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

[Owen Lucas]

Seeing the news it seems like all airlines have been enduring glitches, staff shortages and all kinds of delays, regardless of weather. Entire flights getting cancelled, people sleeping in airports and overbooked planes. Maybe I'm being shocked by the news but can an aviation insider provide some insight? Will the airline situation get any better? I really don't want to travel if I will have to roll the dice on a plane not showing up or sleeping at the gate.

 

[dlundblad]

We won’t be doing it at least for now. Driving is less hassle.

You hear of too many cancellations that can turn a vacation into a nightmare. Less so if one doesn’t have connecting flights or other time sensitive arrangements, but that’s still wasted time.

 

[eljefino]

I've got a BOS-LAS vacation coming up, will report back, LOL.

Delta just paid some lucky(?) passengers $10k to bump them.

Flying has always been miserable, but seeing how "just living day to day" got worse, I feel prepared.

 

[Aredeeem]

I’m in ORD right now. Flying home to Jersey via PHL Tuesday morning. We have an easy short hop non stop flight. We ALWAYS catch the first flight on the schedule to avoid delays as the day wears on. Don’t know if I’d be comfortable with a multi leg connecting flight the way things are now.

 

[Owen Lucas]

We ALWAYS catch the first flight on the schedule to avoid delays as the day wears on.

That's a good tip, a fresh crew and plane is always a plus.

 

[dlundblad]

I’m in ORD right now. Flying home to Jersey via PHL Tuesday morning. We have an easy short hop non stop flight. We ALWAYS catch the first flight on the schedule to avoid delays as the day wears on. Don’t know if I’d be comfortable with a multi leg connecting flight the way things are now.

In my experience (or my bad luck), it’s the early bird flight that gets cancelled and/ or moved back. Lol

 

[hrv]

In my experience (or my bad luck), it’s the early bird flight that gets cancelled and/ or moved back. Lol

I think it is your bad luck...Everything I have seen online is the earlier the better....

 

[Dave Hess]

How far ?

I can easily drive 700 miles to avoid a crap show at airport / airline…..

 

[Astro14]

I’m on time coming back from Geneva. Full flight. Smooth ride.

 

[Lubener]

I stopped flying when the strip searches began many years ago.

 

[Wylie6G72]

I was planning to book a flight to Florida to see my parents mid-November, but I've reconsidered. I'm going to hang back and wait to see if the airlines get their act together, or if this is the new normal.

 

[UncleDave]

For anything drivable in 8-10 hours - nope.

 

[Imp4]

I stopped flying when the strip searches began many years ago.

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???

 

[wpod]

I find it interest with all the reported problems people still chose to fly then complain about them problems. Air fares need to triple and the airlines need to be re regulated.

 

[Aredeeem]

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

 

[Rhymingmechanic]

I booked an August trip on United a couple weeks ago. The first itinerary change just came in. They moved up my outbound flight but kept it nonstop, which is fine. (Last summer, they changed a nonstop to a flight with a connection.) The return flight's connection changed from Newark to Houston, with the following explanation:

"These changes to your itinerary are a result of airport congestion at Newark airport, which is impacting all airlines. Even though United has the staffing necessary to operate your flight, we are reducing our schedule throughout the summer to help minimize excessive delays and improve on-time performance for as many customers as possible."

The cost of flights made me think about driving, but that would mean three days in the car each way.

 

[Finklejag]

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.

 

[Aredeeem]

Yea. We live equidistant between EWR and PHL. PHL much less crowded early AM. TSA PRE lines wide open. 3 minute wait. Too old for Chicago road trip.

 

[NormanBuntz]

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.

 

[Eddie]

I just returned from a flight from ILL Midway airport to Fort Myers FL. Flight arrived on time with few hassles. Airplane is cramped but took 2.5 hours instead of two- and 1/2-days driving. In addition, Flying is statistically about 1006 safter than driving on a trip of 500 + miles. Too many plus to flying unless you are driving for sightseeing IMO. Ed