Growing Pax "Fear" Over NOT Flying (i.e. Delays, etc.)
 

Hi ya'll,

Interesting article on Yahoo.com. At this point I honestly place the blame for the air travel nightmare squarely on the pax, for two distinct reasons:

1. They demand ultra low fares, causing the airlines to operate with barely enough personnel and equipment.
2. They demand more individual flights rather than bigger aircraft, thereby increasing the number of aircraft vying for the same airspace, runways, taxiways, and gates.

My sister's friend is visiting from California right now. She went on American SFO-LAX-EWR. She wound up having to spend a night in an LAX hotel room because they were late getting out of SFO and she missed her connection and it was the last flight of the day. The reason for the delay: no aircraft.

New travel neurosis: Fear of not flying By BETH J. HARPAZ, AP Travel Editor
Mon Jul 2, 10:04 AM ET



I know plenty of people with fear of flying. They agonize for weeks before takeoff, they go to doctors for prescriptions, they read books about their condition and ask their therapists for help.


But all the stories floating around about how awful air travel is this summer has given me a new neurosis: Fear of not flying.

You see, we have round-trip tickets for our family of four to fly from the East Coast to the West this summer. When we land, we'll have a busy itinerary of tours, hikes and activities. On the way back, we're getting home just in time for the first day of school.

But what if our planes are delayed for hours on the ground and we miss our connecting flights? What if our flights are cancelled? What if our planes are overbooked and our reservations suddenly disappear off someone's computer screen, leaving us ticketless? Our vacation will be ruined, precious days off from work wasted, money down the drain, and everyone in a bad mood.

See that? My flights are seven weeks away and I'm already freaking out. Do they make prescription drugs for people who are afraid that they'll never get off the ground? Because that's what I really need.

Virtually every person I know who has flown in the last month has encountered situations that used to be rare but are now routine. Showing up for your flight with a seat assignment in hand, only to get to your seat and find it occupied by someone who has an identical ticket. Flights cancelled for no apparent reason, with no word on rescheduling. Hundreds of people sitting in sweltering airplanes at the gate for hours with no information and no amenities. Leaving two hours to get through security and then just barely making the flight because the line was so long.

I'm a travel editor and I'm supposed to know how to deal with these sorts of things. But I'm afraid I've done everything wrong. Our flights are at the end of the day, just in time for late afternoon summer storms. The terminals will be crowded with lots of angry people whose earlier flights were delayed and cancelled, and they'll all have been rebooked on our flights, no doubt. I imagine sitting in the airport terminal for hours, only to finally be boarded and sit on the runway for hours. My kids are too old for little toys to keep them occupied; I'm thinking the best I can do is bring all the homework schools now assign over the summer and get them to do all of it while we wait. I expect we'll be there long enough so that my older son will be able to plough through "The Iliad" no problem.

Of course I know the rules. We'll buy our drinks after we go through security, and refrain from telling jokes about bombs at the gate. I think with a 14-year-old and a 9-year-old I'm safe from the type of tantrum that got a family escorted off a flight last winter. But I'll be sure to buy cough drops if either of my children has a cold, knowing that a teenager on a class trip from Hawaii was kicked off a flight in New York because she had a coughing fit.

I don't usually get paranoid about the possibility of hijackers taking over the plane, but these days I'm thinking I might just be held hostage by the pilot - stuck on a tarmac for hours with no toilet paper or ice.

But I will have a cell phone, and I figure if things get really bad, I'll make two phone calls.

The first will be to a Chinese restaurant in the terminal. I'm going to see if they'll deliver to the runway that I'm stuck on.

If that doesn't work, I think I may just call 911. If they won't send the cops to free us, maybe they'll send an ambulance.

Surely by then I'll need one.

I've often wondered what it would take to make the industry respectable again. I'm not advocating pilot induced delays but everyone agrees passengers want low fares...until they realize that low fares won't get them to their destination.

The profession has become a glorified fast bus...if you want to get to a destination quicker you pay a little more and get a taxi. Hopefully the public will see the need for a higher ticket price for better service, better airplanes, and qualified flight crews to get them to their place of interest. But maybe its just a pipe dream.

I'm concerned because she believes that pilots knowingly hold passengers captive. Does she really believe we like sitting on the ramp waiting either?

Amen!!!!!!...Dear PAX: **** HAPPENS, its sucks but get over it, its not the end of the world. Other people in other countries are worried for their lives much less a stupid delay in their vacation. Yes it DOES indeed suck when these things happen to you, but get over it...it still will always beat the hell outta driving from New York to Denver. PAX lost much respect for this industry and so therefore I'm really losing alot of respect for them, even if it is bad business of my behalf.

Another article written by a brainless so-called journelist hoping that this will get her the Pulitzer for this crap on the behalf other passengers who always book connections with only 45 minutes between flights. My advice to the essayist and her readers is to stick to Trailways, or Greyhound as their primary form of transportation.

Awwww, I feel sorry for them. :rolleyes:

another idiotic journalist. I am amazed by what people can come up with...!

Seriously, get a life.

I wonder if I could come up with an article for the associated press maybe under the breaking news section describing how I'm held hostage by the maze of idiotic people who try to tell me how the world is in thier ever passimistic view and then try to convince me I think the same and am in the same boat with them...... may god help us all.