Observations and inanities by a second-shift assistant supervisor in the Puppy-Grinding division of the Evil Atheist Conspiracy® (our motto: "Sure it's cruel, but think of the jobs!"), your host, Brent Rasmussen.
Gee, like this is a surprise.
Survey: Americans make 41M fewer air trips
WASHINGTON - Nearly half of American air travelers would fly more if it were easier, and more than one-fourth said they skipped at least one air trip in the past 12 months because of the hassles involved, according to an industry survey.
The Travel Industry Association, which commissioned the survey released Thursday, estimated that the 41 million forgone trips cost the travel industry $18.1 billion — including $9.4 billion to airlines, $5.6 billion to hotels and $3.1 billion — and it cost federal, state and local authorities $4.2 billion in taxes in the past 12 months.
When 28 percent of air travelers avoided an average of 1.3 trips each, that resulted in 29 million leisure trips and 12 million business trips not being taken, the researchers estimated.
Gee, like this is a surprise. Between the airlines doing everything possible to squeeze each and every last penny out of their customers to cover increasing fuel costs and their own ineptitude, to absurd security theater practices, to idiotic behaviour by TSA personnel, travel by air has become such a pain in the ass that it is hardly news that people avoid unnecessary air travel whenever possible. But it is good to see some solid numbers on the impact these factors are having, and perhaps it will prompt some changes. I can hope, can't I?
How about you? Have you changed travel plans in the last couple of years to avoid air travel? Because we were 24-hour care providers for someone with Alzheimer's until early this year, my wife and I have had limited opportunities to travel recently. But I certainly would not have flown anywhere if I could avoid it. And we're planning a trip out to Denver to visit friends this summer, and are going to drive the 12 hours rather than fly (as we did some years back when we last went out there) in order to avoid all the hassles. So yeah, the air travel environment has definitely changed *my* behaviour.
Jim Downey
(Cross posted to my blog.)
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The UK version...
...of the latest 'security' stupidity:
Jim Downey
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Like Science Fiction? Read *or listen to* my novel, Communion of Dreams, for free.
We don't travel much
Due to time constraints we rarely have time for a family vacation, but when we went to China recently for a business trip I was sorely tempted never to fly again. Among other things:
Seats too small, I'm tall so knees ended up being wedged against the seat in front of me. The seats have also gotten noticeably smaller since I last flew (and I'm pretty sure that's not all due to horizontal expansion).
Not enough water - When they won't let us carry water bottles onto the plane they should make it up by serving extra on the flight (particularly a twelve hour flight, it's not good for people to go without more than a little bitty cup of water for that long). Particularly when you're going to or coming from a country that doesn't have potable tap water. But I love it: The greatest threat to the security of America is bottled water, that can be verified to have been bought after the security checkpoint that should have eliminated all the nasty water-like explosives. And that I'm perfectly willing to chug when told the water bottle (with all the nifty kanji) will be taken away from me (they didn't like that I insisted on keeping the emptied bottle, but they let me anyway).
People who object to you keeping the blinds open - Ya, I know you want to sleep, but you know what? I have a window seat and I haven't flown over the North Pole before (and probably won't again) and am damn well going to make the most of the opportunity (there were a lot of cracks in the ice, even at the pole).
We only fly as a last resort.
If it's 1,500 miles or less, we'll gladly spend our time on the road with each other, vs on an airplane packed in sardine tight - and have to put up with a bunch of moronic monkeys for that "right."
Virgin America...and crappy hotels
In defense of actual airlines, I was really excited to fly to Vegas on Virgin America. The flight itself was on-time, and hassle free. The seats were comfy. The flight wasn't over booked. I could listen to music of my choice for free. I could order the complimentary drinks from my seat and could purchase snacks etc. via credit card. Plus, there was mood lighting! :) All snazzyness aside, I had the best experience on Richard Branson's line that I've ever had on any airline (The only other airline that comes close is Swiss Air...and that is only because they give out Swiss chocolate instead of peanuts or pretzels).
Hotels seem to be hopping right onto the "make travel a bitch" bandwagon. I was on a recent business trip to Memphis that was my worst trip ever. I reserved my room as part of the block set aside for the meeting in December (the convention was in April). I got to the hotel at around 7pm. This hotel had guaranteed late check in. They told me that they were over-booked (how can this happen unless they are purposely overbooking and playing the odds that someone will cancel) and I would have to be in the Elvis Presley suite. I thought it was an upgrade. I had a beautiful kitchen, bathroom, dining area and couch. No bed. I slept on the couch the night before my meeting began. Plus there was a giant ice maker in the room that I couldn't turn off without unplugging and causing a flood that dumped its tray about every half hour. It was miserable. They didn't even send blankets up for me. I had to request blankets and pillows. It took until 5pm the following day for them to find a new room for me AND THEY WERE GOING TO MAKE ME PAY for the suite for the night I slept on the couch! As you can see this did not make me happy.
Maybe I would have been taken care of better if I had screamed at the person at the desk, but that just isn't my style. I know what it's like to have to be the bearer of bad news that you have no control over at all. I don't think me sleeping on the couch was the fault of the desk staff. I think it is the hotels playing games with reservations so that they can turn a higher profit. I wonder where all the money that we are paying goes. Most places that I stay for business are around $200 a night! I'm lucky if I can find somewhere to stay under $150.
Mandy U
Mandy U
I feel your pain, Mandy
I had to go on a business trip to Denver back before 9-11, and though overall the trip was nice the first day was horrible. I hate flying (as do many of us) and am really very tense during a flight. This was no exception, and there was bad turbulence all the way from Detroit to Denver.
Then I get to my hotel to find out they too were overbooked for just that night, and that they were going to have to put me in another hotel. They even give me transportation for free (!) so I guess I couldn't complain.
Except the hotel wasn't anything like my company had paid for (I was supposed to stay in a Westin, and wound up that first night in a Days Inn, or something.) But 4 beers and a nice meal on an expense account can make even a bad bed feel good.
About 3:00 a.m. I hear something at my door, and you know how you feel when you get woken up in the middle of the night, right? Heart pounding, I go to look through the peep-hole and see some guy trying to open my door. I called out to him, asking what he was doing? He said he was trying to get into his room, and what was I doing in there. I told him he had the wrong room, and he finally stumbled away.
I went back to bed, but about 20 minutes later I hear the door rattling again. I look out and see it's the same guy, so I opened the door (with the chain thing on) and told him "Buddy, you got the wrong room!" He apologized and stumbled away again, mumbling something.
Damned if 30 minutes later my door wasn't rattling again. I jumped out of bed and (absolutely certain who it was) opened the door wide and yelled right in his face (because of course it was him) "You've got the wrong god-dammned room!"
He blinked at me drunkenly for a beat or two, then he said "Damn, man, how many rooms you got here?"
Rob Miles
--
There are only 10 types of people in the world;
those who understand binary and those who don't.
air travel
i hate flying. i hate the act of flying. i also hate the airport charade of security- the shoes off and whatnot. no one is any safer and it is just inconvenient. not to mention that everytime we have attempted to get home after a trip- and we always get routed through philly- we have delays. we have even rented a car and driven home after cancellation, after cancellation, after cancellation. it was a 3 hour car ride.
so- the short answer is yes- i don't fly unless i absolutely have no choice- and then i have to psych myself up for it ahead of time. i would rather drive for sure. i actually just prefer to stay home- but that makes me sound like a complete killjoy. ;)
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