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You can have whatever experience you like when flying, it just depends on how much you're willing to spend.
Fork out the money and you can fly first class with free drinks. Fly enough to accumulate enough points on an airline and you'll get priority boarding, first pick of seats, free checked bags, etc.
Pay extra to get a TSA Global Entry pass, and you can breeze through security in the pre-check line, everywhere, in addition to getting quicker access through customs with no invasive searches.
When I'm on vacation, I always go first class and enjoy myself. I can even buy the tickets with my travel credit card that gives me access to whatever airline's platinum lounge I want. When I'm on business, I have to tread between comfort and cost effectiveness, as it's the company paying for my flight. So depending on the flight, business class is entirely acceptable, but most times it's coach. All the while I'm racking up miles so that when I do go on vacation, I go first class and it costs me nothing, or very little.
The current price of a First Class Domestic Ticket between Chicago and NY/NJ is less than the price of a Coach ticket 30-35 years ago, when adjusted for inflation.
Some airlines offer one time R/ T expedited check in for a fee.
Major carriers sell mini Domestic upgrade packages, more leg room in Coach, priority check in and baggage check.
People shop the Internet for the cheapest fares and then complain when they get what they paid for.
Thanks, I prefer Delta. People who long for the days of gender discrimination, when men couldn't get flight attendant jobs, and women were objectified, can fly Singapore. Poor boys, are you missing your eye candy? Awww. Mean old airlines! They took away your toys!
I'm sure you'll enjoy Singapore more, where the police, schools, and courts are allowed to flog people. Better be good in class, boys, and don't pinch the girls, or the teacher will cane you!
Caning in Singapore Of these, judicial caning, for which Singapore is best known, is the most severe. It is reserved for male convicts under the age of 50, for a wide range of offences under the Criminal Procedure Code, and is also used as a disciplinary measure in prisons. Caning is also a legal form of punishment for delinquent servicemen in the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) and is conducted in the SAF Detention Barracks.
In the 1930s-1970s air travel was a glamorous experience. You had plenty of leg room, free alcoholic drinks, attractive stewardesses in pleasing uniforms, hassle free boarding experiences, deluxe luxurious accommodations, steak and lobster meals, and comfortable seating.
Since the 80s the industry has consisted of sardine can-like seating, hellish boarding procedures with cavity searches, free peanuts if you're lucky, and frumpy airline staff who look and act like they escaped from a prison chain gang.
It makes me sick.
I admit security is an ordeal, food nonexistent, and space is cramped to say the least. However, I have never expected the flight attendants to be "attractive", shall we say. Helpful and polite, yes.
And they're pricks about making money. The rationale that you can do anything at all if it makes you a profit is the most appalling thing about the corporate world.
Except, Airlines seem to go bankrupt every 5 years or so. Warren Buffet famously said if he could do one thing to help folks who invested in Airlines, he would have shot Orville and Wilbur out of the sky.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Perma Bear
I'd rather go down with the plane wearing a suit in a big comfy seat holding a glass of fine brandy than suffer in a narrow seat while babies scream, kids kick, and the stewardess gives me a soulless death glare.
That option is still available to you, if you have the means. First class is still available on all but the smallest flights.
Quote:
Originally Posted by M3 Mitch
Even if you have a paid first class ticket, you still have the damn TSA crap to deal with, which annoys me on two levels - first, it's inconvenient, second, it's strictly theater and does not provide proper security (for an example of what proper security looks like, see how El Al does it.).
Ben Gurion handles 16 million passengers a year. O'hare handles 77 Million. Also, the Israeli security agent is a IDF veteran, he has a much higher level of training. But you can't scale that to make it work here.
Quote:
Originally Posted by M3 Mitch
The enjoyment level for flying is way less than back before 9-11.
And, if you're willing to pay for it, you can breeze through Pre Check.
Exceptions that prove the rule. I dislike the SWA cattle call, they are my least favorite airline, but they by and large get you there with a minimum of fuss. They are no less prone to weather issues than anyone else but it seems they do a good job of getting you there.
Quote:
Originally Posted by middle-aged mom
I used to fly weekly or more for business. A round trip COACH ticket between Chicago and NY/NJ typically ran in excess of $800 ( about $2,413 in 2016 USD) in the 80's. It was necessary to stay over a weekend to get a discount or engage in the back to back ticketing game. Back then, there was a tad more leg room. No steak or lobster in Coach. A cocktail cost $4. If I missed the 4:00, no worries there was a 5,6,7 and 8:00 flight and usually seats available.
For those with high levels of frequent flyer point, one could upgrade to first class for $40. No steak or lobster but alcohol was free and hot noise washcloths were disbursed.
Deregulation led to price wars, and survival of the so called fittest.
30 years later, the same flight costs a fraction of what it did 30 years ago. Seems beyond unreasonable to expect to pay a fraction of the former ticket price and expect the same leg room, food and benefits.
Yep...and in many cases you could fly that route first class for $800, or well less than the inflation adjusted cost.
Air may be the best way to get somewhere - at some times - but that (in the USA) is largely because we have not invested in the right infrastructure.
Also, the "free market" means that we are often not well served...
Here is an example.
Pittsburgh is a major city. So are Hartford, CT and Providence RI.
It used to be that two direct flights were available each day for about $99 each way. That would be a very profitable route - since the same $99 would take you to florida and even almost to the west coast.
BUT, US Air and now AA and others have decided to abandon PIT and force people into stops (hub and spoke).
This means a flight from Hartford to PIT is now $350 to $400 RT and must go through Wash DC or Philly.
Driving is 9 hours. Train or Bus is near impossible.
And so, we flew there to see some family. On the return trip we sat on the Tarmac in PIT for 90 minutes because the skies over the east coast were too full (again the result of lack of fast trains and other methods). We finally made it to Philadelphia (the stop) too late for the connection. No worries - there was another flight later. Oh..cancelled. In fact, they canceled every flight headed to New England from 2PM to the end of the night. We even tried to go into other airports!
And do, I rented a car and drove another 5 hours up to New England, arriving after a total of 17 hours from when I left my hotel room.
That was, of course, in addition to breathing the kerosene and all the other benefits of modern air travel.
We should be ashamed of ourselves in this country! At the minimum, government should require airlines to serve routes which have good traffic and were traditionally served. Now, proponents of our system might say "well, airlines WILL do this if there is demand". This is not true. Look at Southwest and JetBlue. Southwest made their name in these types of flights....$69 each way from cities a couple hundred miles apart. But they have only a limited number of planes and employees and now prefer longer routes.
JetBlue also served many markets at decent prices with good benefits (free bags). No longer.
I think we are choking our own commerce with this. I've seen destinations (Hilton Head, for example) build up well due to good air connections...and then they are dropped (or $$) and the whole market suffers.
A bit of consistency - for the populace to be able to predictably go places - would be nice. Heck, they have it in China, Japan and Europe. I guess we are a "2nd world country".
Deregulation of airlines compelled airlines to compete for business. Obviously, carriers determined that n/s flights from some spokes were unprofitable. Should the federal government fund something as discretionary as air travel, as it once did?
I wouldn't call it "Hellish" but it can't compare to the Royal Treatment we got in the sixties. These answers bolstering the concept that airline travel hasn't changed are very young. I loved the meals and all those cocktails and smiling , attractive "stewardesses" as we called them. My answer? The entire country , if not the world , has gone to the dogs. Now, what caused THAT?
Deregulation of airlines.
A similar onboard experience can still be had in the First Class cabin When adjusted for inflation,a First Class Domestic Ticket is cheaper today than the Coach Cabin used to be.
How does that affect the traveler in any way? Good lawd. Maybe you should enter a partnership with Hooters to make your own airline.
I am a little incredulous about that. Is there evidence of this happening IRL?
Sign me up. But seriously, citation needed.
I have never flown w/o being offered a complimentary drink and snack, even on 45-minute flights.
The OP seems a little like looking at the past with rose-colored glasses and at the present with dirty ones.
In my experience, most "hellish" aspects are the passengers' fault--rude, entitled. Yesterday:
-multiple people refused to put their smartphones into airplane mode when directed to
-one person refused to stop playing music w/o use of earphones when directed to stop
-the flight attendants had to stop the safety presentation because most people were loudly talking over them--they literally had to announce over the loudspeaker that everyone needed to be quiet
-a grown adult spilled soda all over me, my luggage, the seat and carpet because he was carelessly using his tablet & not paying attention--barely mustered a single word of apology
-a parent out of the seat and requesting juice for the baby (who just got fed) during takeoff despite clear direction not to get out of the seat
-screaming toddlers and a mother screaming at them for 4.5 hours straight (mother kept instigating the kids' screaming, as far as I could tell)
-B.O., or as Seinfeld would say, B.B.O.
-and to top it off, a diabetic had a medical emergency during the flight and needed to borrow supplies from other passengers (of course, it's possible this was unavoidable. it's equally possible the person came unprepared.)
I wanted to hug the flight attendants afterwards.
The more affordable air travel has become the more likely you will be seated amongst those raised by wolves.
Location: Mableton, GA USA (NW Atlanta suburb, 4 miles OTP)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pvande55
The fuel cost penalty for flying heavier payload is substantial. It makes sense to have lighter flight attendants to reduce fuel consumption.
Having worked on MGL and W&B calculations for a major, I'll tell you that the weight of the flight crew is not significant for planes which are DC9-10 sized and up. Even pax weights are approximated based on averages and res data. Notice that there is no scale at check-in time.
We did do some special things for certain flights. Some destinations were identified over time as having larger average bag weight per pax, so adjustments to pax average weight were sometimes made for certain city pairs and directions. But the crew was effectively treated as a fixed number of pax of average weight.
This is unfortunate. I recommend weighing all passengers, plus their luggage (hand-luggage and checked-luggage)... and charging their airfare accordingly.
From an engineering viewpoint, most transport-aircraft (passenger or cargo) are volume-limited, not weight-limited. This is why it's possible for airlines to order aircraft with so many seats crammed in. They can meet their range-requirements with incrementally more payload, based on where current operations place they on their range-payload diagram.
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But seriously, citation needed.
