Air travel is so undignified

[Anonymous]

Even first class on commuter flights is disgusting. The size of seating and the filth of the plane is outrageous. I think flight attendants are doing the best they can considering their livelihood is dependent on working in a biohazard. Already regretting my next flight

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No matter your good experience at the airport in other countries, when you get back to the US, you hear airport workers shouting and yelling, "all US passport holders to your left!" Repeat, repeat. And people file in a line but you still hear the person yelling. I mean are other countries just better at managing these things or is it just being in the US or just being Americans.

We have an enormous range of people in our country. There is no unifying culture. People are connected in other countries by shared values. Here, each subgroup has its own values and ways of living. In one culture it’s ok to shout, in another it’s a nuisance.

Everyone comes together in airports, it’s a terrible clash of personalities, ethics, and expectations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'd rather cruise and take a train to avoid the nastiness of air travel. My neighbor just joined a co-op private jet service and it seems to have gone well. Her family travels quite often and they do not have to deal with any of the nastiness of public air travel. I might look into it as I would like to travel but have anxiety about getting stuck with cancellations (this is the main reason people cite hatred of flying), dirtiness, passing of diseases, etc.

Wait you are worried about passing of diseases, but take cruises?

https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/vsp/pub/norovirus/norovirus.htm

[Anonymous]

Starting about five years ago we gave up on flying economy because it was truly a cattle car as the airlines jammed more seats in. First class domestic is now nothing more than economy super plus but it beats economy. Yes, it’s expensive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Even first class on commuter flights is disgusting. The size of seating and the filth of the plane is outrageous. I think flight attendants are doing the best they can considering their livelihood is dependent on working in a biohazard. Already regretting my next flight

Op here

I don’t blame flight attendants or airport staff - that’s a thankless and stressful job

I blame society and parents. So many people are just poorly raised without any sense of decorum and class

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:US air travel is the worst. Airports are dirty, food is overpriced, unhealthy and generally nasty, lounges are packed because almost anyone has access, planes are dirty, flight attendants are rude, and then there are the fellow passengers.

It’s basically just a bus route at this point.

I guess you don’t travel internationally

Yes, curious where these dignified foreign airports are

There aren't many. Seoul - Incheon - is pretty nice. Singapore. Some of the newer airports in China aren't terrible.

But it is true that the American flying experience has declined drastically in recent years. They are basically credit card companies that do a little flying on the side. If you have a United card, great. But sometimes you need to fly American or whatever and you are now chattel. Every little thing is grossly overpriced. Everyone is annoyed and angry. You discover that you actually don't like most people.

And people do seem worse these days.

It used to be that a flight was a fairly pleasant timeout. Read a book. Watch a movie. Unreachable. Now it always feels stressful and unpleasant.

East Asians have more self care than Americans and pride in their transportation

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:US air travel is the worst. Airports are dirty, food is overpriced, unhealthy and generally nasty, lounges are packed because almost anyone has access, planes are dirty, flight attendants are rude, and then there are the fellow passengers.

It’s basically just a bus route at this point.

I guess you don’t travel internationally

Yes, curious where these dignified foreign airports are

There aren't many. Seoul - Incheon - is pretty nice. Singapore. Some of the newer airports in China aren't terrible.

But it is true that the American flying experience has declined drastically in recent years. They are basically credit card companies that do a little flying on the side. If you have a United card, great. But sometimes you need to fly American or whatever and you are now chattel. Every little thing is grossly overpriced. Everyone is annoyed and angry. You discover that you actually don't like most people.

And people do seem worse these days.

It used to be that a flight was a fairly pleasant timeout. Read a book. Watch a movie. Unreachable. Now it always feels stressful and unpleasant.

East Asians have more self care than Americans and pride in their transportation

Yes, to this. For all the talk about how sophisticated and polished Europeans are, which I find to be false. East Asians, in my limited experience, are very put together. When in Europe, as a typically casual American tourist, I feel like I fit in. In Korea I didn’t feel underdressed, but I felt like I wasn’t as put together and stylish as they were. For Koreans, everything on them, men and women, looked good- stylish clothes, fitted, accessorized, nice shoes…I was impressed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No matter your good experience at the airport in other countries, when you get back to the US, you hear airport workers shouting and yelling, "all US passport holders to your left!" Repeat, repeat. And people file in a line but you still hear the person yelling. I mean are other countries just better at managing these things or is it just being in the US or just being Americans.

Getting yelled at is pretty universal in airports. It's all undignified. And I hate being separated by gender.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No matter your good experience at the airport in other countries, when you get back to the US, you hear airport workers shouting and yelling, "all US passport holders to your left!" Repeat, repeat. And people file in a line but you still hear the person yelling. I mean are other countries just better at managing these things or is it just being in the US or just being Americans.

We have an enormous range of people in our country. There is no unifying culture. People are connected in other countries by shared values. Here, each subgroup has its own values and ways of living. In one culture it’s ok to shout, in another it’s a nuisance.

Everyone comes together in airports, it’s a terrible clash of personalities, ethics, and expectations.

+1

This. Too much, no order.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Even first class on commuter flights is disgusting. The size of seating and the filth of the plane is outrageous. I think flight attendants are doing the best they can considering their livelihood is dependent on working in a biohazard. Already regretting my next flight

Op here

I don’t blame flight attendants or airport staff - that’s a thankless and stressful job

I blame society and parents. So many people are just poorly raised without any sense of decorum and class

Well, yeah. By definition, the worst of America has become the epitome of America. Good job?

Easy to tell how ignorant one is, by how pretentious one is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Starting about five years ago we gave up on flying economy because it was truly a cattle car as the airlines jammed more seats in. First class domestic is now nothing more than economy super plus but it beats economy. Yes, it’s expensive.

But y'all pay it, or strive for "points" because they sucked you into a game you can't win.

A cattle call all its own. Good luck with that.

[Anonymous]

Yes, the pandemic just made worse what was already bad. A new behavior post pandemic for me are the people pushing you over in the aisle to rush from row 37 to be the first off the plane. And if you enter the aisle to get your bag, you are subject to their breathy, vulgar, criminal slurs.

But really before the pandemic, it was an arms race of noise cancelling headphones elbowing to fight ofr the middle seat and seething over issues with your seat ranging from small kid kicking it to the pressures of the laptop on the tray behind you.

20 years ago you might even talk to someone on a lfight. My most extensive conversation on the flight in the past 3 years (and I fly 80k miles/year, mostly domestic, alas) was with a woman engaged in copious PDA and with minimal clothing (think skintight butt shorts and a crop top) who spilled a full class of water on my seat when I got up to go the bathroom, probably on purpose.

Life is too short to dwell, but yes, flying is not what it used to be and is truly a place where we all just get through.

Those of you romanticizing the bus, well, I've tried that too. It isn't worse than flying, but it is certainly no way on earth better. And it is much, much longer.

One day the world will be so bad no one will understand our complaints about the terribleness. At least I tell myself this, though perhaps I should be more optimistic about the world.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How did you see business class? There's a curtain between first class and them.

Lol! The best is that moment when the flight attendant closes that curtain and protects business class from the prying eyes of the hoi palloi.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People have stopped caring about being a nuisance in public, and service workers have stopped trying to do anything to stop them. Case in point: When DS was 5, he watched a Thomas the Tank Engine movie on low volume during the flight, and we got told to shut it off completely. On every flight in 2022/2023 we’ve had people playing music or watching tiktok videos without headphones on maximum volume (including people sitting next to us). Flight attendants don’t care at all, which is a stark contrast from just a few years ago.

AA has a quiet cabin policy now, specifically for people like your bratty DS.

Parents like this always claim their kids “won’t” or “can’t” wear headphones. Well, guess they’ll have to find something else (non-electronic) to do than watch videos then.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, the pandemic just made worse what was already bad. A new behavior post pandemic for me are the people pushing you over in the aisle to rush from row 37 to be the first off the plane. And if you enter the aisle to get your bag, you are subject to their breathy, vulgar, criminal slurs.

But really before the pandemic, it was an arms race of noise cancelling headphones elbowing to fight ofr the middle seat and seething over issues with your seat ranging from small kid kicking it to the pressures of the laptop on the tray behind you.

20 years ago you might even talk to someone on a lfight. My most extensive conversation on the flight in the past 3 years (and I fly 80k miles/year, mostly domestic, alas) was with a woman engaged in copious PDA and with minimal clothing (think skintight butt shorts and a crop top) who spilled a full class of water on my seat when I got up to go the bathroom, probably on purpose.

Life is too short to dwell, but yes, flying is not what it used to be and is truly a place where we all just get through.

Those of you romanticizing the bus, well, I've tried that too. It isn't worse than flying, but it is certainly no way on earth better. And it is much, much longer.

One day the world will be so bad no one will understand our complaints about the terribleness. At least I tell myself this, though perhaps I should be more optimistic about the world.

What? I went to college in the 90s, flew home every break and this happened every single time.