In what one way should airlines improve airplane travel?
I’ve been on 6 planes in my life, all of them with Southwest Airlines, so I can’t really speak to the air travel experience with any authority. There’s certainly been no shortage of controversy in the news when it comes to major American airlines (United and Delta come to mind immediately) as fodder for this post but it’s all secondhand at this point.
None of my flights were longer than my drive home from college over the breaks during a nasty storm. The leg from Baltimore to Montego Bay on my honeymoon flight was the longest and I never even used the bathroom on either of those flights. Come to think of it, I don’t think I used the plane bathroom on any of the flights I took, so I can’t even use that as an idea for “room for improvement.”
Probably the most frustrating part of air travel is getting through security at the airport, and that’s not really in the individual airlines’ control. Some (maybe all, I am really limited in my knowledge of this subject) offer priority screening or “skip the line” additions to your ticket for a bit extra. Frequent fliers take advantage of the TSA annual pre check to avoid those lines (at least, they should, and I certainly would if I had to fly every week).
Working in the aerospace industry it’s fascinating to see all the ways air travel has transformed through the years, and the improvements that are constantly being integrated. My husband I get into the air museum for free with our employee IDs and we love to go look at all the old planes and see just how much has changed in the last 100 years. I could always go for more comfort, but I certainly don’t complain about the seats we have now when I remember walking through those old planes with their armless chairs of wood and wicker, lined up like folding chairs in a high school auditorium on assembly day.
Really, the best thing that could happen to air travel (and honestly, all fuel-powered travel) is teleportation technology making it obsolete. Why fly when you can zap yourself where you want to be? Alas, until that mystical future time, the best thing airlines could do would be to eliminate price gouging. It’s insane how much ticket prices can fluctuate based on the hour of the day you purchase them. I know this isn’t just an airline problem, but it would certainly make me more amenable to flying if I didn’t have to price watch like I’m tracking the stock market.
Notes: That’s about all I have to say on this subject. As you can see, I had a hard time coming up with a definitive answer, so I didn’t bother trying to portray it through a new character as I have done with other prompts. It’s also a very cold Monday and my brain did not want to make the words tonight. On the plus side, it’ll be 20 degrees warmer tomorrow, and 40 on Wednesday so there’s that.
What about you? Do you fly a lot? What is a complaint you feel like you have very often when you do that could be fixed by the airline(s) you fly? Is it something they even have any control over? I’d love to know! The only thing I know about flying is to never fly through Newark. I’ve heard enough horror stories about that airport I don’t think you could pay me to layover there.
So that’s all for tonight! I’ll have a Lara story for you tomorrow! See you then!
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