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Old 08-01-2017, 01:45 PM   #45
molson
General Manager
 
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: The Mountains
Most air travel inconveniences aren't a big deal to me. I think we romanticize the old days a little bit, I'd much rather get where I want to be cheaper, and I love having all of the technology that makes traveling easier - knowing where my flights are at any second, being able to get online at airports, being able to arrange ground transportation and knowing where the best place to kill time at any particular airport is, having the tools to quickly mitigate any delays or travel interruption.

It also helps to live next to a smaller airport where the time to get through security averages about 3 minutes, including the line. Though I still haven't seen these multi-hour security lines people talk about even when coming back through bigger airports.

But the one thing I find completely unacceptable, and which fortunately hasn't happened to me yet, is sitting out on the tarmac for hours. I think the newer DOT rules have helped with this, and reading around it looks like long tarmac delays are down significantly from 2009 peaks, and maybe we don't have as many issues like this as we used to:

'You can't do this to us': Fuming passengers stuck on planes for hours call 911 - Ottawa - CBC News

But, you still sometimes hear about it. I can entertain myself in the airport, but stick me on a hot plane for 5 hours and I might hit a breaking point.

The airlines have been great at re-routing me automatically when I miss connections due to delays. There have been times when I see I'm going to miss my connection, I get in that long, angry line at the customer service desk, but then I check the airline app and see that they've already re-booked me and I don't have to wait in that line. I wonder how many pissed people in that line didn't have to be there if they were better prepared. It's great to have those tools. I remember in 80s once being stranded somewhere and being tracked down by a airline staffer in a restaurant after she figured out a way to get us home. Great service, she must have ran all over the airport looking for us - but I'm glad we're not in that era anymore.

Last edited by molson : 08-01-2017 at 01:47 PM.
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