We should be ashamed of our airline industry!

[TwoFlowersLuggage]

I'm currently stuck at Love Field in Dallas waiting for my flight back to LA. When I arrived at the airport, I decided to go to a restaurant that is at one end of the terminal, near gate #1. After I finished my meal, I checked the departing flight board and it said my flight was on time and leaving from gate 15 - which is all the way at the other end of the terminal. OK, fine, just my luck - so I trek down the terminal to gate 15. When I reach gate 15, I again look at the departing flight board, and NOW my flight says it is delayed by 2 hours and it has been moved to gate #1 - where I just came from! Apparently, in the 10 minutes it took me to schlep from gate 1 to gate 15, my flight moved all the way to the other end of the terminal!

The airline gives you no reason for the 2 hour delay. In fact, as I sit here, the arriving flight that is my aircraft just arrived and the passengers are deplaning. But, apparently, instead of reloading and taking off again, the plane will just sit here for the next 2 hours going no where.

Airline travel has not fundamentally improved in the last 40 years. In fact, it has become continually LESS pleasant to travel. The seats are smaller, closer together and service is far worse. Airports are a nightmare of crowds, inane rules and mindless robot workers.

And yet, business travel is still considered a sign of "success" by many people. Not to me - I see it as torture!

[jmh58]

Maybe they are sanitizing the inside.. Flu season ya know!!! John

[Jeffinn]

“Airline travel has not fundamentally improved in the last 40 years. In fact, it has become continually LESS pleasant to travel. The seats are smaller, closer together and service is far worse. Airports are a nightmare of crowds, inane rules and mindless robot workers.”

I agree with you 100%. We travel two or three times a year and I’m almost to the point where I’m going to stop flying places. The airlines don’t care because they sell out most of their flights on a regular basis.
Jeff

[rea1eye]

All of you guys are correct. 30 years ago it would have considered a privilege to have a job
where you had to travel by air. Now it is nothing more than a pain in the #ss. My son in-law
sometimes has to go to another state for business and he just hates it. If it is only 2 states
away, he rather rents a car and gets there without hassle and with no delays.

I never had to travel for my job so I do not see the full picture.

I think in part it is our fault we have left the airline industry and federal government
dictate all these ridiculous rules and inconveniences. Let's go back to Grayhound
Buses and Santa Fe Trains.

Bob

[TwoFlowersLuggage]

I travel about once every 2 months - and I've done so for years. So, I know most of the tricks of the business travelers - for example, getting your TSA-PRE number so you can get through security MUCH faster and you don't have to take off your shoes, belts, etc. Or paying the extra $30 to get priority boarding and an exit row seat. And NEVER checking bags - use a carry-on ONLY so you don't have to wait in line to check your bag and you don't have to wait at baggage claim to get your bag. NEVER talking to the person sitting next to you until you have landed at your destination. Put on your headphones as soon as you sit down and make no eye contact with your seat mates. There's nothing worse than being trapped with a chatty Kathy neighbor for 3+ hours. Oh, and the most important of all: Having two margaritas before boarding the plane.

And even with all those rituals - traveling is still torture. I know guys that travel almost constantly - they might be home 1 week out of 4. I would rather have red hot pokers stuck in my eyes...

And - it was so bloody cold in Dallas this week that I didn't even try to look for any stores with knives!

I'm glad to be home!!

[wazu013]

The lat time I flew my flight was from Buffalo to Atlanta then on to Tampa. All I had was one carry on bag. While I past through security they pulled me out and put me behind a screen to check me out more thoroughly. They made me stip down to my skiveys and took a peek at my private parts. Whie this was happening I saw a family of middle easterners burkes and robs galore walk right through without any extra attention given to them. At the same time there was a blizzard going on outside. My flight was delayed for 6 hours and when I finally got to Atlanta it was after midnight and my flight to Tampa had already left. Keep in mind it was saturday night before the Super Bowl where I was going. The airlines (Air Trans) gave me a hotel room for the night but the next flight for Tampa left at 11am the next morning. I was screwed. I wound up renting a car and drove through the night to make the game. Th Bills then went on to get their butts kicked. The trip sucked !!

[Chase]

I travel a lot for my work and if I can avoid flying...I absolutely will. My thoughts are, if I can drive there in 12 hours or less...that's what I do.

The airlines have made it such a hassle that I prefer to drive. It doesn't help that I live two to two and a half hours from the closest major airport. This week I am headed to Las Vegas for Shot Show 2018 and if I thought I could get away with it, I would have driven. But the boss wants the entire team there Monday and I would have probably have left Yesterday to get there at a leasurely pace.....not to mention my wonderful wife looking at me like I have two heads when I mentioned driving.

So I will end up flying out and back on this trip. This show I am attending is like the Super Bowl of Outdoor World shows.....hundreds of thousands of attendees over a 4 day event...absolutely insane.

In any event, glad you made it home twoflowers

Having travelling

Tom

[zzyzzogeton]

TFL, I know where you are coming from on flying.

I haven't flown since Aug 2012, and before that Sept 06.

On your 2 hour delay while the plane is sitting there, most likely what happened is that the flight crew on your incoming plane was legally maxed out on hours (or would be before your plane landed) and they had to wait for another crew. Sometimes what happens is that a plane is delayed earlier in the day, be it mechanical, weather, etc, and those hours sitting on the ground constitute "time in the plane", and count against the flight crew availability.

And on the gate change, when a plane is gonna sit for a while, the flight line folks have to start playing musical gates.

So ice in Boston can affect airports in Texas. Floods in Houston screw up Chicago, LAX, etc.

[TwoFlowersLuggage]

wazu013: In order to be politically correct, the TSA has to use a random selection based on a computer program. When the computer dings, you get pulled aside for further scrutiny. In my opinion, this is a stupid way to do screening. All the bad guys have to do is send 5 guys through at a time, all of them with a knife or some sort of weapon. At most, 1 or 2 would get selected for screening and would need to give up their weapon. (don't use an explosive because that would shut the entire airport down) The rest would sail right through without a second look. I think it is simply the *appearance* of security without actually being very secure. Airport security is all about closing the door after the horse has already escaped. Someone tries to put an explosive in his shoe - OK, make all passengers take off their shoes. Someone tries to use an explosive hidden in a water bottle - OK, passengers can't bring liquids onto the plane. I think we have become good at finding the stupidest bad guys: those that use a plan that has already failed for someone else.

I guess we should look at the bright side: TSA is good for knife manufacturers because every year thousands of pocket knives are purchased to replace the knives confiscated by the TSA from people that forget to leave their knives at home...

[Mumbleypeg]

During my 40 year business career I traveled frequently. Both domestic and international. Most of my friends who do not travel think it was an ideal job and think they would love to travel. For the most part I enjoyed it - once I got where I was going.

My attitude was to expect the inconveniences. Delays really don't happen that often but we tend to remember them more so than the routine uninterrupted trips.

As TFL said, frequent travelers learn the tricks and avoid some of the hassle. If you travel a lot the "Trusted Traveler" programs are worth the effort and let you minimize security and customs checks. Enroll in frequent flyer programs and sign up to receive texts for flight status alerts (cancellations, delays, gate changes) which are often sent several minutes before they are announced in the airport, giving you a head start to make changes.

Most important, keep calm. Be polite but firm when dealing with airport and airline personnel. It's usually not the fault of the person you're dealing with anyway, and they're under a lot of stress with other travelers yelling at them.

I certainly don't miss it. I've been fully retired since 2013 and I've only made 2 airline trips since then. Even after transferring most of them to family members I still have unused upgrades and miles in my frequent flyer accounts. Keeping a few just in case.

Ken