Letter to Seattle Times
Polly Lane
Seattle Times
P.O. Box 70
Seattle, WA 98111
Dear Ms. Lane:
Enjoyed the piece on John Kelly, but here’s a slightly different take on Alaska Airlines.
Enclosed please find several pieces of correspondence I’ve recently exchanged with Alaska. As you’ll no doubt be able to deduce, the chances that Mr. Kelly ever personally received and read my first letter are rather remote. The fact that Alaska’s Inflight Food Service Director would write me such a lame response in the face of the airline posting a record third quarter profit is puzzling, if not astounding. I generally approve of Mr. Kelly’s strategy, but perhaps he should spend a bit more time handling details, as well.
FYI, I’ve been on the road a lot lately, and have not had the opportunity to respond to Carl Baber’s letter of August 21. When I do, however, he will be apprised of the following:
- Re “Dependable on-time performance:” My flight to Oakland in August was an hour and a half late departing SeaTac. In fact, my plane hadn’t yet arrived by the time it was scheduled to depart. Similarly, when I picked up a friend flying in from San Jose for a Mariners game, the plane was an hour and ten minutes late. It only takes an hour and ten minutes to fly from here to San Jose!
- Re the “Unavailability of seafood meals on our flights now…”: That’s funny…I didn’t have any trouble ordering seafood meals on my recent trip to-and-from New Orleans…on Continental! And I would venture that Continental is every bit as cost-conscious as Alaska, subject to the same brand of “heated competition.” Hmmm…wonder if Continental posted record third quarter profits.
Just for the fun of it –and since you already know him– maybe you could slip a copy of my letter to John Kelly. Tell him it’s from another photographer. And don’t forget to say hi to his mom for me!
Thanks.
Jef Jaisun