Democratic Underground Latest Greatest Lobby Journals Search Options Help Login
Google

Have changes in airline rules affected your travel?

Printer-friendly format Printer-friendly format
Printer-friendly format Email this thread to a friend
Printer-friendly format Bookmark this thread
This topic is archived.
Home » Discuss » Archives » General Discussion (1/22-2007 thru 12/14/2010) Donate to DU
 
dixiegrrrrl Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-11-10 10:18 AM
Original message
Poll question: Have changes in airline rules affected your travel?
Edited on Sun Apr-11-10 10:28 AM by dixiegrrrrl
I am curious if airlines are shooting themselves in the foot with increased fees,
( An Irish airline charges fees to use the bathroom!)
increased TSA rules, etc. especially in light of this news:
U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer said Sunday he's trying to get the federal government to prohibit airlines from charging a fee for carry-on baggage, calling it a "slap in the face to travelers."

edited to add # 9 choice.

Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
dems_rightnow Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-11-10 10:23 AM
Response to Original message
1. 8 answers....
And not a one says "Won't affect my travel". Predetermined outcome.

For me, who flys once a year at most, it won't affect my choice to fly that one time.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
dixiegrrrrl Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-11-10 10:30 AM
Response to Reply #1
7. I added another option, thanks for the input.
I was looking more at people who decided to STOP flying as opposed to people who continued to fly.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
On the Road Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-11-10 12:21 PM
Response to Reply #1
37. Me Neither
I cut back a little for economic reasons. But in general, I will pay closer attention to the terms of conditions of the pricing. The base price of the ticket may only be half of the cost of an international flight.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Flaneur Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-11-10 10:24 AM
Response to Original message
2. Going through airport security feels like entering a prison.
I still fly on occasion, but if it's under a thousand miles, I'm driving. Then I only have to deal with the Highwaymen, er, Highway Patrolmen.

Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Warpy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-11-10 10:31 AM
Response to Reply #2
8. Same here
One of the things that has kept me here instead of traveling is the hazing airline passengers have to endure. Such hazing doesn't make me feel safer. It makes me feel bullied.

And yes, it does feel like you're going to visit Uncle Vinne in the slammer.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
DesertRat Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-11-10 10:26 AM
Response to Original message
3. Other..it hasn't affected my travel
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
RKP5637 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-11-10 10:26 AM
Response to Original message
4. I quit flying when the airlines turned into flying boxcars of humanity stuffed in with
no apparent passenger rights and escalating abuses of passengers by the airlines. And it continues...
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
elleng Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-11-10 10:33 AM
Response to Reply #4
10. So its been quite a while, eh?
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
RKP5637 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-11-10 10:46 AM
Response to Reply #10
16. Yep, I quit flying after 911, and was fortunately able to do that... Now IMO it has
gotten far far worse... And in the 90's I thought flying was getting ridiculous, but I had no choice, I had to fly a lot then all over the place... At one time it was fun, but IMO the "fun" part of it went out a long long time ago... Now, the airlines seem intent on making it a miserable experience by choice...
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
elleng Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-11-10 11:02 AM
Response to Reply #16
24. Used to be REALLY fun, and I did a fair amount of travel,
when young and later.

Circumstances have made it miserable, and airline 'choice' part related to their inability to figure out how to make money with it. Any form of transport for the public has LOTS of non-economic features, built in, unfortunately.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
MineralMan Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-11-10 10:29 AM
Response to Original message
5. Other: It has not affected my travel at all. I go when I want,
where I want. You seem to have left off that option in your very biased poll.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
IDemo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-11-10 10:29 AM
Response to Original message
6. Haven't flown since the late 90's
I put myself on my own no-fly list long before the official one came out, mainly for health reasons, but also because I hate the entire airport experience.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
elleng Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-11-10 10:32 AM
Response to Original message
9. I WILL fly, when I have the $, because travel is important to me.
I'll do my best to avoid carriers who charge the b.s. fees (and let the others know why I'm avoiding them.)

Is the Irish carrier serving beer anyway??? :sarcasm:
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
DevonRex Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-11-10 11:05 AM
Response to Reply #9
25. Can't wait for the first time somebody pisses their seat because they
don't have a quarter.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
RKP5637 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-11-10 11:32 AM
Response to Reply #25
30. +1, n/t
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
booksenkatz Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-11-10 10:33 AM
Response to Original message
11. Taking the train to Texas this summer...
and looking forward to it! I remember how pleasant flying used to be, but I'll never do it again unless there is absolutely no other choice. It's no longer a pleasant experience, it's an ordeal. I'd rather undergo a root canal than undergo air travel. The train takes longer, but it's a fabulous trip, and I feel like a human being afterwards.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
elleng Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-11-10 10:50 AM
Response to Reply #11
19. Train travel IS fun; took a good one with family
Chic.>Glacier. But can be toss-up! Amtrak lost our luggage! AND airline did same, DC > Frankfurt! Going to wedding in Poland! So we had 2 wild and crazy vacations!
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
hlthe2b Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-11-10 10:38 AM
Response to Original message
12. My first flight (as a young child) occurred before deregulation
Edited on Sun Apr-11-10 11:02 AM by hlthe2b
It was a pleasure, albeit expensive for my family. Flying was a "treat," and adventure and non-routine for most families.

Most of my cumulative (many many) plane miles came prior to 911. Increasingly less pleasant, but tolerable. With the advent of TSA and the increasingly abusive attitude towards passengers, (as well as the increasing hidden charges that nickle and dime passengers to death, while making a flight as unpleasant as being loaded as cattle on a truck bed), I have decreased my travel as much as possible-- only for required work or emergencies.

Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
RKP5637 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-11-10 10:49 AM
Response to Reply #12
17. +1, n/t
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
elleng Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-11-10 11:07 AM
Response to Reply #12
27. and MY first was before JETS!!!!
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
hlthe2b Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-11-10 11:09 AM
Response to Reply #27
28. heh heh
I love the history of commercial air flights--when "stewardesses" actually COOKED meals for the passengers! Of course on a prop plane, I'd have likely have been too queasy to eat. LOL
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
RKP5637 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-11-10 11:30 AM
Response to Reply #27
29. My first flight was Eastern Airlines on a DC-3, many decades ago, and it was fun then!!! n/t
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
elleng Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-11-10 11:37 AM
Response to Reply #29
32. Where to where?
Dad took me from NY - Philly, for the fun of it, MANY MANY MANY decades ago!

And family flew NY - London Oct. 4, 1957! (Turbo-prop?) SOME MAY RECOGNIZE that date!
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
RKP5637 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-11-10 12:11 PM
Response to Reply #32
35. Delaware to Miami. Turbo-prop, yep, recognize that quite well! My early
Edited on Sun Apr-11-10 12:44 PM by RKP5637
international flights were on 727's. Nice airplanes. I liked the DC-3's too. Then the planes got bigger and bigger and bigger. I always tried to get a window or aisle seat.

I recall more than once getting stuck (packed) into the center of the center seats... And one time coming back from Europe very late at night on an almost empty 747. I guess those days are gone. They had to get it back to the states for the next morning's run.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
seabeyond Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-11-10 10:40 AM
Response to Original message
13. we use to fly often. now i wont. the upside, .... we have driven the country on vacations. gives
Edited on Sun Apr-11-10 10:40 AM by seabeyond
hubby a longer vacation because we need the time to drive. now he has to take two week vacation and he has never had that in the past. (he gets three a year, never used it all and only a week at a time). the two weeks has been excellent for him and family.

we have driven from texas to cape cod. and texas to SF. it is a blast seeing the country adn together as a family. our next trip will be oregon, WA, canada and then down montana, WY.....

i refuse to walk into a prison environment and willingly be treated as a criminal, submissively giving up my rights....
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
cherokeeprogressive Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-11-10 10:40 AM
Response to Original message
14. Half of the fun of flying now is watching the whiny, pissed off people at air terminals.
I wear slaps (flip-flops) to the airport, keep all my toiletries in my checked baggage, bring snacks, magazines, waters, and whatever else I need to entertain myself in my carry-on, and sit in the bar watching people being pissed off until just before my gate is called.

It's fun. I have no problem with it whatsoever. I'm not a high stress person anyway, so I just go with the flow, and entertain myself by trying to guess what motivates every frown or argument I see in an airport.

That's my lonely vote at the bottom of the poll, in case you haven't guessed it already.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Bragi Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-11-10 11:06 AM
Response to Reply #14
26. You're just what a police state needs to work /nt
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
FirstLight Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-11-10 10:46 AM
Response to Original message
15. I have not flown since 1/01
Too expensive even then ...

I personally prefer driving (and I don't travel more than a few hours anywhere) and big jets scare me. I actually prefer small planes! (the pilot does his own safety check on a small plane...nd the maintenance crews on big jets make me nervous...)

but the cost is the main reason, it's just too expensive for me to "go" anywhere, anyway.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
JackintheGreen Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-11-10 10:50 AM
Response to Original message
18. I have to fly. I do research in India.
I can't really afford to fly unless I get research funding anyway. My family is spread all over the US and I haven't seen my father in 2 years because of the expense. So I'm almost in the "who can afford to fly" camp. But I can't afford the time to take a boat to India, thought the cost might be comparable.

I would rather the airlines stop trying to trick us into thinking we are buying cheap tickets and raise prices overall rather than nickel and diming us with fees. Swear to god if I was charged to used the bathroom I would shit in my seat to make a point. And all I ever do is gripe about the dickheads taking too much on as carry-ons, but the dick airlines do it to themselves by charging fees. Just fucking charge us what it costs to fly. I cannot fly to Illinois for $79 dollars. That's just a dirty marketing lie.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
OmahaBlueDog Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-11-10 10:50 AM
Response to Original message
20. My employer insists I fly (as opposed to driving) on business trips over a certain length
However, when it comes to the family, we just bought a big, diesel guzzling Chevy Suburban because flying has become an expensive pain in the ass.

Note that, if you live in the upper Midwest, you can blame me for the accelerating climate change.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
stray cat Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-11-10 10:54 AM
Response to Original message
21. Fly or drive 25 hours - I'll still fly
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
iamjoy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-11-10 10:55 AM
Response to Original message
22. I Fly Less Frequently
But it doesn't have to be an emergency. However, when I am planning a vacation, I take into consideration how much of a hassle it is to fly. Usually, that results in my choosing a vacation that does not involve purchasing a plane ticket.

Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Brickbat Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-11-10 11:02 AM
Response to Original message
23. Other: I generally don't fly because I don't travel to far-away places much. I love driving, and
air travel is too expensive. When I do have to fly -- for work or because of a rare long trip -- I hate every minute of it.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
dixiegrrrrl Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-11-10 11:35 AM
Response to Original message
31. In interests of full disclosure.
I flew for work and vacation a few times before TSA.



Never since.
The opportunity to fly again did not come up until a couple of years into the TSA abuses became widely known.
By that point, we were well into the Bush regime and to me the pattern of control was real obvious.

Now with Schumer's latest announcement, I am truly curious at where the tipping point will be for airline
travel.



Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
walldude Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-11-10 11:45 AM
Response to Original message
33. I fly all the time for work...
I don't have any problems. As a frequent flier I don't pay any extra for anything, I get through the short security line, and am always prepared for security. If you do it a lot you get used to it, I'm kinda like George Clooney in Up In The Air, breeze through the airport with no problems..

My advice for people who do fly? Check out the airport online and make sure you are prepared to go through security. Don't try to sneak anything through, don't try to carry on a bag that's too big, just follow the 10 million stupid rules and it will be quick and easy.

Also for Airlines I can't recommend FRONTIER higher. I have flown on every major airline and Frontier is easily the best. They only fly domestic and there is no business or first class, they have more leg room than any other airline and the seats are comfortable. Also prices are usually low. In the 10 years I have been flying them they have been late only twice and neither time was it the airlines fault, plus they have never lost my luggage, which United and Delta seem to love to do. Jet Blue is good also but they don't fly to many places.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
RKP5637 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-11-10 12:16 PM
Response to Reply #33
36. I used to fly FRONTIER and always thought they were the best too! n/t
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
tango-tee Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-11-10 11:48 AM
Response to Original message
34. I voted "other", because I have to fly ´when I visit my son in Texas,
and I take the Lufthansa non-stop flight Frankfurt-Houston. A loooong flight, but LH still offers good service, with plenty of food and drink. Last summer, the round trip ticket was only about $550.00, but we booked about three months ahead.

Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
TommyO Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-11-10 12:49 PM
Response to Original message
38. I'll be driving from NJ to FL in a few weeks
No way I'm going to put my mother and I through the hassle of the draconian, and largely ineffective, screening at the airport, and we won't have to rent a car when we get down there.

Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Tesha Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-11-10 01:11 PM
Response to Original message
39. I still fly but my "radius of driving" is now about 1,000 miles.
Back in the "good old days", I'd fly for business in a 250
mile radius, but that was a close call; between "airport time"
on both ends, flying wasn't much faster.

Now, though, flying is such an enormous stinking hassle,
that even though flying is still marginally faster beyond
250 miles, I probably would drive just about anywhere
under 1000 miles. No taking off my shoes, no arguing
with TSA morons about whether my shampoo bottle is 3
ounces or 3.5, no arguments about whether my carry-on
fits in the overhead bin or not, not screaming babies next
to me, no several days of pain because my ears didn't clear
on the descent, no renting a car at the far end, no collision
damage waiver, and so on and so on. Later, no dealing with
the the obnoxious Toronto airport US ICE agents as I try to
get back into *MY OWN COUNTRY*.

It's a shame several of the places I need to go/want to go
are overseas; those are still tough to drive to ;). If one
could drive to the UK (and Eurostar on from there), I'd
never fly again.

Tesha
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
DU AdBot (1000+ posts) Click to send private message to this author Click to view 
this author's profile Click to add 
this author to your buddy list Click to add 
this author to your Ignore list Sun May 12th 2024, 12:47 AM
Response to Original message
Advertisements [?]
 Top

Home » Discuss » Archives » General Discussion (1/22-2007 thru 12/14/2010) Donate to DU

Powered by DCForum+ Version 1.1 Copyright 1997-2002 DCScripts.com
Software has been extensively modified by the DU administrators


Important Notices: By participating on this discussion board, visitors agree to abide by the rules outlined on our Rules page. Messages posted on the Democratic Underground Discussion Forums are the opinions of the individuals who post them, and do not necessarily represent the opinions of Democratic Underground, LLC.

Home  |  Discussion Forums  |  Journals |  Store  |  Donate

About DU  |  Contact Us  |  Privacy Policy

Got a message for Democratic Underground? Click here to send us a message.

© 2001 - 2011 Democratic Underground, LLC