Is it even worth flying anymore, for the short term at least?

NormanBuntz said:
In late May my wife and I took a three week trip to Western Europe via American Airlines and British Airways. The actual flights were fine. All were on time and had excellent service. It was some of the AIRPORT experiences that were so dreadful. Philadelphia Airport was OK leaving. Barcelona and its Customs checking went OK. But the return from Copenhagen? Got to the airport 2:45 before our flight, and if it wasn't for my wife getting special assistance walking with a cane, we would have missed the BA flight to London. The check in and security lines in Copenhagen were terribly slow. We connected in London to another BA flight leaving from the next terminal. Had to go through security again, and that's a cluster. Once more we only made the connecting flight with the passenger assistance my wife received, and we had 1:45 between flights. Arrived at PHL and all was OK there. But since we returned on June 13, things in the USA have gotten worse with delays and cancellations. It will be a very long time before I fly again.
Click to expand...
Was this with or without Global Entry status, or does that even matter / abroad?
 
Last edited:
Even without the problems of the past couple years, I only get on a plane if I'm crossing a body of water. If there's a driveable path to my destination, I prefer to drive.

I don't mind flying. I find it fun even. I also don't really mind the searches and security though that's biased due to my work in intel for TSA years ago. I just find the drive more fun. To me, the travel is just as fun as the destination.

Take the upcoming HPL Open House next month. It's a 13 hour drive for me where I could fly much faster. However, driving there I get to go through the Appalachian mountains up around Asheville, visit some friends for lunch in Tennessee, cross the big steel trestle bridge crossing into Ohio at Cincinnati which gives my wife a heart attack going over, etc... Plus I have my own car with me there when I get there. I'm not a fan of rental cars. Saving a bunch of money also helps out tremendously.
 
Last edited:
Aredeeem said:
Yes. Early bird flights are not 100 per cent guaranteed. Early bird out here was delayed 3 hours due to mechanical. But that’s ok..fix it while on the ground boys, I can wait😀
Click to expand...
Mech. issues can happen at any time..
 
A year ago I took my first flight in 25 years and I hope to never fly again. It went as well as could be expected, but not an enjoyable experience. Too crowded...too noisy...too many very unhappy people on the plane and in the airport. I'd have to have a life-or-death problem to ever want to fly again.
 
I'll drive up until its 15hrs or so. But I'm gonna have a flight from Houston to san fran or seattle with it without for my next vacation. I don't mind road tripping to avoid planes but once it becomes too expensive to drive it's out of the question.
 
Finklejag said:
I been working for an airline for close to 30 years and I don’t set a foot on a plane these days. It use to be a good middle class paying career, but these days the airlines are competing with Taco Bell for the same workers. Every airline was in a race to the bottom for the the cheapest labor and now they all crossed the finish line. They can’t find anyone to work for $15.00 a hour, working nights, weekends, holidays, split shifts, rotating days off. Our current collective bargaining agreement is up and my company is still playing hardball with the union while they are giving new hires $5,000-$15,000 sign on bonuses seeing they are so desperate to fill all the openings.
There isn’t enough pilots, mechanic, ramp, customer service, cleaners out there to fill all these positions for the airlines, but upper management only thinks about profits and tries to fly a full pre Covid schedule these days.
Click to expand...

What is your job at the airline you are working for ?

I understand collective bargaining and folks wanting better pay and benefits.

MBA-ification at an airline can destroy the company if people making very important decisions don’t know what they are doing.
 
Have been on a handful of flights this year so far (LAX, San Antonio, Richmond, Orlando) on various airlines (Delta, United, Southwest) and have not had a single issue.

This is peak season during a year when airlines/airports are short staffed and issues are hitting harder than they typically would.

Over about a 5-6hr drive, I'd rather fly no question!
 
Dave Hess said:
What is your job at the airline you are working for ?

I understand collective bargaining and folks wanting better pay and benefits.

MBA-ification at an airline can destroy the company if people making very important decisions don’t know what they are doing.
Click to expand...
Ramp.

Back when I started, it took 5 years to top out, today it’s 11 years. Another item that people these days are not willing to do for “just a job”. And working outdoors in the heat, cold, rain, snow.
 
Imp4 said:
What a short sighted way to close off the world.
Click to expand...
I can reach where I want to go by automoblie or train. It not being short sighted. From strip searches, to the drunk who loaded up at the airport bar and boards the plane makes for an unpleasent experience.

If the flying experience offsets the pleasure of the trip, I see no reason for it.
 
Imp4 said:
What a short sighted way to close off the world.

TSA has always been accommodating in me experience. Treat them with respect and they typically do the same. And with TSA precheck, security is almost always a breeze.
It's the people that act like morons and start yelling that have all the problems. When was the last time that you or someone you know personally was strip searched???
Click to expand...
2012 I was. I had a water bottle with a little water in it still.

Apparently that means you get the VIP treatment 😮
 
Heading back to Jersey via ORD-PHL. Airport busy but not crazy. TSA PRE less than 5 minutes. Flight on time so far. Most dangerous part of the trip so far? Almost attended the Highland Park parade yesterday. It’s safer in the air then it is on the ground these days.
 
Lubener said:
I can reach where I want to go by automoblie or train. It not being short sighted. From strip searches, to the drunk who loaded up at the airport bar and boards the plane makes for an unpleasent experience.

If the flying experience offsets the pleasure of the trip, I see no reason for it.
Click to expand...


Other than the so called strip searches of which I have not experienced in any of my air travels, you can expect to run into all that other stuff while on the road. Stop for a meal break and encounter the obnoxious person in the cafe. Use a public restroom where people are shooting up.

One cannot avoid them.
 
Lubener said:
I can reach where I want to go by automoblie or train. It not being short sighted. From strip searches, to the drunk who loaded up at the airport bar and boards the plane makes for an unpleasent experience.

If the flying experience offsets the pleasure of the trip, I see no reason for it.
Click to expand...
I don't fly alot but usually its fine on the plane going to regular city destinations. For sure if you are on a flight to or from a "party place" there's more chance of some people starting to drink early and the airline letting them onto the plane... We flew quite a bit in 2019 and never got more than a wand wave for a search? I guess if you fit a few criteria of a "profile" then you get more attention, but I've never really even seen someone in an airport get extra attention except for the food smuggling grannies.
Train is a nicer way to travel though, once you've flown to Europe though, and if you have the time a road trip is the best way to see a country for sure.
 
I have a trip planned in September with BA, YVR-LHR-JNB, and then back again a couple weeks later. I would hope that international flights to major hubs would be the least affected but I truly have no idea.

To answer the question I never really considered flying if I can drive there in 6-7 hours. Now I would probably stretch that out to 10 hours or so.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

wwillson
Flying the Boeing 757-200
2 3 4
Replies
74
Views
8K
Owen Lucas
P
Frontier Airlines Rant - What a mess!
2
Replies
36
Views
5K
dishdude
X
  • Locked
Airline humor.
Replies
2
Views
3K
bretfraz
T
  • Locked
A Lot of Funnies from MSU to Lewis and Clark
Replies
5
Views
3K
Kaboomba
T
  • Locked
The auxiliary power unit (APU) on a Boeing 777 failed at O'Hare for 3 hours YESTERDAY
Replies
10
Views
9K
CBDFrontier06
Back
Top Bottom