Why Do I Continue to Read Peter King?
- Thread starter John Marzano Olympic Hero
- Start date
DrewDawg said:
I am in no way defending PK, but every airline definitely arranges their seating differently, even in the same jet bodies. Business Traveller gives a good breakdown, for example.
But, really, it is what it is. Yes, flying in the middle on a cross-country trip sucks balls, but every business traveler has to do it sometimes. If you don't book early enough to get an aisle (my preference at all times), then you shit out of luck. But to blame the airline for getting stuck in the middle is a little rich. It sucks on EVERY airline to be in the middle for a long flight. A couple inches here or there doesn't matter much (which is also PK's wife's reasoning...).
DrewDawg said:
I think he is saying that if cattle traveled like this it would be considered an animal rights violation.
I have not flied coach on a long flight since a nightmare 35 hr flight to Taipei 15 years ago. It was fogged in and we spent almost 20 hrs on the tarmac in Okinawa unable to deplane due to security reasons (they said), they ran out of food and beverages for the cattle class, one guy died in his seat before we finally landed in Taipei.
However, I always made sure I had an aisle seat for any flight more than 2 hrs before I would book a ticket. Many do the same. That's why airlines will always give you a lousy seat if you let them assign it without stating any preference so as to free up these seats. I can stand almost anything with an aisle seat.
Of course, if you have to be on a certain flight and you book late and have no choice but to fly, you are out of luck. Then you just hope the darn plane is not stuck on the tarmac forever with the ac off while sitting between 2 sumo wrestlers who have not showered in a week.
Vast difference between international flights and domestic flights. The so called 1st class on many domestic flights is hardly an upgrade from coach on international flights.
Anyways, not a fan of Peter King, but he has my sympathies along with the rest of the cattle class.
Your story and Peter King's have about as much similarity as a guy talking about how awful it was to get the common cold, and another guy talking about what it's like to have Ebola.
Sitting in the middle seat on ANY flight sucks, but it's not THAT bad, even on a 4-5 hour flight. Literally thousands of people do it every month. 99.9% of them say "Boy, let's make sure to book tickets a little earlier next time!" and get on with it. King is the only person I know of that blames an entire airline for having him sit in the middle. once.
Your experience was rare and awful. King's was routine and mundane.
Sitting in the middle seat on ANY flight sucks, but it's not THAT bad, even on a 4-5 hour flight. Literally thousands of people do it every month. 99.9% of them say "Boy, let's make sure to book tickets a little earlier next time!" and get on with it. King is the only person I know of that blames an entire airline for having him sit in the middle. once.
Your experience was rare and awful. King's was routine and mundane.
Thanks for the info on seating plans. I clicked through some links and it looks like USAirways seats are pretty normal sized.
His complaint seems to be more that they didn't recognize him and put him in the middle.
And again, even if not, if his HIGHLIGHT OF MISERY is being stuck once in a middle seat 4 years ago...well, that ain't bad.
His complaint seems to be more that they didn't recognize him and put him in the middle.
And again, even if not, if his HIGHLIGHT OF MISERY is being stuck once in a middle seat 4 years ago...well, that ain't bad.
Exactly.
What does King expect them, or want them, to do? Remove middle-seat ticketing on flights over 2.5 hours? Remove them entirely? Have certain plans hold fewer seats to give people an extra inch of leg room?
People who actually have to pay for their airline travel (and don't have it either paid by their employer, or bought through frequent flier miles) realize that the most important thing when booking a ticket is price. Since more seats=cheaper seats, us cattle people might grouse about the conditions in coach, but we realize that its a necessary corollary to not having to spend $500 every time we want to go somewhere that we can't drive to in a day.
The airline industry, aside from the auto industry, has been probably the most tumultuous in America over the past decade. There have been multiple high-profile bankruptcies, multiple major mergers... The industry is hurting, and apparently everyone except Peter King knows it.
What does King expect them, or want them, to do? Remove middle-seat ticketing on flights over 2.5 hours? Remove them entirely? Have certain plans hold fewer seats to give people an extra inch of leg room?
People who actually have to pay for their airline travel (and don't have it either paid by their employer, or bought through frequent flier miles) realize that the most important thing when booking a ticket is price. Since more seats=cheaper seats, us cattle people might grouse about the conditions in coach, but we realize that its a necessary corollary to not having to spend $500 every time we want to go somewhere that we can't drive to in a day.
The airline industry, aside from the auto industry, has been probably the most tumultuous in America over the past decade. There have been multiple high-profile bankruptcies, multiple major mergers... The industry is hurting, and apparently everyone except Peter King knows it.
I don't know if you guys hammered the king of air travel enough.
I'm rich and can afford first class upgrades on any flight but it really grinds my gears when they want $400 for that.
Can you believe that Southwest doesn't have priority for individuals like myself? I'm supposed to show up early to get in line for a bulkhead seat?
Yeah, I summer on the Vineyard.
I used to fly on these guys a lot so I had status. Now I don't fly on them as much cause I live in MANHATTAN and they don't respect me anymore with free upgrades. So f*** them.
Can you believe that people like to fly a generally new plane with a TV? And because of that they sell out frequently? And no first class for people of my status? What a horrendous airline.
I got nothing.
So there I was, Seattle just qualified for the playoffs with a 7-9 record and were hosting the Saints in the first round of the playoffs. The editors thought this was a great story and decided to send their National Football Writer, thats Me in case you forgot, to Seattle to cover this angle. Anyhow, a storm was bearing down on the east coast that week and my dumbass secretary decided to book me out of Philly so that I can get out to Seattle. Little does she tell me that all that was available was a F***ING MIDDLE SEAT IN COACH. And no first class upgrades. WTF? No one recognized me, no one realized that I was Peter King and offered at least a warm cookie from first class and a hot towel. I WILL END YOU AMERICAN!!
I enjoy flying premium planes. A lot. It suits my rich ass.
In case you weren't aware, I live in New York now. Specifically Manhattan, not one of those poor people boroughs. Also, since I am a National writer SI pays for me to fly around the country. But while the SI T&E policy won't let me fly business class like I've come to expect, the people of Delta understand who I am and treat me accordingly unlike that c--- on the front desk of the hotel in Erie. If I haven't got you fired yet, I'm going to finish the job soon.
I'm rich and can afford first class upgrades on any flight but it really grinds my gears when they want $400 for that.
Can you believe that Southwest doesn't have priority for individuals like myself? I'm supposed to show up early to get in line for a bulkhead seat?
Seriously...good coffee. And free.
Yeah, I summer on the Vineyard.
I used to fly on these guys a lot so I had status. Now I don't fly on them as much cause I live in MANHATTAN and they don't respect me anymore with free upgrades. So f*** them.
Can you believe that people like to fly a generally new plane with a TV? And because of that they sell out frequently? And no first class for people of my status? What a horrendous airline.
I got nothing.
So there I was, Seattle just qualified for the playoffs with a 7-9 record and were hosting the Saints in the first round of the playoffs. The editors thought this was a great story and decided to send their National Football Writer, thats Me in case you forgot, to Seattle to cover this angle. Anyhow, a storm was bearing down on the east coast that week and my dumbass secretary decided to book me out of Philly so that I can get out to Seattle. Little does she tell me that all that was available was a F***ING MIDDLE SEAT IN COACH. And no first class upgrades. WTF? No one recognized me, no one realized that I was Peter King and offered at least a warm cookie from first class and a hot towel. I WILL END YOU AMERICAN!!
This one really pissed me off. Never been on one of these little puddle jumpers in and around Massachusetts? Fuck and you, you smarmy, fat twat.
A. You're an asshole for living in Boston and FLYING to the Cape. Unless you leave on a Friday, it's literally an hour away in the car.
B. You are doing a really terrible job relating to your readership. Because I can guarantee that 99% of your readers have never been on a "little puddle jumper" to the Cape.
And seriously, aside from the view (which you don't mention in the other nine airlines), what is so great about this little puddle jumper? Do they give you Captain's Wings, Petey? Did they remove all middle seats? Do you get to sip your beer-nerdy Red Stripe from the navel of a super model? What makes this airline so wonderful?
This guys is such a condescending, elitist prick. And the worst part of it is that he masquerades like he's a blue-collar guy, with his "Gawsh, how did I get here?" bullshit attitude. Spare the tripe, jackass.
What's great is that USAir had the gall to give King a middle seats FOUR YEARS AGO and he's still not over it.
Right. Poor baby. I've been jammed into middle seats at least a hundred times of the the last 20+ years of regular travel. They all suck. USAir has no better or worse middle seats than any other airline. They also make up ~33% of every flight's available economy seating options, and with the push towards overbooking flights to make sure they are as full as possible, there are going to be a metric shit-ton(ne?) of people being forced into them every day on almost all flights.Corsi said:
But shithead got stuck in one 4 years ago, and still isn't over it. Fuck you, douche-nozzle.
drleather2001 said:
Airlines have been tumultuous pretty much since they started. It's been 50 year of lousiness for the airlines. King's lack of knowledge about this is definitely a surprise but he does strive on occasion to be the biggest idiot possible.
The people I really feel sorry for are the ones who had the seats on either side of pre-marathon-running (you knew PK runs marathons, right? For charity? Has he forgot to mention it lately?) Peter King's middle seat. No doubt he was spilling over the armrest while bitching the whole time about how USAIR doesn't serve Allagash.
I sat in the "co-pilot" seat on a Cape Air flight from Rockland, Me to Logan. Most enjoyable flight of my life, incredible views of the coastline. I do wonder how our buddy PK would have done on that. I am 5'11" and my knees were within an inch of the controls. I told the pilot I assumed they were not active. She said "don't touch them." She also needed to fiddle with the fuel mixture a few times to keep the engine from sputtering too much. In that setting would he have felt like a VIP or bitched there was no legroom or coffee? FWIW everyone associated with that airline was fantastic to deal with.
ps- this is my favorite long-term thread here. Thanks for all the great posts.
ps- this is my favorite long-term thread here. Thanks for all the great posts.
Did he get hacked? Is he being sarcastic because he and Reilly are in some spat or something? I mean, no one can really believe that...
Sorry, locals! I'm gonna do my damnedest to turn your unassuming hole-in-the-wall neighborhood joint into a tourist trap nightmare! Don't forget to try the chicken sausage!
Corsi said:
Is there any doubt King was offered free breakfast for life to plug this in his column?
That was my thought, but I think the answer is even more mundane. This is just another example of King pretending to live a second life as a domestic Rick Steve, and as such he can't stop himself from bragging about being "in the know" regarding, well, anything.Dogman2 said:
He probably thinks he's such a swell guy for sending business their way.
"Tell 'em good ol' PK sent ya!"
"Tell 'em good ol' PK sent ya!"
drleather2001 said:
Yeah, this is pretty likely to be true.
Corsi said:
This too. "Tell 'em good ol' multimillionaire, everyday commoner PK sent ya to try the most expensive thing on the menu."
drleather2001 said:
Boooooooooooooooooo. And fuck that noise.
NO! Say it not be so..! Your breakdowns of King are a weekly highlight for me. You do a great job, Dr.drleather2001 said:
Just for the record, Patachou is not some hole-in-the-wall joint that PK secretly discovered. It is two blocks from the JW Marriott and the Hyatt, one block from the Marriott, and is across a courtyard from the Westin. These are basically the four biggest hotels in the city. I had a lunch meeting there during last year's combine and the place was crawling with NFL guys, including the GMs/coaches for the Rams, Texans, Jags, and Browns off the top of my head. Every concierge at those hotels would offer Patachou up as a casual place to go for breakfast or lunch.
For a guy who has been going to the combine for years, the fact that a food pig like him is just hearing about this place now is ridiculous.
For a guy who has been going to the combine for years, the fact that a food pig like him is just hearing about this place now is ridiculous.
It's like the NFL guys all knew about the place and were hush, hush about it when he was around because they hate his fat face.
and you deserve one, dear dr. consider it done
But Finn still cracked me up with the public SoSHian reference
But Finn still cracked me up with the public SoSHian reference
Man, this thread is the first thing I thought of when I saw his Brady story. The funny thing is, I don't often read him anymore -- usually just read this and the weekly Kissing Suzy Kolber takedown.
Amazing that Chad Finn had the same material as Dr. Leather. Left wondering whether Finn ever took an ethics course.
Yes, pretty amazing that I thought of this thread and made an appreciative nod to it in my column. Sheesh.
Chad Finn said:
I think Core Miller was ripping on King's tweet from this am (the one jkelly quoted), not you. We're all happier than a fat midwestern sportswriter with a pumpkin latte that you gave leather a funny little shout out.
Yes, Coremiller got a little too Twitter-meta for us there for a minute, but now that I have the tweets in hand, I must say that heavy kudos for Coremiller are certainly in order.