I remember when flying was something to look forward to. You could get on the airplane, have a nice meal, eat, read, or fall asleep in a comfortable seat and get to your destination full of excitement and anticipation, free of hassle or inconvenience. Those days are gone. Flying has become a necessary inconvenience...
There were no crazy fees, no long lines, no taking off your shoes and throwing away your water bottles and expensive toiletries that exceeded some nebulous 4 ounce quantity. None of that! We could get on the plane and just go! People used to actually go to the airport without a flight to just sit and watch the planes take off. Remember that? It was all rather simple...
And then 9/11 happened. The airlines had sympathy galore from the public and they took full advantage of it. They reduced staff, raised fares, and implemented fees for everything that you can imagine starting with ridiculous baggage fees that have since brought them billions upon billions of dollars.
Bag fees began with just domestic flights because somehow you only needed a change of clothes if you were flying international. 👀 Initially, international flights did not have bag fees. Now all flights have fees, first bag, second bag even more, a third bag will cost you your children.
Remember the standby flight? It was a convenience offered for free because it was a win-win for both parties, the airline and the customer. It is still a convenience for the airline but one for which the customer must pay. Need to change your flight? It's going to cost you - Dearly!
From there it went to seats for sale! Want leg room or a seat wide enough to not share with a neighbor you've never met or that comfortably fits even modest hips for your five hour flight? Its gonna' cost you...
Wanna' sit in that emergency aisle and promise to help in the event of an unscheduled landing between runways? To be of that service, to help save fellow passenger lives, will cost you too.
Love that window seat? I love the aisle. Wanna' choose your seat of preference at time of purchase to avoid the airline assigning you to the dreadful middle seat as punishment for not taking the bribe up front? Pay up!!!
Remember when if you had a seat at the back of the plane once everybody was on board if there were vacancies in the front of the plane, notwithstanding first class of course, you could move to that empty seat for free? Not anymore. You want to move? That's gonna cost you too...
Hungry? So sad, to bad... Meals are no longer included. First they removed the hot meals and all steel cutlery from the flights and served instead some prefab sandwich that tasted prefab, now with plastic utensils only. Unless of course, you were in first class, then you still got a hot with your temporary airline cot.
Eventually they started charging for that not so good sandwich. Ultimately, the sandwich was reduced to a snack of cookies or chips and a drink. The major airlines used to laugh at Southwest and other no frill airlines for exactly the service they now provide.
Note that all of this is happening in the face of ever escalating ticket fares. Fewer services, higher prices. Capitalism at its best!
Recently, Delta announced that it will no longer serve snacks. In the spirit of follow the leader, the other airlines will surely follow suit.
Post 9-11, we got something called TSA checkpoints, which entail physical groping of our bodies, searches of our hair, stripping of shoes, belts, and all things metal. Our luggage is being exrayed or physically searched, as we are forced to walk through expensive body scan equipment that fails even its own tests. Don't want to go through all of that? You don't have to! Pay a modest price for prepaid TSA clearance, and voila!, you can avoid the inconvenience of having your dignity violated...
I have said nothing about how many steps you're going to get in walking from the check in ticket counter to your gate of departure. At least one mile in many airports. Whose bright idea was it to include inclines in that mile? Thank God for bags with wheels. My heart bleeds, however, for the mostly frail people pushing all those soon to be very able big bodies in those handicap assist chairs. The immediate cures at curbside is nothing short of miraculous!
So here we are now in the midst of another crisis, this one created by the trump administration resulting in ridiculously high oil prices. Once again, the airline is not going to miss an opportunity to gouge the public. Have you bought an airplane ticket recently? Sticker shock is an understatement. As we know, once the fees go up and services are further reduced, fares will never come down and services will never be restored.
Highway robbery has nothing on skyway robbery.
Flying is not only a necessary inconvenience, it is now a very costly, tiring, and mostly unpleasant necessary inconvenience. Safe travels...
Miss Higgi Says, friendly are the skies no more...
Yes a necessary inconvenience! When your flight to Cincinnati from Philly takes you to Orlando or Denver for a 4 hour layover you wonder why you just did not drive! 10 hours is 10 hours at least you are comfortable in your car with your own selection of snacks and music.
ReplyDeleteThis is an excellent portrayal of what we are facing. Unfortunately it will probably continue to get worse. They also use to encourage you to use the lounges, such as the Delta Sky lounge. That has also become more costly.
ReplyDeleteYou captured everything. Well said..Nothing But the Truth! Donna G.
ReplyDeleteWell said. We’ll see how it is on our no frills Norse flight to Greece in a couple of weeks. I do still enjoy the solitude of flights. I have a limited # of things I can do, so I delete emails, read, take a nap, have one of the snacks I bring, and look forward to my arrival at my destination.
ReplyDeleteYou forgot to mention the shrunken seat size and thinned aisle space, which a person can barely squeak by.
ReplyDeleteOtherwise impeccable description. Love the middle seat punishment.
ReplyDeleteI have not flown since July, 1966 when I flew back from San Francisco to New York. Not out of a fear of flying, more of a dislike of flying. Before they passed away, my Mom and her Sister, who were inseparable and who both had Alzheimer’s, decided to finally take a Long planned trip to Europe. The two of them together were hilarious and the Alzheimer’s only amplified the hilarity. As I drove them to Kennedy Airport to get their flight all seemed “normal” but no one knew my Mom had forgotten to pack her medication. According to my Aunt, once in Europe her situation began to deteriorate slowly. By the time they boarded the plane home a week later things were out of control, but still hilarious. They were served their meal and Mom even said she would try to duplicate the dish once she got home, but after a while she forgot that she had eaten and she began demanding to be fed because after all, she had paid for it. When the crew were unresponsive to her demands Mom got out of her seat and stormed the first class section demanding to be fed! When I picked them up my Aunt began to fill me in on what had taken place. Clearly the Mother that I had driven to the airport was not the Mother that I picked up for the trip home. As my Aunt was telling about Mom’s crashing of first class Mom held up a tiny bag of oyster crackers and said “see, this is all they fed me”! They were quite a pair and I’m sure Europe and the airline thought so too.
ReplyDeleteWell said. I have found joy in driving my car when possible thanks to the inconveniences you mentioned!
ReplyDeleteFlying prior to 911 was an enjoyable experience. However, it is now an anxiety producing experience beginning with the cost of airfare. I guess it’s like most other things, you pay more and get less.
ReplyDeleteRight before 9/11, I was making a 9-hour drive every 3 weeks because my travel through DC always, ALWAYS, involved “lost” aka stolen luggage and/or missed connecting flights.
ReplyDeleteYou have just described the reason that I will not be flying again anytime soon. International flying is such a joy. Unfortunately, to get there, I have to be inconvenienced by domestic chaos.
ReplyDeleteI've been saying for years..
ReplyDeleteWhoever first added wheels to luggage should get a Nobel Prize.
Is it too late?
Travel tip: Buy a $9,95 cane and get a wheelchair.
I learned about this when my hips complained they needed replacements.
Miss Higgi, you hit the nail on the head.
ReplyDeleteMy mom, sisters and I used to dress up to fly. One Christmas, on our way to Atlanta, the crew and several passengers thought we were an important family because all four of us were dressed in red coats and fancy hats. 🤣
It was indeed a joy to fly with anticipation and excitement. Today, it’s pure dread!!😡
Yep, we pay much more, and get far less.
It is skyway robbery as airlines consistently gouge us and cutaway their constant pounds of flesh. We are bent over in the corner, ya’ll.