acceptable way to criticize those in power, especially the king. The court jester's comments typically represented what the average person could see was happening, but didn't have the voice to say it. Ferguson and all the other late night comedians fulfill this role. Corporate types and politicians ignore them at their own peril. Many have learned this by actually going on the shows that criticize them as was seen in the last election cycle.

In business, there is a monetary component to just about everything. What's CAL's advertising budget? Tens of millions? Hundreds of millions more likely. Ads, arena sponsorship, bought industry awards. That one clip on Craig Ferguson last night has probably undone millions of dollars of carefully crafted image-making by CAL. Every person who sees that clip will walk away with two things next time they sit in front of expedia, orbitz, or xyz.com travel site: Continental, bad; Delta, good. They may still choose CAL for other reasons, but they'll be working against the image that Ferguson skillfully painted.

An image by the way that could not have been painted so effectively by anyone but a comedian.

excellent observation, and I agree 100%

 

[rjacobs]

So sick of these RJ cities passing themselves off as "Continental" but that is this industry now.

Says the guy that used to fly RJ's for XJT. ****************************** bag

 

[nimtz]

Says the guy that used to fly RJ's for XJT. ****************************** bag

Big deal so did I. And I'll say the same thing now that I said when I was there: 'Why the f*ck is CAL putting an RJ on this route!?!' Now days I also get to say 'Why the f*ck is Colgan on this'. My personal favorite is Connection/Express service between EWR/IAH and 'small' markets like ATL, BOS, MSP, and ORD. Kudos to Larry, Jeff, and the whole marketing team for p!ssing away our better customer base! Just pretend it's 1999 every year dear management.

 

[crj567]

Who's Craig Ferguson? I've never heard of him? A comedian?

He is not a very good comedian. I have tried to watch him, but I just don't think he is very clever.

He is too big of a moron to distinguish between mainline and the connection-you ain't missing much.

 

[Captain Morgan]

I would consider that more ignorance than coincidence.

Well good for you.

 

[waveflyer]

That's tok funny and good for him for pointing it out- negative press for the rj i used to fly is also a good thing.
What sucks though is that he could have got a tiny plane at every legacy out there and delta's right at the top when it comes to selling out. And overbooking makes flights much much cheaper.

What happened to the louis ck vid- "everything's amazing-nobody's happy" someone with more video skills than me should do a montage and clown him back

"you're in a CHAIR..... In the SKY(!).....'ehhnnn... But the seat doesn't go back very far... '..."

 

[Phrogs4ever]

The sad part is that you can change the city pairs in this story and switch out the players with any legacy airline in the country. Unfortunately for us, CAL once again makes it onto tv in a negative light.

 

[boman]

Just sent the clip to incoming CEO Jeff Smisek.

Wonder if it will make an impression?

 

[Ex737Driver]

Granted this is nothing new for us, :erm:, but had he chosen DAL to fly from BNA to LAX via ATL, what kind of equipment would he have been on? It would have been a CRJ900. WTF, over. I'm not defending the use of ERJ's but come on, DAL would have provided the EXACT same service to ATL the XJT was ging to IAH. RJ, RJ, RJ. He simply chose to drive to ATL. Luck of the deal. Now, if he had driven to IAH and taken a 757 or 737 to LAX, then you can compare apples to apples. He can kiss my blarney stones.

 

[densoo]

Granted this is nothing new for us, :erm:, but had he chosen DAL to fly from BNA to LAX via ATL, what kind of equipment would he have been on? It would have been a CRJ900. WTF, over. I'm not defending the use of ERJ's but come on, DAL would have provided the EXACT same service to ATL the XJT was ging to IAH. RJ, RJ, RJ. He simply chose to drive to ATL. Luck of the deal. Now, if he had driven to IAH and taken a 757 or 737 to LAX, then you can compare apples to apples. He can kiss my blarney stones.

Unfortunately, perception is reality. He spun it into a great story and punchline, "you're not going to tell anyone are you? No, of course not--Continental." I think it would not have been an issue if they hadn't oversold the flight. Flying has turned into a greyhound bus trip. The part of him being cramped in the plane was funny. But so what. That's pretty well expected. What they don't expect is to pay for a ticket and be kicked off the airplane. That's what set him off I think. And he's completely right. Like the Seinfeld episode said, they know how to take your money for the seat, but then they don't hold the seat. That's not a reservation. It's a crapshoot.

 

[sleeves]

Just sent the clip to incoming CEO Jeff Smisek.

Wonder if it will make an impression?

There is a couple of minutes of your life you will never get back. Smisek knows it all, he is great, just ask him.

 

[rf285]

Granted this is nothing new for us, :erm:, but had he chosen DAL to fly from BNA to LAX via ATL, what kind of equipment would he have been on? It would have been a CRJ900. WTF, over. I'm not defending the use of ERJ's but come on, DAL would have provided the EXACT same service to ATL the XJT was ging to IAH. RJ, RJ, RJ. He simply chose to drive to ATL. Luck of the deal. Now, if he had driven to IAH and taken a 757 or 737 to LAX, then you can compare apples to apples. He can kiss my blarney stones.

A possibility at BNA, but the majority of the seats out of BNA are mainline on the 88, and 738.

 

[Stifler's Mom]

Delta's schedule today from BNA to ATL.

CRJ
M88
E75
CR7
CRJ
738
738
CR9
CRJ
M88
738

 

[doh]

Doesn't Delta have the most RJ departures among legacies?