Alaska Airlines

Since I'm on the topic of airlines (see below), I'll continue. Today I read this excellent post about a an Alaska Airlines flight that depressurized at thirty thousand feet. Before taking off, the plane was hit by a baggage cart, which apparently caused a weakness or small hole in the plane that became a large whole with the pressures of altitude.

This kind of accident could have happened to any airline, but it has cemented my refusal to fly Alaska Airlines or their subsidiary Horizon Air. I've been avoiding Alaska Airlines for a while due to their general incompetence in the customer service arena.

One interesting point is that the baggage driver who hit the plane was non-union. His position and 399 other baggage handling ones were eliminated earlier this year when baggage handling was outsourced. You could argue that a union driver would have been more secure in his job and might have been more likely to report the incident (it wasn't reported). It's a bit of a conundrum: how do you give people an incentive to report mistakes when they might be penalized for making the mistake?