Airlines Don't Care

I just got back from a whirlwind trip. I flew up to Cleveland (which has always been a two plane trip since no one goes anywhere from the Charleston airport except to a hub of some sort). That was a month ago. My short flight to the hub is so quick they don't even serve a drink. They never have. The longer flight had a drink and some wonderful pretzels. I think there may have been 17 small pretzels in the bag.

My return flight is what I'm going to talk about now. I just came back. When I purchased my ticket, luggage was still expected to go with travelers. Now, not so much. If you want to take luggage with you on your trip, you have to pay for your luggage to fly, too. You are permitted one carry-on and one personal item. Anything more and you have to pay. Of course, with everyone trying to cram their stuff in one carry-on and one personal item, the storage bins get full really fast. This is not the airline's problem, but the flyer's.

I was given a Papal blessing or Presidential pardon or something. Because my ticket was purchased before they started charging for luggage, I got to bring my clothes with me on my four week vacation. Everyone was happy I had clothes.

Side note: when I got to the airport in June, I had already printed my boarding passes from home, but this wasn't enough airline work for me to do. I also had to check in my own luggage.

When I got the Phoenix Airport, I knew I had to check in my own luggage, but the first thing the machine wanted was a credit card. I wasn't going to give them one, so a person (real, live, and on the clock) had to help me.

My ticket said I was to have an "in flight café" included in my flight plan. Not so fast there, buster. Things change. Instead, I got on my 3.5 hour flight at noon and expected to have some sort of food offered. Something more than the 17 small pretzels. Instead, I was offered a chance to purchase a chicken sandwich and Caesar salad boxed up and wrapped in plastic for some indeterminate time for the price of $7. My other choice was a "snack box" containing God alone knows what but all nicely boxed and wrapped in plastic for the low price of $5. I rarely eat pretzels and so passed on the snack box. The chicken sandwich was too scary for me to try.

Luckily I had packed three granola bars and some salt water taffy I had purchased. On the 3.5 (really 3 hours and 44 minutes) flight, I was offered a drink. I am a coffee drinker and so chose that. I was given a 6-ounce cup that was about ¾ full along with some creamer. That was it. Nothing else. At all. Four ounces of coffee. Nearly four hours of flying.

They only sold quart bottles of water at the airport and I had to carry my laptop and my carry-on and really did not have enough hands to carry the bottle of water. I had assumed I would be fed and watered on the plane. If you are flying in the US and want to not die of dehydration – bring your own water. But not TO the airport as you are not permitted to bring water into the place because of security.

Next, there was an in flight movie. Airlines used to give the disposable headphones to the passengers for free. They cost perhaps fifty cents each, but are probably cheaper because I'm sure they buy in bulk. Last year they were selling for $2. This year, they went for $5.

The last straw came at my intermediate destination. I was lucky enough to have my plane land only two gates away from my departure for my next plane. I ducked into a bathroom and some enterprising women were granted the right to empty the paper towel dispensers, tear the sheets off into single use amounts, and put a tip jar in place of me waving my hands in front of the automatic paper dispenser.

I understand the price of gasoline is causing the cost of flights to increase. But really, the airlines are making it so distasteful to fly, they are going to put themselves out of business.
It is great to be home.