Does Flying/Do Airlines Always Suck This Much?

Get Off My Lawn

Get Off My Lawn

Artist formerly known as Pink Vapor
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They seem to be the masters of incompetence.
To come home, we left Switzerland with a layover in Amsterdam, to Detroit, then to RDU.
My whole family and I were on the plane to Amsterdam waiting to take off, delayed by an “abnormality on the belly of the plane. Waiting on a specialist to inspect the aircraft”.
They fixed something in the cargo hold when loading bags.
Why wasn’t that inspected or caught during maintenance?
We landed KLM & Delta airlines sucks donkey kong.
KLM pilot, “You can make your next flight to Detroit”. We all ran over 1/2 mile, my sons, 3 extremely athletic men, hauled ass through the airport. Delta was aware there was a group of us from a late plane & they wouldn’t hold the doors two minutes. We were able to see them close the doors. We’re stuck overnight, my wife was to be with my niece at her C-Section today. I’m scheduled to teach a customer class. Both got missed. I’ve a scared niece and SIL, and a pissed off Big Pharma customer.

We were up at 5am, all five of us stress running in the morning. Through customs and at the gate 45 min early so Delta wouldn’t lock us out again.
15 min before boarding, they announced a 3hr delay. They lost the damned pilot.
It now looks like we’ll miss the flight to RDU, and a possible overnight in Detroit.
Unarmed at that, dammit.
Clothes, toiletries, contacts, etc are most likely lost in china, or only where the Euro gods know.
 
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We had a fantastic experience flying direct from Heathrow to RDU on American this past Monday. Flight was on time, no one in the center seat, they gave us a dinner that was really good, then ice cream, later a meat wrap. One suitcase free and check in took 5 minutes at Heathrow. We have Global Entry so customs in Raleigh was another 5 minutes. The longest wait was for our bags at RDU.

Every flight issue for me has involved changing planes so we spent extra for the direct flight to Raleigh.
 
Whew. Glad im retired and dont have to fly period anymore if I dont want to and Ive been retired 10yrs now and havent flown once and havent missed it at all. If I was a sky warrior again, I would negotiate for my employer to pay for each and every advance boarding, class upgrade and admirals club membership there was. I was young and stupid once.
 
rufrdr said:
We had a fantastic experience flying direct from Heathrow to RDU on American this past Monday. Flight was on time, no one in the center seat, they gave us a dinner that was really good, then ice cream, later a meat wrap. One suitcase free and check in took 5 minutes at Heathrow. We have Global Entry so customs in Raleigh was another 5 minutes. The longest wait was for our bags at RDU.

Every flight issue for me has involved changing planes so we spent extra for the direct flight to Raleigh.
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This has been my experience as well. My daughter is in the UK on one of those travel sponsored trips for students. RDU to Heathrow to Edinburgh. Half of the kids lost baggage with just the one changeover. If I'm traveling for work, and I have to change planes, I make due with only what I can pack in my carry-on.
 
Learned the hard way that you must travel with a change of clothes and two changes of sock/undies in your carry on bag. In addition to that, have several packaged snacks like granola or jerky. Also, travel toothbrush and some form of wet wipes.
 
My sister in law was coming back from Scotland. Local flight to Heathrow. Then to JFK>Chicago>Syracuse.

They rebooked her flight. 12 hr layover in JFK, then to Charlotte and finally Syracuse, over 18 hours after her originally planned arrival. She lives 3 hours from JFK.

She arranged to get off at JFK and rented a car
 
Jeppo said:
When I did international travel for a living, everyone was envious of my life. 😂
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Me too.

Coming up on 2 million miles on American, alone. Well into six figures on the others.

If you are reading this thread, feel free to ask questions of experienced air travelers about what to do and not to do.

For some examples:

Do not schedule connecting flights and expect to get where you are headed; stare in wonder when / if you do get there.
If you absolutely have to connect to get where you are going, stay where you land until the next day.
Only ever schedule the first flight of the day out of ... anywhere.
If you are renting a car, always buy the fuel option. If you aren't going far enough to make that make sense, take Uber.
 
I fly cross-country or out of the country once a month or more, depending on my trip schedule. I almost always fly Delta and my experience is generally positive, though once in a while a really bad flight pops up. I prefer Delta mainly because I have Platinum status (I expect to qualify for Diamond this year) and no status anywhere else. So flying American or United is miserable from the back of the plane. I have learned some things that help mitigate potential problems.
1. I never check a bag- even on flights to Europe. I just like having my stuff with me and not worrying about whether or not the bag will get lost.
2. I try to make sure I have at least an hour between flights. I know the Delta app sometimes wants me to book a flight with a 45-minute layover, but that rarely works out well. The incoming flight is usually late and the outgoing flight is always on time (or early). Plus, I like to have time to go into the SkyMiles lounge to get something to eat.
3. If I have enough time to plan the trip, I try to book a flight that isn't totally booked up- that way I am more likely to get an upgrade. First class makes it so much easier to fly.
4. the #1 thing that has made flying better for me: I lost a lot of weight a few years ago. It was miserable to fly when I was 285 lbs. Now that I fit into the narrow seat, it isn't quite so uncomfortable, for me or the people next to me.
 
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I last flew ten years ago. Used to fly a couple times a year for business. I won’t get on a plane again.

No fear of flying, but I won’t put up with the nonsense. If I can’t reasonably get there by truck or motorcycle, I’m not going.
 
The last few years during and after the pandamnit, flying has gotten unbearable. I’ve had almost every flight delayed and some freaky people on my jets beside or around me. How does an airline not know where a pilot is when it’s time to take off? Not sure I want another connecting flight with less than 2 hour layover anymore. I’m not a runner these days.

I’m never over a week anywhere. Given that I only take a carry on and a small pack for quick to get to items like airpods, snacks, wipes, etc… The last bag check was because the flight ran out of carryon room. And it went bad.

What happened to the cute flight attendants? Why do they now have trouble getting their large hips thru the aisles and side swiping the customers. If you have an ass like a $40 mule take a job at the gate desk.
 
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fieldgrade said:
I last flew ten years ago. Used to fly a couple times a year for business. I won’t get on a plane again.

No fear of flying, but I won’t put up with the nonsense. If I can’t reasonably get there by truck or motorcycle, I’m not going.
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This, 100%. I cant stand the aggravation
 
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I’m probably a million on American, same on United. Avoid Delta since a minor issue that I half-joking refer to as the plane crash I walked away from.

Anyway, what you describe isn’t uncommon in my experience, maybe common for international. Crews time out all the time because of delays, and then the problems cascade. Days with unexpected weather are the worst. Had a pilot a couple months ago that had a long day and didn’t want to overnight away from home, so he claimed that one of the tires had excessive wear and by the time it was fully inspected the window to get him back on the ground in Charlotte had closed so we were delayed 3 hours waiting for a new pilot.

As airlines cut costs they have fewer resources to deal with these problems, so delays get longer. By the way, all the folks lamenting how much better it was in the old days…that was when they were regulated or transitioning away from regulation.
 
Red Marley said:
This, 100%. I want stand the aggravation
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My wife flies with my two grown boys to places out west that they want to see. First trip like this was earlier this year. Two more scheduled. The first trip they were up all night before leaving because the airline kept changing the departure time and they didn’t know what time of oh dark thirty they had to leave.

To heck with that. They were glad I wasn't there because they know me too well. I was glad too.
 
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fieldgrade said:
I last flew ten years ago. Used to fly a couple times a year for business. I won’t get on a plane again.

No fear of flying, but I won’t put up with the nonsense. If I can’t reasonably get there by truck or motorcycle, I’m not going.
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Same here.
Last time I flew, I told the TSA agent to do whatever he wanted, as this was my last flight.
I'll drive or I will not go.
 
I hate flying. I don't have a fear of flying; I actually love flying. But I hate airports and airlines. I do it as little as I can. For every "everything went great!" story I have five "it was awful!" stories.
 
FWIW, I've had the best experiences on American, and the worst on Delta.

After my last Delta flight, I will never again step on one of their planes.
 
KLM. Top pilot ignored his First officer reminding him the tower did not give takeoff clearance, "yah yah I know that". He ignored him a second time and almost killed everyone on both planes. There were survivors on both planes.

www.linkedin.com

Tenerife Airport Disaster: A Tragic Collision that Shook the Aviation Industry

On March 27, 1977, 46 years ago from now, the Tenerife Airport Disaster occurred, which remains one of the deadliest aviation accidents in history. The disaster resulted in the loss of 583 lives, with only 61 survivors.
www.linkedin.com www.linkedin.com
 
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🤣🤣 Yeah, all that sounds normal. Airlines, like most large corporations, are a cluster-F. I have flown many times. Not a fan. Hassle in the airport at security. In the past few years I've flown 4 times, total of 14 individual flights including connections, 8 times dealing with TSA. I've been singled out for pat down 3 of those times. I always fly with a handgun checked in my bag. Makes the likelihood of your bag being lost drop dramatically. Had some hassles with that though, during the check in phase on two occasions.



As for your scheduled events... Never come back from any vacation on the day before you have to be back at work. I always have 2 days off at the end of a trip. That allows for travel delays, and I like to just have at least one day to just recoup and do nothing before returning to everyday life.
 
Going to Bretten via Frankfurt in September. I used to fly a lot but since 2020 not so much. I'm not looking forward to the flights. Being back in Bretten, yes, the flights not so.
 
Button Pusher said:
KLM. Top pilot ignored his First officer reminding him the tower did not give takeoff clearance, "yah yah I know that". He ignored him a second time and almost killed everyone on both planes. There were survivors on both planes.

www.linkedin.com

Tenerife Airport Disaster: A Tragic Collision that Shook the Aviation Industry

On March 27, 1977, 46 years ago from now, the Tenerife Airport Disaster occurred, which remains one of the deadliest aviation accidents in history. The disaster resulted in the loss of 583 lives, with only 61 survivors.
www.linkedin.com www.linkedin.com
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My son likes the TV show 'Air Disasters.' Almost every one is avoidable. The only reason I don't freak out is knowing the odds are on my (the traveler) side given the number of planes that DON'T have an issue and DON'T crash.
 
Chuckman said:
My son likes the TV show 'Air Disasters.' Almost every one is avoidable. The only reason I don't freak out is knowing the odds are on my (the traveler) side given the number of planes that DON'T have an issue and DON'T crash.
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My wife hates that I watch that, she flies to NY often.😃
 
Should grab a used Hi point and use it for travel.😡
 
Button Pusher said:
Should grab a used Hi point and use it for travel.😡
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You could use a kel-tec. At least it doesn't look like a gun. :)

I haven't been on an airplane in 25 years at least. IIRC everyone in the last 6 rows was having a smoke.
It's funny that all the motorcycle guys hate flying. I attribute that to motorcycles=100% freedom and airplanes=0% freedom.
 
I fly from RDU to Switzerland 2-3 times per month, economy class. I make gold on both United and Delta by the end of a quarter.

Do not wish for my life.

(Unlike some others, I generally prefer Delta over United. The difference is when I fly Delta I get stuck in Paris, instead of Washington or NY, so now I usually take the United route. Also, when in a line of 200-300 people to clear immigration in Paris I'm especially appreciative of the union's one hour work stoppage.)
 
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I travel up to 5x a year via air travel. I guess I've been luckly until last week.

Family and I went on a Disney Cruise. Flew Southwest. Our Flight from RDU to Atlanta was already behind causing us to miss out connection. Flight was suppose to be at 6:35, then pushed back to 7:00, then to 9:00.

Southwest put us in a Hotel and gave us $200 vouchers for me and family (ages 2-5). We didn't get in to hotel until 11:30pm. Had to be out the door by 5am to get our early flight to Fort Lauderdale. If something happen with this flight, there was another flight leaving a hour later and we still could make it. After we go ton the ship, we pretty much lost a day of "vacationing" because the kids sleep was so messed up.
 
Billho said:
The incoming flight is usually late and the outgoing flight is always on time (or early).
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Three-late-flights-in-a-row.
Now they’re separating us onto different planes to different cities. We all rode to the airport together.
Oh boy, Delta had us miss another flight!

The last three times we flew in the last five years were to the Caribbean with Spirit. No issues and on time.
 
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to answer the original question:

no.
not always.

our last 2 flights were to Iceland and back (bucket list checkoff).
Iceland Air was outstanding....and regarding Black Gun's question.....
"What happened to the cute flight attendants?"
check out Iceland Air. all gorgeous (to me, anyway).
 
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I had to fly internationally (usually to Grenoble France) frequently before retirement. I hated it, and I *really* got sick of hearing "you're so lucky you get to go to other places". Yeah, and you know what? Airports, meeting rooms and hotels look pretty much the same everywhere, but overseas they talk funny.

Domestic travel isn't much better either. It just sucks for a shorter period of time.
 
I'm too fat to fly any more lol

But yes it usually sucked.
 
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I highly recommend flying private.
 
I got to fly on the company private jet to take a large client with my boss to HQ in Boston forty years ago. We (meaning he) inked a half million dollar contract renewal on a cocktail napkin over scotch and lobster rolls on the trip back.

The plane waits for you on the tarmac. Not the other way around.

I thought this was great. But even back then they charged the district sales office by the hour to use it. $5,000 an hour IIRC. We had the plane all day.
 
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