There was that time I shaved my head and wore a robe and folks handed me money and shouted "Hare Krishna!"
Other times it was a wild ride.
Posted on 09/30/2023 4:36:47 AM PDT by where's_the_Outrage?
Imagine, going to the airport and through all the indignities of security just to eat at the P.F. Chang’s near gate B12 and then go home. Or better yet, imagine trying to get to your gate and having to deal with people just poking around and taking their sweet time while you have a flight to catch.
Every side of this scenario is uniquely miserable, yet more airports are trying to tempt locals into visiting the shops and restaurants in their terminals without all the hassle of actually flying somewhere. Orlando International Airport is now getting in on the action, according to the Wall Street Journal. Orlando launched its program in 2022, and so far 1,000 souls have made their way through the airport with no destination in mind.
While these programs mean to “...sell the airport as a mall,” airlines have allowed passes through security for non-ticketed individuals accompanying family and friends to gates. Only now, airports hope they can wrangle in people with no other reason to be at the airport, like one family who got the pass through Orlando airport to get their young child accustomed to air travel:
Orlando-based flight attendant Aubrey Hendershot is one of the non-fliers.
She recently spent a day off at the airport with her pilot husband and their 2-year-old son. Their boy is obsessed with planes, and the couple wanted to see how he would handle going through a major airport with an eye on taking him on a longer trip soon.
“It kind of went against my intuition,” Hendershot says. She says she enjoyed exploring the terminal without pressure to reach a gate at a specific time. Hendershot’s son loved watching the planes take off and waving to the ground crew.
“My husband and I have talked about wanting to go back—maybe while we have a babysitter—to sit down and enjoy a beer or glass of wine,” Hendershot says.
Of all the people you’d think would be sick to death of the Orlando airport, I guess an Orlando-based flight attendant, but OK. WSJ also spoke to a woman who goes to the outlet versions of her favorite downtown restaurants in the airport rather than schlep all the way down to Seattle. While I don’t want to yuck anyone’s yum, I have traveled a lot and have yet to eat a meal in an airport that made me want to go back to that airport just for that meal. In fact, it’s usually much worse than a meal literally anywhere else. And if I’m being up charged on a so-so glass of wine I want half my belongings stuffed haphazardly into a bag at my feet, thank you very much. It’s about the ambience.
Flying already sucks but being in the terminal isn’t much better. Epidemic levels of flight cancelations and delays can led to jam ups of tired, grumpy people. I just flew through several big airports this week and it was incredibly crowded, loud and hectic thanks to several flights getting delayed. A sports bar my friend and I jumped into to get out of the fray in Atlanta Monday night had ran out of burgers, fries and Coca-Cola. Do you even realize how crazy a place in Atlanta has to be to run out of Coke? Who the hell thinks these are good date night spots?
Moreso it allowed people to meet planes, or even meet up while waiting on the next plane.
I remember once AA had a sale, we went to LAX to get tickets and the line at the counters was out the main terminal door. We went into the terminal (easy done) to the Admirals Club and bought our tickets there, took less than 20 minutes. Of course that was before on-line buying.
It was great back in the days when family could see their love ones off on their trip. Or being able to grab a bite while waiting for friends to return from a trip instead of going to cell lot or waiting in a line of cars. Bring back the reasonable olden days.
Yup, how fast freedom is forgotten. Many are now used to the police state.
I was about to say the same thing.
It is to sell that nostalgia as an excuse to get derelicts, winos and panhandlers into the airports to prey on the traveling public. After all, if you are "rich" enough to buy an airline ticket, then you are rich enough to be taxed by the dredges of society.
Kids these days have no idea what was yesterday just a few years ago. Illiterate, ignorant, and retarded.
I seem to recall stories of thieves watching as passengers went through screening and taking bags from the security screener areas. Haven’t heard of that happening since TSA, might be the only good thing WRT TSA.
One of the best moments in flying was having someone waiting at the gate. Now, these zombified government stooges drag themselves to the outside of the terminal hoping to find who is picking them up, if anyone.
“I seem to recall stories of thieves watching as passengers went through screening and taking bags from the security screener areas. Haven’t heard of that happening since TSA, might be the only good thing WRT TSA.”
Still happens all the time. The TSA successfully keeps you from being informed about that so they can make the claim that you did that the TSA has a value.
Yes, this writer probably was still wetting their diapers on 9/11
Oops, silly me, I forgot, TSA are now the thieves taking from passengers.
TSA agents caught on camera apparently stealing from passengers luggage
There was that time I shaved my head and wore a robe and folks handed me money and shouted "Hare Krishna!"
Other times it was a wild ride.
Or hang out with aging musicians in the First Class Lounge like Axl Bundy here.
Alahu Akbar!
Video for above graphic.
The Bundys Pretend To Be Rock Stars
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fz-SPeg7Jhs&t=3s
Back then, airports were utilitarian places, not destinations in their own right.
Crappy food, slam-bam service, usuriously priced alcohol, aisles crammed with carry-ons, people inches away scurrying by…what person would voluntarily go there to dine?
Yeah, I forgot to mention that too. Nothing like ‘security’ being the criminals.
i have had many folks tell me that as they are exiting the cruise ship, panhandlers are lining the walkway with their hands out.
Same mentality- if you can afford a cruise, you can afford to give me a buck or two.
Maybe the Cinnabons are really good.
>It was great back in the days when family could see their love ones off on their trip. <
That’s the part you are to envision. You know, the days before an airline ticket was cheaper than a bus ticket, people dressed up to fly, homelessness wasn’t a burgeoning lifestyle choice, and the public had a modicum of decency.
What will happen is you will be groped by a purple haired, non-binary TSA agent, the terminal will smell like urine, there will be no seats left that are not occupied by a sleeping bum, and the concessions will all be closed due to theft.
Oh, the halcion days of the past and future.
EC
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