Speaker 1: Uh time for the Channel nine first one and Wether forecast.
Speaker 1: Nice day to day, Enjoy at sunny skies with the
Speaker 1: highest seventy five got rain shown up overnight dropping a
Speaker 1: fifty seven. It remains tomorrow that rain along with a
Speaker 1: few a possibility of if you have heavy storms. Excuse me,
Speaker 1: mars high seventy overnight lill of fifty eight with more
Speaker 1: rain and a partly sunny Saturday with the highest seventy
Speaker 1: five sixty one degrees. Right now, let's hear about traffic conditions.
Speaker 2: Chuck from you see how traffic Center you see healthy,
Speaker 2: o fine, comprehensive care that's so personal it makes your
Speaker 2: best tomorrow possible. That's boundless care from better outcomes. Expect
Speaker 2: more at you see how dot Com West spend two
Speaker 2: seventy five crews continue to work with an accident at
Speaker 2: Mastella Shoulder. Southbound seventy five continues slow through Lackland south
Speaker 2: two seventy five break lights between Lawrence purg and the bridge.
Speaker 2: Trouble with the traffic lights on Colombia Depth Chuck Ingram
Speaker 2: on fifty five KR see the talk.
Speaker 1: Station Hey thirty one on a Thursday. It's that time
Speaker 1: of week. I always look forward to. iHeartMedia. Aviation expert
Speaker 1: Jay Ratlift joins the program talk about things aviation. Jay Ratliff,
Speaker 1: my friend, welcome back to the Morning Show. Always a
Speaker 1: pleasure having you on the program.
Speaker 3: Hey, good morning.
Speaker 1: All right, curveball number one here comes?
Speaker 3: Why not?
Speaker 1: Ali?
Speaker 3: Why not?
Speaker 1: And you could see this coming a mile away with
Speaker 1: you know, we have drones out there in the world,
Speaker 1: and you know we've seen prototype, you know, individual you know,
Speaker 1: human being operated drone, you know, quad copters out there
Speaker 1: in the world. But I see that is it Jobe
Speaker 1: or Jobby Aviation? Apparently Toyota just promised to invest five
Speaker 1: hundred million dollars. This is for electric air taxis. And
Speaker 1: immediately thought of, you know, the Jetsons with all these
Speaker 1: you know, craft flying around, and doesn't that create all
Speaker 1: kinds of sort of challenges in terms of running into
Speaker 1: each other and where are they gonna land? Where are
Speaker 1: they gonna fly? This is going to retire require some
Speaker 1: sort of massive regulatory scheme to be created, isn't it.
Speaker 1: I mean it sounds, I mean like the FAA.
Speaker 4: Is already working in that direction, because obviously it would
Speaker 4: be a lot easier for an unmanned uber drone to
Speaker 4: land in my driveway, I jump in, and it takes
Speaker 4: me to wherever I'm going, where it's on a fully
Speaker 4: automated flightpath, Versus Joe with his cup of coffee going
Speaker 4: out and flying his own drone from one place or another.
Speaker 4: So if I've got to have my Druthers, that's what
Speaker 4: I want.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 4: Obviously, there's so many things we have to we have
Speaker 4: to encounter and we have to look at. But it
Speaker 4: is certainly something that commercial aviation, the people that run
Speaker 4: the major airlines are looking at this as a as a.
Speaker 3: Viable, it can happen, and it can.
Speaker 4: Happen soon type of situation, and they're investing tens of
Speaker 4: millions of dollars in a lot of these companies trying
Speaker 4: to develop this technology that would in essence, shuttle individuals
Speaker 4: from airports within a closer proximity of some of the
Speaker 4: major hubs into that hub so that they could jump
Speaker 4: on a flight and away they go. So it's as
Speaker 4: it is with everything else, like supersonic or hypersonic travel.
Speaker 3: It's great, it's possible, but is it feasible?
Speaker 4: Can we produce it at such a rate that it's
Speaker 4: going to be attractive to the non ultra rich. You know,
Speaker 4: it's great to go into space for you know, if
Speaker 4: you've got you know, zillions of dollars, but it's not
Speaker 4: something that is considered affordable for most of us because
Speaker 4: the fact that it's just it's just too costly. And
Speaker 4: it's the same sort of situation here when the Concord
Speaker 4: was running, Concord had supersonic travel, but Brian, it was
Speaker 4: so expensive to operate the aircraft. The only way they
Speaker 4: could keep it flying with subsidies from various countries. So
Speaker 4: it's the same sort of situation here.
Speaker 3: Will they be able to do it?
Speaker 4: It's the same discussion you and I've had on sustainable
Speaker 4: aviation fuel, where this fuel is made from oils and plants,
Speaker 4: which is a good substitute for the typical you know,
Speaker 4: great a jet fuel if you will, but the problem
Speaker 4: is we can't produce it cheaply enough, and airlines are saying,
Speaker 4: until we get to that point, even though we want
Speaker 4: to use a lot of this, we simply can't because
Speaker 4: it's just too expensive.
Speaker 1: Well I understand that, but in the context of these
Speaker 1: flying taxies, you know, immediately thought of that collision between
Speaker 1: the aircraft and the helicopter or in DC, I mean.
Speaker 4: And those were man, I mean, I know train pilots.
Speaker 4: So you know, it's we knew that when once we
Speaker 4: got into these fully automated cars that you know, the
Speaker 4: technology is there. All we have to do is apply
Speaker 4: it to aviation, and we certainly can't and they would
Speaker 4: be restricted to certain altitudes.
Speaker 3: You you would have the.
Speaker 4: Vectors or you know, highways in the sky if you will,
Speaker 4: so to speak. But you know, the the idea when
Speaker 4: it's implemented versus when are we going to be comfortable
Speaker 4: enough to like go out and jump in one is
Speaker 4: going to be interesting to see. And of course, anytime
Speaker 4: if this thing happens and there's an accident, that it's
Speaker 4: all we're going to hear about. So there's a lot
Speaker 4: of things that have to move in the right direction.
Speaker 3: But you know, when I look.
Speaker 4: At this, I'm like, wait minute, We've got the FAA,
Speaker 4: who's going to try to oversee this. It's still using
Speaker 4: technology that we've talked about.
Speaker 1: How old it is floppy disks.
Speaker 4: Am I going to be looking for this happening in
Speaker 4: the next five years?
Speaker 3: I don't think so.
Speaker 4: So I'm not overly you know, excited or concerned at
Speaker 4: this point because I know the reality of the situation
Speaker 4: is that you know, it's going to be a while
Speaker 4: before from a technology standpoint, we're going to really be able.
Speaker 3: To facilitate this.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so maybe the rules and the laws in anticipation
Speaker 1: of that day when it is widely available, will be
Speaker 1: already on the books, and so people will have a
Speaker 1: clear vision of how it's going to operate before we
Speaker 1: take to this.
Speaker 4: We hope we are dealing with the government much. I know,
Speaker 4: I know I'm talking about that.
Speaker 1: Well, thank you for qualifying my comment there, Jay, right,
Speaker 1: I know you're going. We'll talk about Southwest Airline finally
Speaker 1: getting on board what other airlines realize was a huge
Speaker 1: money maker. That and other topics with Jay rattlif will
Speaker 1: be right back fifty five KRC dot com. Did you
Speaker 1: know even the smallest de talk station of course talking
Speaker 1: to I heard me the aviation next work Jay Rattlift.
Speaker 1: We interrupt this aviation report to announce that Alexander aka
Speaker 1: pg sitting Feld y'all know him, Formerson Saint Council number,
Speaker 1: sent sixteen months for bribery and attempted extortion, has been
Speaker 1: pardoned by Donald Trump. You gotta pardon. It's amazing, isn't it. Anyhow?
Speaker 1: Not sure who pg current favors within the Trump administration,
Speaker 1: but he's on a list along with a handful of
Speaker 1: others who just received pardons. Anyway, back to Jake all right,
Speaker 1: Joe Jack RATTLFT so Southwest woke up and realized it
Speaker 1: was missing out on a fat bank money making opportunities
Speaker 1: charging for bags.
Speaker 4: Now, let's see your your competitors are making like seven
Speaker 4: hundred million anymore.
Speaker 3: In check bag fees.
Speaker 4: You're making fifty million because yeah, the bags fly free,
Speaker 4: but only the first two and anything after that there.
Speaker 3: Was a bag fee four.
Speaker 4: But you had investors that were not entirely pleased as
Speaker 4: the decades rolled on that. Look, we're making less and
Speaker 4: less money, and these other airlines, simply in the case
Speaker 4: of doing business, are absolutely smoking us on these ancillary fairs.
Speaker 4: And of course, for Southwest it was a you know,
Speaker 4: it was a marketing theme and it was a great one.
Speaker 4: You know, bags fly free. Anyone that flew Southwest knew
Speaker 4: that that was the case. But one of the things
Speaker 4: that you look at with all of this is, you know,
Speaker 4: how are they going to roll it? Out, how much
Speaker 4: was it going to be, et cetera. And what ended
Speaker 4: up taking place was that Southwest came out as of
Speaker 4: yesterday thirty five dollars for the first bag, forty for
Speaker 4: the second and if you have a one of the
Speaker 4: Premium Choice.
Speaker 3: Tickets you get to two bags free. If you have their.
Speaker 4: Rapid the credit card, they're tied in the Frequent Flyer program,
Speaker 4: you get one.
Speaker 3: Bag for free.
Speaker 4: So it's certainly a change at Southwest, but Brian, it
Speaker 4: was in need of change, and I know that the
Speaker 4: customers were quite upset about it. At least some of them,
Speaker 4: and others understood, Look, it's just the matter of business
Speaker 4: and they have to do it. But when you look
Speaker 4: at it, they've.
Speaker 3: Had issues with these wheelchairs.
Speaker 4: We talk about people boarding because it's all open seating,
Speaker 4: and you have thirty forty wheelchairs of people boarding just
Speaker 4: to get on early because it's open seating, to get
Speaker 4: the better seats. When they go to assigned seats later
Speaker 4: this year or early next year, all of that's gonna
Speaker 4: go away. It's going to make the boarding process of
Speaker 4: Southwest much better. Then are going to have assigned seats.
Speaker 4: They're going to give you the opportunity to pay more
Speaker 4: for premium seats, which I love, Thank you for that,
Speaker 4: where you might have extra leg room and this and that,
Speaker 4: and yeah, you're gonna have to pay for the bag fees.
Speaker 4: So it's going to be an issue, but you know,
Speaker 4: all it's gonna do is add to the mess. Though
Speaker 4: at the gate, from the standpoint of people saying, I
Speaker 4: know I can get this steamer trunk in my overhead
Speaker 4: storage compartment, so I'm gonna try to carry this bad
Speaker 4: boy on because you.
Speaker 3: Know, we're only being charge for check.
Speaker 4: Bags at this point in time, so you know, it's
Speaker 4: not gonna be something that's gonna completely make things better.
Speaker 4: But Southwest, from a business standpoint, Brian, they're doing what
Speaker 4: they have to do to compete.
Speaker 3: I was a little surprised.
Speaker 4: I thought they might say, look, we've never charged this way,
Speaker 4: we're gonna come out with a smaller bag fee, exactly
Speaker 4: work your way, just kind of let's ease into that
Speaker 4: cold water. They ripped that band aid off big time
Speaker 4: and said we're gonna do what everybody else is doing,
Speaker 4: and that's that's what they've done. So you know, if
Speaker 4: I'm Southwest, I would have came out and said, look,
Speaker 4: we could charge for carry on bags. We're not gonna
Speaker 4: do that, but we're forced to do this. It's a
Speaker 4: lot like years ago when fuel prices were going through
Speaker 4: the roof. Airlines came out and said, gosh, we we're
Speaker 4: so sorry, we have to have a fuel surcharge. And
Speaker 4: of course we were all paying incredibly high gas prices,
Speaker 4: so we understood. But of course when gas prices dropped,
Speaker 4: did those surcharges? No? Wait no, not a bit like
Speaker 4: a temporary tax in DC. Stupid if we ever believed
Speaker 4: that word. So it's the same sort of situation here
Speaker 4: in Southwest is making the right kinds of calls.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I too was surprised by the size of the fee.
Speaker 1: You know, they could have just made a lot of money.
Speaker 1: The fee could have been lower, and they could have
Speaker 1: distinguished themselves from the other carriers by saying, hey, yes
Speaker 1: we have to charge for bags, but we're not going
Speaker 1: to charge as much as the other guys. So there's
Speaker 1: an advantage to flying Southwest. So now they just have
Speaker 1: to rely on the price that the ticket price advantage.
Speaker 4: And probably one of the things real quick that's forcing
Speaker 4: a lot of this is the fact that we have
Speaker 4: a lot of low cost carriers. Now, after the Deregulation
Speaker 4: Act of nineteen seventy eight, we started to have a
Speaker 4: lot of these you know, air Floorida and all these
Speaker 4: other national areas we live at a lot of these
Speaker 4: low cost carriers at the time, but they would be
Speaker 4: here today, gone tomorrow type of thing, and that competition
Speaker 4: really kept the airfares lower. But now we've got this
Speaker 4: influx of a lot of really strong low cost carriers
Speaker 4: like Allegiant, in Front Tier and many many others, and
Speaker 4: it's really causing Southwest to compete in ways that they've
Speaker 4: never had to do before. So that's why we're seeing
Speaker 4: them drop certain routes where if they're not making enough profit,
Speaker 4: they're simply going to say we're gonna drop this and
Speaker 4: go somewhere else. Even if that plane is full, they
Speaker 4: might take that aircraft and crew to another market where
Speaker 4: seventy five percent of the aircraft being full they make
Speaker 4: money on and that anything beyond that's even better. So
Speaker 4: Southwest is starting to pivot a lot more like other
Speaker 4: airlines have been doing of late. They're certainly late to
Speaker 4: the party, but if there's any company that can can
Speaker 4: figure this out and turn things around in the right way.
Speaker 3: It's gonna be Southwest.
Speaker 4: It's gonna be interesting to see as this progresses, just
Speaker 4: how well Southwest can respond.
Speaker 1: All right, well, coming up, I guess Airbus joining the
Speaker 1: Boeing problems or at least having problems, and Delta had
Speaker 1: a bit of a unique situation having to divert a
Speaker 1: flight that with Jay Rye Love one more segments, Hey,
Speaker 1: forty five fifty five KCIT detalk station, be right back
Speaker 1: fifty five KRC the talk station. Have you taken your fit?
Speaker 1: One more time for the Channel nine weather, sunny day
Speaker 1: to day highest seventy five, got rain shown up over
Speaker 1: nine down to fifty seven. Sticking around that rain is tomorrow,
Speaker 1: maybe a few heavy storms seventy for the high over
Speaker 1: night little fifty eight with more rain partly sunny Saturday
Speaker 1: high seventy five, sixty two degrees. Right now, Time for final.
Speaker 2: Traffic from the UCL Traffic Center. You see healthy O fine,
Speaker 2: comprehensive care. That's so personal and make sure best tomorrow possible.
Speaker 2: That's boundless care for better outcomes. Expect more at you
Speaker 2: see health dot com. Northbound seventy five continues to run
Speaker 2: a bit slow between Dixie and Cos. But they clear
Speaker 2: the accident that was on the right shoulder South Pound
Speaker 2: seventy five break lights out of lock on and passed
Speaker 2: are broken down in the cut. That's a broken down
Speaker 2: pickup truck. Pull any camp Chuck ingram On fifty five
Speaker 2: kars The talk station, Hey.
Speaker 1: Forty eight five kars The talk station Happy Thursday, Tech
Speaker 1: Friday with Dave Hatter every Friday at six thirty. Love
Speaker 1: that segment. Also love the segments I had with Jay Rattle.
Speaker 1: If I heard me avdation expert and pivoting over to
Speaker 1: Delva Delta. Why did they have to divert a flight?
Speaker 1: It's described here on my rundown as a rather unique situation.
Speaker 4: Jay, Well, I don't want to I don't want to
Speaker 4: tell you everything, so but you can enjoy this story,
Speaker 4: mister kerr Ball. But yeah, this is a Delta flight
Speaker 4: from Detroit to Los Angeles this week had to divert
Speaker 4: to Minneapolis. They had a medical emergency on board. The
Speaker 4: aircraft wasn't a passenger to a dog. A dog. A
Speaker 4: dog A dog was traveling with a pastor became sick.
Speaker 4: They had a vetering area on board the flight that
Speaker 4: they were able to locate, came to the dog and said, hey,
Speaker 4: we've got a serious situation here. Delta diverted the flight
Speaker 4: to Minneapolis, landed, They had a ground crew waiting medical
Speaker 4: personnel for the dog, and took the dog in its
Speaker 4: owner off the aircraft when it landed. Now, for those
Speaker 4: that are not animal lovers, and I certainly am one,
Speaker 4: they would look at this and say Delta did what.
Speaker 4: But I'm sorry. If Delta does something stupid, I'm going
Speaker 4: to be all over them. I am very, very pleased
Speaker 4: with this. I thought it was a great thing to do,
Speaker 4: and yeah, Delta did that tend.
Speaker 3: At great expense, I might add.
Speaker 4: Yeah, certainly inconvenience of the passengers on board of the airplane.
Speaker 4: But Brian, I don't know. I've been doing this thirty
Speaker 4: three years. I don't think I've ever had a dog
Speaker 4: diversion story, and in this day and age where airlines
Speaker 4: could care less, I'm shocked is probably the better word
Speaker 4: for it. But I'm incredibly proud of Delta Airlines for
Speaker 4: doing this.
Speaker 1: How about that? I wonder what the reaction from the
Speaker 1: passengers was. Knowing that they were going to be diverted.
Speaker 4: You would know immediately who was a pet lover and
Speaker 4: who was And you've got a feel for the business
Speaker 4: traveler met a man or woman that's on their way
Speaker 4: to the biggest deal of their life. They're getting psyched up,
Speaker 4: they're going over their notes, they've got everything going for
Speaker 4: their presentation.
Speaker 3: And we're diverting for a dog. Yeah. I could see
Speaker 3: it both ways, but I'm sorry.
Speaker 4: The side of the fence I'm on is uh, you know,
Speaker 4: because for a lot of these individuals that travel with pets,
Speaker 4: it's from anxiety, and for some it's to replace a
Speaker 4: loss in their life where they may have had a
Speaker 4: spouse that they lost or a child and they had
Speaker 4: this animal to kind of help fill a little bit
Speaker 4: of that that huge hole. And if something were to
Speaker 4: happen to that animal, yeah, it could have a, you know,
Speaker 4: just a profound impact on that particular individual. So the
Speaker 4: fact that Delta was this responsive, even though they've left
Speaker 4: me at the gate before and left early and really
Speaker 4: takes me off.
Speaker 3: I think I'm over that yet, Brian.
Speaker 1: No, I'm not.
Speaker 3: I am not.
Speaker 1: This took a little bit of the sting out of
Speaker 1: that prior.
Speaker 3: And that's again I looked at.
Speaker 4: Delta tick the shearing oilef when they bumped us out
Speaker 4: of first class. We had tickets confirmed and they booted
Speaker 4: us out, saying I'm sorry, we overbooked the flight, and
Speaker 4: I'm like, excuse me, I know better you don't overbook
Speaker 4: first class.
Speaker 3: Oh no, we we.
Speaker 4: Had to do it because you bought your ticket on
Speaker 4: a third party site. No again, bought it at Delta
Speaker 4: dot com. But I was so ticked those number of
Speaker 4: years ago. That's when I got on the big crusade up. Hey,
Speaker 4: you've got to complaint dot dot gov. And I went
Speaker 4: nuts for years because look, you know it just it
Speaker 4: just frustrates me when I see airlines doing antics, when
Speaker 4: they're lying to passengers and really not really being held accountable.
Speaker 4: And that's why I had no problem at all making
Speaker 4: sure that anybody on any carrier has an issue.
Speaker 3: Currenter pass do ot dot gov.
Speaker 1: Fair enough and real quick. Here do we know if
Speaker 1: the dog's okay? Did it make it?
Speaker 4: I've not gotten the post report yet from Delta, but
Speaker 4: we have asked. We'll have to wait and see next week,
Speaker 4: because I know we have a dog update next week.
Speaker 1: Yes, sir, the dog lovers out there, including myself, of course, you.
Speaker 3: Have got some pretty dogs.
Speaker 1: Huge fan of dogs anyway. Air Bus joining the joining
Speaker 1: Boeing with problems with delivery, although of a different sort.
Speaker 4: Yeah, they've got a supply chain issue. They also have
Speaker 4: a parts and labor issue. But the supply chain issues
Speaker 4: just kind of been a thorn in their side. You
Speaker 4: wouldn't know it, Brian. Last year Airbus delivered eight hundred
Speaker 4: and twenty airplanes. Now that's when they get paid when
Speaker 4: they turn the keys, if you will over to the airline.
Speaker 4: Eight hundred and twenty. Last year Boeing three hundred and fifty.
Speaker 4: So air Bus is kind of kicking Boeing's butt right
Speaker 4: now and will continue to do so, and they want
Speaker 4: to do more of it, but they have the supply
Speaker 4: chain issues, the parts issues, and some of the labor
Speaker 4: issues that's slowing them down to where they came out
Speaker 4: yesterday saying, look some of these issues, we could see
Speaker 4: a three year delay on some of our deliveries. So
Speaker 4: it gives Boeing kind of that chance to try to
Speaker 4: make up some of the ground. But looks lasting you
Speaker 4: and I will is Boeing getting in a hurry doing anything,
Speaker 4: because that's when they tend to cut corners and make
Speaker 4: some really stupid decisions.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I understand that, but I still just am
Speaker 1: reeling over the reality that Boeing hasn't been able to
Speaker 1: deliver on a presidential airline for what an order that
Speaker 1: was placed fifteen some odd years ago. That just seems
Speaker 1: so hard to.
Speaker 3: Fath I mean by two presidents.
Speaker 1: Who presidents ago. Yeah, yep, yeah, it doesn't give you
Speaker 1: a lot of faith in bone.
Speaker 4: Remember what President Trump did. He said, I'll give you
Speaker 4: a bargain, well, buy two at a negotiated rate. Boeing
Speaker 4: locked it in and Boeing is losing so much money
Speaker 4: on that. President Trump saved taxpayers a ton of money
Speaker 4: with that call, because he knows what he's doing when
Speaker 4: it comes to making a deal.
Speaker 1: Maybe that's why they're dragging their feet. Anyhow, let's move on.
Speaker 1: We always close out with hub delays. How's it looking
Speaker 1: out there for air travel today, Jay Ratliffe.
Speaker 4: All week long, the Northeast has been an absolute mess.
Speaker 4: But in honor of our conversation and all your curve balls,
Speaker 4: today's going to be a really good day in the Northeast. However,
Speaker 4: issues in Atlanta and Charlotte are going to make up
Speaker 4: for it. Big time DeLay's going through Atlantis. If you're
Speaker 4: connecting through either of those two hubs, show up early
Speaker 4: at the airport because we're gonna have some issues there,
Speaker 4: but other than that, rest of the country is gonna
Speaker 4: be in very good shape today.
Speaker 1: Always a pleasure you're talking with the Jay Ratliffe. I
Speaker 1: appreciate you take you the time you spend my listening
Speaker 1: to me, always in interesting topics and a fun conversation.
Speaker 1: We'll do it again next Thursday, and of course between
Speaker 1: now and then, best of health you and your better half,
Speaker 1: you too, my friend, Thank you, Thanks brother. Coming up
Speaker 1: at eight fifty five you can get a chance to
Speaker 1: listen Psmith Van and Christopher Smithvan mate. He was on
Speaker 1: fire today usually is, but he had an extra spark
Speaker 1: about him this morning. So check out the psmither vent
Speaker 1: at fifty five cars dot com on the podcast page.
Speaker 1: Of course, my conversation with Jay Ratliffe and I hope
Speaker 1: you can tune in tomorrow. Of course Tech Friday with
Speaker 1: Day Have Hatter every Friday at six thirty. Really important
Speaker 1: segment and just a reminder, PG sitting Feld pardoned by
Speaker 1: Donald Trump. That's an amazing thing to behold. Have a
Speaker 1: wonderful day, folks. Thanks Joe Strekker for all that you
Speaker 1: do producing the program and for alerting me to that
Speaker 1: headline last minute this morning. Have a great day, folks,
Speaker 1: and o'k go away because Glenn Beck's coming right up.
Speaker 1: Stay on top of the day's biggest stories at the
Speaker 1: top of.
Speaker 3: The hour, and that's so important.
Speaker 1: Another update coming up on fifty five KRC, the talk
Speaker 1: station