My Observations From Air Travel
I've been traveling a lot lately. Mostly in the car, but also a lot in the air. I used fly once every two years, at the most. Now it is more like six to eight times a year. I'm not on Southwest Airlines' Gold Member List yet, but by the end of this summer, I should have at least one free trip, if not two.
I thought I would share some of my personal observations from air travel. Maybe you can weigh in with some thoughts your own.
1. People cannot decide what they want. They will stand in line for an hour, because they can't wait to get ON the plane. Then, as soon as the tires hit the runway, they can't wait to get OFF the plane. They can't wait to get on, and they can't wait to get off.
2. Business travelers who are frequent fliers act aggravated toward the rest of us. You can easily tell the difference. Frequent fliers have a look that reminds me of high school seniors and how they act toward freshmen. They act like they're aggravated. They know just what to do when going through security, and they roll their eyes when the rest of the world doesn't seem to be in a big hurry. I think that life would be a lot easier if they didn't let anyone travel on airplanes, to go to work, more than once a month. I have met people who get on a plane every Monday morning, travel to the place they will be working, stay there for a week, then fly home every Friday evening. This should be banned. No one should have to travel more than five miles to get to their job. Then the only people who travel on airplanes would be vacationers, and occasional business travelers. Okay, its just an idea. I'm not married to it.
3. Pilots are getting younger and younger. When I was a kid, pilots looked like they were about the same age as my dad. And that made me feel very safe. Now, they look like they just walked off the set of DeGrassi Junior High. I'm waiting to see one of them leaning up to the mirror to pop a zit. They're kids. And that is scary.
4. If one person on the plane is allergic to peanuts, no one gets them. I'm sick of peanuts, so I have no problem with this.
5. People will carry all their crap on to the plane, to avoid checking their bags. This week I saw people carrying on three bags each. They barely fit through the aisle! Because the rules prevent carrying on that many bags, they have devised sneaky ways to get three bags on, by attaching them together to look like its one bag. They hold up the entire line, trying to get their junk into the overhead bins. People! Check your freakin' bags. Get over yourselves.
6. Some people still don't get the new Southwest Airlines seating system. If you haven't flown Southwest in a while, let me fill you in. It is still open seating, but now, on your boarding pass is a letter and a number. The letter will be an A, B, or C. The number will be sequential, from 1 to 60. In short, the higher the number, the bigger loser you are. If you are an A45, you are a loser. But not as big a loser as B45. If you are even in the C group, forget about it. You are hopeless.
Not that its a bad plan. Pretty smart, actually. Its good for passengers, because you don't have to stand in line to get a good seat. You are called up in groups, and the lower your number, the closer to the front of the line you will be. And they're strict about it. Try jumping in line, and you will get to know those gate attendants really well. And it is good for the airline, because if a person wants to pay more, they can buy their way to a good number. If you purchase a business class ticket, you will pay more, but you will be guaranteed a good number. Its no wonder Southwest Airlines turns a profit. They're actually really smart.
But some people still haven't gotten the message. I watched these people while sitting at the Albuquerque Airport on Tuesday. They stood there for half an hour. Obviously, they haven't gotten the memo.
Okay, those are my observations. What about you?
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2/12/2008 8:17 PM
Travel Blog wrote:
Funny observations about all the other people on the plane....
Jason,
If God had wanted us to fly, He would have given us wings.
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Jason,
This is unrelated to your current post on air travel, but I had to share with you that your recent post on the use of the word "literally" caught me attention and I've had my antennae alert to its usage. I discovered that Robin Foster over at SBC Today asserts that the narrowing the parameters group has literally crucified Drs. Patterson, Mohler, Moore, Yarnell, and others. I expect the guilty parties to be charged with first-degree murder any day now.
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Oh, Gary! Thanks for the heads up. I'm headed over there right now :>0
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