Saturday, May 10, 2014

What irks me about travel:

Traveling by air in this day and age can make grown men cry.  Once upon
 a time, traveling by air was considered a luxury And a most important occasion in anyone's life.; folks dressed and dolled up before they boarded any plane .  Family members and friends went with you to the airport to wish you farewell and bon voyage.  Stewardesses (yes, that was the correct nomenclature) attended to your every need.  And these "girls" were all registered nurses of a particular height and weight. The industry was decidedly sexist in the early flying days, blatantly  using attractive women to lure passengers.

But today air travel is more of a hardship to be endured than an experience of a lifetime.  

The curbside check in is a thing of the past.  You must drag your bags to the check-in counter; present your official Identifiction, type in your name, reservation number and password into the kiosk before the counter person will even a knowledge your very existance.  If you are smart, you will check in your luggage.  Those who do not present problems for the rest of us that will be addressed further down on this blog post.

Once you are checked in, the fun begins!  You now must file by the TSA agents in the airport.  These are poorly paid federal employees who look through other people's luggage day after day after day after  day; you get the idea here, right?  They have long ago lost their sense of humor...no jokes allowed, except if you want a full body search.

If you are lucky enough to have TSA pre check you will not have to remove your shoes or jackets.  Everyone else is fair game.  That bottle of water you just purchased??? Chug it down or toss it out.  A six ounce tooth paste tube....give it up, buddy! You could be a random terrorist about to meticulously clean the dingy tile grout in the men's room!  How do we know?  just turn it over, son!

After at least 45 minutes on line you might make it through to find your gate.
And the fun continues!  If you are thirsty after disposing of your bottle of water, you can now purchase a new one at inflated airport prices.  Not financially able to travel in Business or First Class?  You may want to purchase a sandwich for your trans continental or trans Atlantic flight , again, at inflated airline prices.  But the best is yet to come.

Even if your chosen airlines has provided no cost or low cost baggage check-in, the majority of the folks on your flight will be schlepping  over sized "carry-on" luggage on board the plane.  Now the carry-on allowance" is one personal item like a purse or brief case and a pre-determined sized carry-on to be stored above your head in the overhead bins...one half a bin per person with the bags placed wheels facing the aisle.  That is the ideal.

HOWEVER, this normally does not happen. Business types with both carry-ons and garment bags in addition to a briefcase try to lay the bags of clothes lengthwise in the binds atop their "wheelies."  They then try to stuff their over stuffed, soft sided computer/ brief cases under the seat in front of them.  Mothers with small children often carry on a wheelie and two diaper bags filled with stuff for the kinder.  Now, I have no problem if the child is sitting in their own seat, but if the little one is little enough to ride your knee...you need to pack his/her stuff in your overhead carry on.  Little old blue-haired retired ladies ( I am retired, but I do not have blue hair, yet) should not be carrying on two extra shopping bags from Macy's or Century 21 in addition to a shoulder bag and a carry on.  Just because it is in plastic, does not mean that it is invisible.   And I love the folks who drag their oversized bags to the gate knowing it is too big and will be ticketed sans fee at the gate.

Modern air travel is difficult on all involved, but the airlines do no justice to the flying public if they continue to allow these selfish folks to bully and dominate the rest of us with their inconsiderate behavior....mostly because they do not want to wait for their luggage.  Get over yourselves!

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