Posted on 12/27/2022 1:12:21 PM PST by PJ-Comix
A couple of months ago my Cousin Jerry who flew down here to South Florida and told me that his airport experience was absolute HELL. I thought that he might be exaggerating until I reviewed a number of airport scenes of recent holiday travel. When I was a kid, airports were places of glamor and welcome respites from the everyday hum-drum world. Unfortunately they now seem to have turned into overcrowded combative hellholes as you can see. And they are at their worst during what is supposed to be a festive Christmas and New Years holiday season.
p.s. Be sure to check out the body language reaction of Antler Man to Crazy Lady at Miami Airport.
PING!
I haven’t flown for almost 4 years and I’m quite happy about it.
They have this weird concept that airlines are there to serve their customers and enough check-in gates and staff should be made available for that purpose.
When you are done with check-in, they have this shopping mall type complex over the next two floors. Everything is fairly reasonably priced, even the restaurants. There are so many choices that even though I had an airline longue pass, it was so fun checking out the choices that I didn't even get to use it.
The security lines for departure were quite similar . . . 20 minutes was plenty of time to get through and to your departure gate. I thought they were kidding and allowed 40 minutes, but 20 was more than ample.
Most of the airports in the more advanced Asian countries give a similar experience. Why do you suppose that is?
Our airports suck.
Lack of diversity?
I have been avoiding the airport since the TSA was created..
I don’t see that changing any time soon.
I feel for the folks that have little choice but to fly at Christmas. I go home in the fall on purpose.
Flying is pure hell now unless you can afford to upgrade...and even then it’s not much of a difference unless you’re spending a lot.
The problem with spending for comfort while on business trips is that you’re not out there to spend you’re out there to make $.
There is no place I want to go if it involves flying.
I visited my brother and SIL in New Hampshire this summer. My one way flight up was great, but my return flight was a nightmare. Flight was late, then an unexpected ten hour layover in NC. Return flight ordeal turned into a 36 hour nightmare. No sleep, and some weird crap in both airports with methheads and other assorted weirdos.
Not sure what I’ll do to visit next time.
Yeah they do. Import the third world, become the third world. My first visit to Japan was in 1977 when we flew into Haneda airport. It had a shuttle bus (or a long walk) for the different airline terminals, the system still used at LAX today.
I never said a word to the one-armed guy due to his shoddy appearance but after about 300 miles we stopped at a country bus stop and cops surrounded our bus. We all got off but the one-armed guy stayed behind. The cops went aboard the bus and arrested the one-armed guy (they couldn't handcuff him due to only one available hand) and one of the cops was holding a machete. I asked the cop if the machete belonged to the one-armed man and he told me he had it in a case right under his seat which was also next to me. I soon found out he was wanted for murder.
That was the last time I crossed the country via bus but at least I get to say I sat next to a one-armed man who was also "The Fugitive."
The ONLY time I’ve been on television is when a camera crew filmed me at the holiday-congested St. Louis Lambert Field. It was Christmas 1969 and I was going home from college for the first time. Some horrendous weather event happened and the airport looked like the photo in this post. I was sitting on my bag, leaning against a column, and dejected as hell. When I got back to school in January, my buddies said “Hey, you were on TV!” My first, last and only TV appearance!
So this Christmas, our son planning on coming up for a few days. His flight got cancelled on Christmas Eve morning. We rebooked him to fly tomorrow, but we got notice this morning that flight is cancelled, too! The “atmospheric river” pounding the west with rain and ice has shut down airports all over the west. We heard this morning that Southwest has cancelled 90% of its flights today and tomorrow!
Which is why those that can afford it use private jet service.
Yikes! That’s a heckuva story!
Then you have the loss of employees due to aging out Baby Boomers.
Then along came COVID and employees either quit or were fired because they refused to be jabbed.
Then the quick growth in passengers who somehow missed all the aggravation associated with flying coming back to the airports.
Throw in a once-in-a-decade weather event and some computer problems and you have the perfect storm.
Hardly anyone in the terminal and everything was a breeze.
Flying right after "special" days can be a breeze, but my heart goes out to those who have to be some place on one of those "special" days and can't afford to be there a day or two later.
I avoid airports at all times.
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