The Skies May Be Friendly, But The Airlines Aren't
I used to love air travel. I was 18 when I took my first flight and it was exhilarating. For years, I had tears in my eyes during takeoff because I just couldn’t believe the miracle I was experiencing.
How amazing it is to be in the sky, flying through and above the clouds, seeing the sun, sunrises and sunsets, the layout of the land beneath you, the massive bodies of water below. It’s beyond incredible and back then no matter where you sat, they served actual meals, not the skimpy bag of pretzels or ginger cookies you receive now. I’m not saying the meals were delicious, but they would have been if I had known they would eventually be eliminated.
I don’t know exactly when everything changed. Obviously, security became a necessary nightmare after 9/11, but I think all the craziness of flying kind of crept up on us during the following years.
Now, you have airlines that confirm your flight is on time right before you go to sleep and then when you wake up, not only have they canceled your flight, but they have decided they will no longer fly direct to your destination and have rebooked you without your knowledge or permission on a layover flight scheduled for 8 hours later.
Now you have airlines that keep you trapped for 3 hours on a runway first stating maintenance issues, then changing the narrative and saying due to weather conditions they are waiting for departure permission and there is a line of at least 25 planes ahead of you. And if that isn’t bad enough, they power down the engines so you do not have air conditioning and, naturally, your overhead fans are impossible to figure out and most of them barely work at all.
And then because you had to grab a last-minute flight because your original flight was canceled, you find yourself in the dreaded middle seat after paying double the price of your original canceled flight. And if that isn’t bad enough, you’re sitting between an elderly couple who were hoping the middle seat would stay empty, which it rarely does these days due to all the rampant cancellations, and the couple don’t offer to sit next to each other so the whole flight they’re handing food past your face and talking to each other as if you’re not actually there.
So here we are, trapped at the mercy of our former beloved airlines, knowing that each time we fly, we will be delayed if not actually canceled. Knowing that the flight will be packed, and we will be sitting in our sardine can on the tarmac for an insane amount of time.
Listen, I appreciate the caution they take in not flying in bad weather, but I don’t recall that happening as frequently in the past. I guess the weather has gotten worse with each passing year, and when I think of the weather disasters around the world, perhaps it has.
But what I do know is that we now pay much more and get much less. I know that there no longer is at least one airline you can depend on for a positive experience. And I also can understand why people freak out and lose their tempers as these situations become more prevalent.
I’m grateful I no longer fly with little ones. Parents today certainly have their hands full. It’s hard enough entertaining children during the duration of a flight, let alone sitting on a nonmoving plane for an additional 3 hours.
It seems as if it will only get worse with airlines claiming they can’t afford to stay in business without continuous price hikes and eliminating amenities. The prices of checked bags keep rising, and now, no joke, there’s an airline that will begin charging for overhead bags. Soon, we’ll pay one price to get the left side of our bodies on the plane and an additional fee to bring on our right side. Then we’ll continue purchasing our seats for additional fees, which is freakin’ insane since you’re required to sit, and we will end up with 10 seats available for free. The other seats will be up charged as what the airlines now refer to as options - more leg room, reclining, exit door, seats closest to the front door in the poor man’s section, first class, business class, economy class, economy plus, economy premium, etc.
They got us good. You want to travel, you want to see your loved ones, you need to go to a funeral, a wedding, a birth, you have no choice but to pay and if all the free seats are taken, SOL.
Obviously, I’m frustrated, but it’s possible I may be ignorant of some important factors that might explain the nightmare air travel has become. If you know of any, please share them. Perhaps it will help us all.