Replies

"Well, it's not just being pulled aside. It's the wait, the security, cancelled flights, the lack of leg room, the lost/damaged luggage, the squirrely rules you have to follow to get a cheap flight, the byzantine scheduling...Flying is a pain in general. Why pay for pain?"

Hmm. Sounds like poor planning to me. The wait? Sure, you have to arrive early, but that's been smart for a long time. Me? I have a drink in the bar or a snack in one of the restaurants, read the paper and relax.

Security is a breeze, as long as you follow the rules about what you can't carry on.

I haven't had a flight cancelled on me for years, so I can't address that. Leg room isn't a problem. I book in advance, and ask for an emergency exit seat. Funny, I always get one.

Cheap flights? Again, book early, and you'll have no problem. I fly American exclusively, and book on their web site exclusively. I put in the dates, the airports, and they show me the best fares first. Takes 5 minutes.

Scheduling? I don't see a problem there, unless you're flying to Podunk International. Seems to me there are plenty of flights going where you need to go.

But, that's OK. You don't have to fly if you don't want to. There's no law forcing you to fly. I just don't have time to drive coast-to-coast both ways. I have work to do.

Something things the airlines do are inexcusable. More than once, though only on a certain well-known carrier, I've had flight after flight scratched because they needed the planes for more profitable routes (mechanical problems, weather delays). Why should I be screwed for that? Especially when they lie to me about it? Once I was delayed for eight hours. If they'd told me the truth about what was going on, I'd've just made the six hour trip by car. The security mess, I'll be happy to cut them slack on since it's not their doing. The rotten customer service? No way. And while no-one's trying to force me to fly and so I don't, they could sure use my money, couldn't they? Pity they don't want to do a better job in convincing me to give it to them.