Packed planes, rising fares: Rough air travel on the way

[Judi Lynn]

May 20, 2006, 10:41PM
Packed planes, rising fares: Rough air travel on the way
Airline workers will handle bigger summer crowds


By JEFF BAILEY
New York Times

CHICAGO -

~snip~
Planes are expected to be packed fuller than at anytime since World War II, when the airlines helped transport troops. Fares are rising. Service frills are disappearing.

Logjams at airport security checkpoints loom as the federal government strains to keep screener jobs filled. The usual summer storms are expected to send the air traffic control system into chaos at times, with flight delays and cancellations cascading across the country.

And many airline employees, after years of pay cuts and added work, say they are dreading the season ahead. Those workers — and there are about 70,000 fewer of them than in 2002 — will be handling more than 100 million more passengers this year than they did four years ago.
(snip)

Passengers feel the stress, too. For some, the best coping strategy is to avoid flying.
(snip/...)

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/3877556.html

[silverweb]

1. Oh, joy.

We have to fly cross-country next month and I'm dreading it. We both hate flying to begin with. Maybe we'll be lucky and miss the worst of the worst....

[Rainscents]

4. I'm flying in Aug (my daughter is getting married NJ) and I am

not looking forward to fly.

[no_hypocrisy]

10. Have considered "See the USA in your Chevrolet?" so to speak?

Gas is high, but it would be a memorable road trip with the right planning. And it would keep you out of the airports.

[silverweb]

20. Congratulations...

... on your daughter's upcoming wedding.

I hope that your journey is uneventful, if not pleasant.

[bluestateguy]

2. I miss the old days of flying

Attractive female stewardesses (not "flight attendants"), good service, well dressed passengers, no riff raff at the airport, meals and movies on the plane, and smoking was allowed too.

[EST]

5. Oh my, me too!

How well I remember when THE place to girl-watch was at the airport. The fares were expensive, but there was always the bus, when money was tight.
I used to travel pretty extensively, on support calls, all around the US and a fair amount of the world. After 1985, I only had the occasion to fly on commercial airlines twice, and I hated it.
Ain't deregulation grand? The world is a far grubbier place when the republicans and their cohorts run it.

[camby]

6. LOL - remember when you used to get DRESSED UP TO FLY?

And get hot meals? Granted they weren't that good, but they were food. Now you're lucky to get a microscopic bag of peanuts. And does deregulation make you feel any safer?

[EST]

15. Yeah...sigh

We used to shake our heads at the USSR and China for the primitive state of their travel, having to carry and share their box/bag lunches and sleep all night on concrete in order to be stuffed into undersized seats made of the lightest, simplest material available, never suspecting that this was our future, under the whip of the rich sobs called rethugs.
What fools these idiots have become.

[abluelady]

13. LOL

You're showing "our" age. I was not enthralled with the pretty flight attendants, but the service was good and the dressing up on planes was a given. Some parts of the good old days are missed.

[napi21]

3. I wonder how much of this is wishfull thinking?

Not on the overworked employees part, but on the part of the airlines.

Fares HAVE to go up. The price of fuel is huting them badly. But for that vvery reason, I wonder how many people aren't goining to be able to take a vacation this year because they just don't have the money? I know the days when I spent less than 20/wk on gas have beren long gone. That extra money has to come from somewhere, and in many cases, vacations funds is the only place to get it.

[lindisfarne]

7. Depends on where you want to take a vacation to. It's still cheaper for

one person to drive within 300-400 miles (in a Toyota Corolla 33 mpg when averaging 75 mph with cruise control); for a family who would have to buy 2 or more tickets, the cost of driving is much lower than the cost of air tickets to many destinations. With the time spent driving to an airport, getting there at least an hour early, time spent in the air and waiting for luggage at other end, renting a car at other end, and driving to final destination (not to mention flight delays), you can drive quite a ways in that time.

It's a vacation if you only drive 50 miles away to a campground ... and many families would be better off spending their money that way (even pre-huge-fuel increases).

[Tace]

16. Hey, That's My Idea Of A Fun Family Vacation!

We love camping. It's our first choice of vacations! Of course, the fact that it can be relatively inexpensive is a BIG plus. : )

[Golden Raisin]

8. And just wait until they allow cell phone usage

--- which is under study and in the works. Flying Economy/Coach class today is a nasty enough ordeal as it is (and Business & First class don't win any awards either.) I cannot imagine what it will be like to be trapped for hours having to listen to someone else's stentorian, boring, obnoxious, personal phone conversations. I live in New York City and know first-hand what its like having to listen to rude phone yakkers just on a short bus ride across town.

[confludemocrat]

9. Here's what it's like right now: A travelers story

It's 4:30 AM, Sunday and I am sitting in terminal 4 JFK along with hundreds sleeping on concrete benches, foot-to-head or curled around parts of such circular concrete benches or on the floor. There was bad weather in NY metro area causing delays and cancellations and not enough rooms in the whole tri-state area for such an occurence, ultimately because unlike the late 90s, there are not enough flights to rebook people on so they must gradually be metered out on what flights are available and with what seats are available. Baggage consignment while you go off to find a place to sleep and until you can catch your rebooking means a minimum wage guy gets to question you like he is TSA or even FBI and go through your stuff, take your drivers license and then INS-style, take your picture! Same chaos overseas. A nearly full flight was to leave Paris, but was held for two hours to allow a weather delayed group of twenty to catch the flight. This left the plane low in the queue by the time these 20 people got there and another hour and a half delay ensued. So upon arrival at JFK, no connection for most and no luggage for those twenty and more. A large group of young people were totally stranded because they had been sold cheap flights that were in reality two or more seperate itineraries that were unlinked so their luggage was left circling the belt somewhere overseas since no liaison between the legs of the trip and no way to rebook them once they missed their stateside connection! Don't fly unless you have to. I never thought I'd say this but See America First.

[peaches2003]

19. You're so right

And we've decided we don't ever 'have to' anymore. Retired, have a new Honda Odyssey, and we drive wherever we chose to go. For the third year in a row we are driving 'cross country from GA to WA to see our youngest and we love every minute of it.

The hell with the price of gas- we are spending our children's inheritance and it is not going to be on a plane or in airports.

[pretzel4gore]

11. the sooner we ground all heavier then air ac the better

a goddam cessna 150 is as light as a canoe, yet it burns a pound of fuel reaching 2500 ft.....imagine the poisoning resulting from 10 of thousands of massive boxcars-full-of-sand each climbing up 8 miles or so.....
and what for? so old constipated men can turn into caricatures of ugly old men in hawaii and in the bahamas?

[hyphenate]

12. I've taken two trips in the past 7 months

One to Toronto and one to Las Vegas (just two weeks ago). Neither flight was stressful. The first one was on American, and the second one was on JetBlue.

There were, as always, long lines at the airport to pass through security, but they moved relatively fast. They had about 5 security teams, which helped.

The flights themselves weren't too bad, though I was prepared and had some food with me for them--this is one of the few annoyances I have found is the fact that you don't get a meal on a regular flight anymore. However, there is now a food court at most airports, and while the food is higher than away from the airport, it is now more reasonable in price than it used to be.

The most discomfort I had was on the trip home from Vegas, which was an overnight flight, and even with the extra legroom, it was impossible to get much sleep without twisting myself into a pretzel.

I will continue to fly when I get the chance, but one thing that has always bugged me is the pricing of flights--with regular airfares, it's impossible to believe that a flight to Toronto from Boston costs MORE than a flight to Las Vegas from Boston. It just doesn't make sense. As far as deregulation of pricing is concerned, I only wish that fares be based on distance and NOT on routes themselves. I have the advantage that I can travel any day of the week--the cost of lodging is minimal since I don't mind a budget hotel (if I don't have a place to stay), and it allows me to pick and choose bargain fares. Even when I was working and putting together an itinerary, I ended up costing the company less because I was willing and able to spend the weekend in the destination city, which brought the fares down substantially (that famous "stay Saturday" clause).

If you fly fairly often, you're going to find that there is little difference in the actual flight experience now compared to the past, but if you haven't flown awhile, you might be surprised at some of the fares. The best deals are usually hidden deep in the system, and you just need to learn to navigate a travel website in order to find bargains. For instance, most of the big airlines were charging about $450 for the Boston-Las Vegas round trip--I got my JetBlue tickets for $220 round trip.

[Submariner]

14. I fly from Boston to San Juan often

A month ago my RT ticket was $1082, and 10 days later the same exact American Airlines trip was $301, both purchased 2 weeks in advance of trip. Incredible disparity in prices.

Luckily the over ocean route the past 7 years has worked out in preventing flight delays.

[hyphenate]

18. That is definitely a big difference

in price. I've managed to scrounge around to find some great fares, and since I travel for pleasure mainly, I can travel even up to the last minute. My October trip to Toronto was a special "weekend getaway" trip for three days, and only cost $150 RT. The guy at customs coming home was amazed at the cost. It was a short trip, but I just love going to Toronto for a couple of days--it certainly helps my mood.

[cliss]

17. They'll probably rebuild the planes so they can

squeeze in twice as many passengers.

There's always the baggage compartment...