Airplanes are vehicles, right?

[Mary Stetler]

I was reminiscing about when I'd ,"fly the friendly skies of United" or some other airline competing for my business. We'd get all gussied up, pack with anticipation, watch the takeoff out the window with a thrill. We'd land and go to a place to pick up our bags and be on our way.
A good while later, bags were sometimes lost, so I would pack very lightly and carry on. I don't remember a charge for checked bags so not that many people did that. I hated lost luggage. Even if they eventually found their way home.
Today my daughter is flying in from Vermont. She was supposed to go through Chicago and arrive yesterday but with the weather, they postponed her flight till today. She is going through Newark.
Well, the weather, when she got there, was 'convectional'. ???? so her flight was being delayed. A woman got off in a huff and was going to rent a car and DRIVE to Milwaukee. I thought that was a bit extreme.
But then, everyone was deplaned for a while. Then re-planed. Then it was a traffic jam trying to get all the delayed flights in the air....
I will pick her up 4 and a half hours late. This is not uncommon these days. I remember a particularly odd delay because of a malfunctioning toilet.
I try not to travel. Especially fly. The love is gone and I can't get it back.

 

[Beth Gallagher]

I haven't been in an airport except for picking up or dropping off visitors in about 10 years. These days you couldn't pay me to fly on a commercial airline. As you said, Mary, things have changed and not for the better.

Besides, my world is shrinking and I can't go farther than the front sidewalk because there are people out there.

 

[John Brunner]

Unclaimed/lost luggage used to (maybe still does) go to Scottsdale Arizona where it is auctioned off. I recall reading an article where a reporter when there to do a story on it and realized that lots of it contained important, irreplaceable personal stuff. In many cases he found it easy to figure out who the owner was based upon ID of some type found in the luggage. After spending time contacting several rightful owners and having the stuff taken off of the auction block he had to stop, disgusted by what was obviously "Don't give a darn" system run by the airlines.

I can't recall the last time I flew. Except for a nightmare flight for my honeymoon (arrived at 3AM rather than 10PM and our luggage got lost but later found) and a vacation I took in the Caribbean, it was always with business.

 

[John Wick]

I haven't flown in over 20 years, I don't feel it's safe anymore.

Airlines cutting corners, maintenance woes, automated planes reducing pilot skills, outdated and overwhelmed air traffic control, and just a general decline in individuals performing their jobs proficiently.

Of course flying isn't the only thing going down the toilet in this modern and enlightened age I find myself forced to tolerate

 

[Mary Stetler]

I DO find it amazing though, speaking of air traffic controllers, How they are able to 'control' the ever increasing air traffic. And when things are screwed up by weather or something how things can be sorted out and rescheduled.
There are maps showing the traffic in the air at any one time in the US. Amazing...and frightening.

 

[Krystal Shay]

I haven't flown in an airplane for many years. The closest I get to airplanes now is looking up at them in the sky, while sitting outside. Sometimes I can hear and see the big silver bird flying across the sky and other times all I see is a bunch of contrails. Apparently, lots of people are still on the move in airplanes.

 

[John Brunner]

I worked near Dulles International Airport back in the 80s/90s, and often saw Concord flying real low across the road as it came in for a landing. It usually arrived right after lunch around 1:15PM.

 

[Marie Miller]

I have no problem flying private or charter. International is a thing of the past as there is nothing and nobody I have to visit.

 

[Mary Stetler]

I worked near Dulles International Airport back in the 80s/90s, and often saw Concord flying real low across the road as it came in for a landing. It usually arrived right after lunch around 1:15PM.

So glad it didn't hook it's nose on the ground and flip over.

 

[Don Alaska]

I fly often, but not as frequently as when I was working. Unless you have time for a week-long drive or trip on a ship, you have to fly anytime you leave Alaska or travel to many places within the state since there are few roads. Only about a quarter of Alaska is accessible by road. Even our state capital, Juneau, is only accessible by air or water. There is a ferry there however, so the boat ride is fairly short. Since TSA was formed after 9-11, travel by air has been more difficult, but I have never felt that they improved safety. I think it is mostly a tracking system that tracks where people travel. When it was first formed, I had something stolen from my luggage on every flight. Sometimes it was minor but sometimes it was something valuable. Reclaiming it was impossible since if you travelled through several airports, you didn't know where it was taken. I haven't lost anything for years, so they seem to have gotten the theft under control.

 

[John Brunner]

I fly often, but not as frequently as when I was working. Unless you have time for a week-long drive or trip on a ship, you have to fly anytime you leave Alaska or travel to many places within the state since there are few roads. Only about a quarter of Alaska is accessible by road. Even our state capital, Juneau, is only accessible by air or water. There is a ferry there however, so the boat ride is fairly short. Since TSA was formed after 9-11, travel by air has been more difficult, but I have never felt that they improved safety. I think it is mostly a tracking system that tracks where people travel. When it was first formed, I had something stolen from my luggage on every flight. Sometimes it was minor but sometimes it was something valuable. Reclaiming it was impossible since if you travelled through several airports, you didn't know where it was taken. I haven't lost anything for years, so they seem to have gotten the theft under control.

Since 9-11, the increased passenger processing time and hassle of flying has increased the amount of time one might be willing to spend on the road as a viable alternative.

I recall back in the 80s I was flying from Virginia to either Texas or California from Dulles Airport, and I could not find a close place to park. I ended up running through the parking lot and sprinting through the terminal a la O.J. and arrived at the gate just as the People Move was pulling away. I was traveling with a coworker who had his nosed pressed against the back window of the People Mover, and when he saw me he got the driver to back up and let me board. The good old days, huh?