Flying: Things that irk me.

Philly_Q

Timcito said:

One thing that is oddly in favour of aeroplanes, even now, is how we never get knocked out by travel farts! Many people's digestive systems are inevitably in turmoil after a long day dragging round bags, drinking too much coffee, and eating airport food, but in all my years of flying I've not once caught a noisome whiff from anyone on board. Is it the air-circulation system that does it? Who knows? But when you think of the enormous potential for disaster, it truly is a wonder how the air stays so fresh!

That feels like a challenge...

Emp_Fab

Jeez.  All this moaning!  Flying is amazing....  The fact you can travel in the sky at 500mph and go places around the world for next to nothing. 

I don't understand nervous fliers at all.  The facts, proveably accurate, show that flying is one of, if not THE safest ways of getting from a to b.

Fear of flying is completely irrational.

Fear of being stuck in an uncomfortable economy class seat on a long haul trip next with a bloke with halitosis on one side and a screaming child on the other - that's very very real indeed.

Tannin

thecolourbox said:

The main thing about the experience itself which irks me is that they are unable to offer a nice cup of tea

Sri Lankan serves excellent tea. OK, you can't fly Sri Lankan to Rome or Florida, you have to go to Sri Lanka - but that's not a drawback, it's a bonus!

Tannin

stickyfiddle said:

- dickheads who don’t know what their bag looks like, or bought a plain black bag and didn’t put a colourful ribbon or lock or baggage strap on it and have to check every single black bag

This. I went out of my way to find the ugliest, worst-possible-colour suitcase I could find. No-one has a case as ugly as mine. Works like a charm!

Tannin

Blueingreen said:

ICBM said:

I hate reclining seats.

Since it’s impossible to ever persuade the person in front of you to not be selfish dick and not push their seat back into your face, you then have no real option other than to do the same, and then everyone is crammed into a ridiculous tilted space that’s harder to get in and out of.

I would favour any airline which removes the option, and fits non-reclining seats in economy. If you still want to, pay more for business class where there’s more room in the first place.

Yep. The very fact that the seats are designed to recline undermines your ability to point out the bleeding obvious, that tilting back is a bloody selfish thing to do.  The tilter can legitimately say, I wouldn't be able to do this unless the airline thought it was ok for me to do it. So you're the unreasonable one for objecting to me doing something I'm supposed to be able to do.

One day, a long time in the future, in a universe far, far away .... some cabin design genius will finally figure out that it would be a very simple matter to design recline control into the seats. While the lights are on and people are awake, they don't recline. Once the lights go down, recline becomes available. 

I mean they already wire up every seat with in-flight entertainment and all sorts of other trickery, the recline control would cost mere pennies and provide a significantly better in-flight experience = more revenue for the airline.  

Tannin

Haych said:

I also hate being milked for cash because I'm about to get on an aircraft.  Everything seems to be an extra now, whether it's luggage, seating, boarding or whatever - everything is optional at an extra cost.

Pfft. Choose a better airline. If people has the sense to fly with a proper airline instead of bottom-feeders like Ryanair, they'd find the whole thing much more pleasant, and by the time you add up all the extra charges, no more expensive.

p90fool

My biggest problem with public transport is the public.
Plane wanker. 

viz

I flew up to eight times a week for 12 years. I did over 3000 flights in the noughties. I used to keep the boarding passes until they stacked over a metre high. I hated it. The only thing I enjoyed was knowing all the cabin crew by name and having a jolly old laugh with them while normal passengers looked at me with respect, admiration and envy. But the environmental cost - omg   I’m so ashamed of it now. Plus I started to panic a bit because I felt I was pushing the odds. 

Offset

Tannin said:

Haych said:

I also hate being milked for cash because I'm about to get on an aircraft.  Everything seems to be an extra now, whether it's luggage, seating, boarding or whatever - everything is optional at an extra cost.

Pfft. Choose a better airline. If people has the sense to fly with a proper airline instead of bottom-feeders like Ryanair, they'd find the whole thing much more pleasant, and by the time you add up all the extra charges, no more expensive.

Ahhhhhhh.... if only that was always the case.... sadly it isn't :-(

stickyfiddle

Tannin said:

stickyfiddle said:

- dickheads who don’t know what their bag looks like, or bought a plain black bag and didn’t put a colourful ribbon or lock or baggage strap on it and have to check every single black bag

This. I went out of my way to find the ugliest, worst-possible-colour suitcase I could find. No-one has a case as ugly as mine. Works like a charm!

Our bags are ok looking, but crucially they each have a bright coloured strap around them - you can always spot both of them from miles away. It makes life much easier.

Haych

Tannin said:

Haych said:

I also hate being milked for cash because I'm about to get on an aircraft.  Everything seems to be an extra now, whether it's luggage, seating, boarding or whatever - everything is optional at an extra cost.

Pfft. Choose a better airline. If people has the sense to fly with a proper airline instead of bottom-feeders like Ryanair, they'd find the whole thing much more pleasant, and by the time you add up all the extra charges, no more expensive.

And I rest my case but even reputable airlines are in on the game these days offering “bargain” fares until you get to checkout and realise what you’re paying for includes nothing. If they could sell you a standing only space in the cargo hold, they would. 

viz

Haych said:

Tannin said:

Haych said:

I also hate being milked for cash because I'm about to get on an aircraft.  Everything seems to be an extra now, whether it's luggage, seating, boarding or whatever - everything is optional at an extra cost.

Pfft. Choose a better airline. If people has the sense to fly with a proper airline instead of bottom-feeders like Ryanair, they'd find the whole thing much more pleasant, and by the time you add up all the extra charges, no more expensive.

And I rest my case but even reputable airlines are in on the game these days offering “bargain” fares until you get to checkout and realise what you’re paying for includes nothing. If they could sell you a standing only space in the cargo hold, they would. 

Top tip - When flying with Ryanair, let your suitcase have your seat and sit in the hold, because luggage doesn’t care about discomfort. 

Haych

I refuse to fly Ryanair. I’d rather walk. 

Sporky

stickyfiddle said:

- dickheads who don’t know what their bag looks like, or bought a plain black bag and didn’t put a colourful ribbon or lock or baggage strap on it and have to check every single black bag

I only fly for work, often with customers, so I have to have an appropriately "bizniz" suitcase in plain grey.

I put Space Invader stickers on it. 

Roland

It’s the air circulation. On most modern airliners air comes in above your head, and out at foot level.

Danny1969

Emp_Fab said:

Jeez.  All this moaning!  Flying is amazing....  The fact you can travel in the sky at 500mph and go places around the world for next to nothing. 

I don't understand nervous fliers at all.  The facts, proveably accurate, show that flying is one of, if not THE safest ways of getting from a to b.

Fear of flying is completely irrational.

Fear of being stuck in an uncomfortable economy class seat on a long haul trip next with a bloke with halitosis on one side and a screaming child on the other - that's very very real indeed.

You can go at 500mph, but first you have to spend a few hours at 0mph ... then when you get there another hour at 0mph getting through security and getting your case. I live an hour from Heathrow so for a flight at 10 I would have to get going at 7 in the morning, then land at Corfu at 1:30 then get out the airport at 2:30   .... 

So that's 7.5 hours to do 1200 miles = maybe 150mph for these kind of short hops in reality. On a long haul it's obviously better

I don't think flying is statistically the safest form of transport. It might be on a per mile base but not on a per journey base. I mean I've never looked into it but I reckon that would be the case. 

Penn

Dulles Washington is the worst airport in the world. Getting into the country takes hours, just stand there waiting in a line until you can barely stand anymore. Close to death from exhaustion, eventually someone interrogates you and stamps your passport. Then it turns out it’s in a different time zone to DC. After flying transatlantic it feels like it takes nearly as long to get to the hotel. 

Faro in the Algarve is pretty awful. 2 hours to get through passport control last time we were there. All around us people were saying to the staff we’re going to miss our flight. Staff said “should have come sooner” then when we got the gate 3 flights were going from it. Utter chaos. 

Dominic

Alcohol ......why ?
Had to get a 6a.m. flight a few days ago ....was through security by 5 a.m. for a meeting
Staggered to see hordes of people with huge pints of beer and shorts in front of them at that time of day
who gets up at home at 4.30 a.m. to drink a pint of lager ?
It's a grotesque image presumably owned by football shirted yobs going on a 'Lads Holiday ' but ,in fact , they only made up a small portion of the boozers ....plenty of middle-aged family parents ,men and women .....what's wrong with them ?
Is it some weird ritual because they happen to be on holiday , a boredom automatic reflex , or a desparate need for booze?
who can stomach that with their eyes only half open
It also seems to cause trouble/disruption
Breath Test at boarding gate gets my vote ......bit more lenient than a drink-driving test but no drunks on planes please

Jetsam1

Dominic said:

Alcohol ......why ?
Had to get a 6a.m. flight a few days ago ....was through security by 5 a.m. for a meeting
Staggered to see hordes of people with huge pints of beer and shorts in front of them at that time of day
who gets up at home at 4.30 a.m. to drink a pint of lager ?
It's a grotesque image presumably owned by football shirted yobs going on a 'Lads Holiday ' but ,in fact , they only made up a small portion of the boozers ....plenty of middle-aged family parents ,men and women .....what's wrong with them ?
Is it some weird ritual because they happen to be on holiday , a boredom automatic reflex , or a desparate need for booze?
who can stomach that with their eyes only half open
It also seems to cause trouble/disruption
Breath Test at boarding gate gets my vote ......bit more lenient than a drink-driving test but no drunks on planes please

When I was on the rigs it was pretty strict as regards that at the heliport. I knew people who got banned from Aberdeen for turning up hungover enough to still appear drunk. Of course senior enough to not get sacked on the spot............... Just never got sent to jobs from Aberdeen again....

On the rare occasions I fly back to the UK I only fly KLM or Lufthansa and accept the higher ticket prices as I have had decent service in the past from them. I can't fly direct using a proper airline o the connections are important. And how these are dealt with in case of a delay.

Even with the Post Brexit passport controls I still made the connection with enough time to spare. The problems were actuall Americas trying to push through the queue and jump it shouting they were going to miss their connection. The airline staff told them in no uncertain terms if they took one more step the armed Police will swoop down and then they will be very late indeed.

The queue gave them evils and a few people told them what for.

menamestom

I wonder why many people who get upset about noise, still fly without decent noice cancelling headphones. As soon as a I hear a kid screaming I pop in my Airpod Pro's, put some music on and forget about it.