I hate travel.

Albany NY to Detroit to Austin, Tex.

Detroit to Austin was in a commuter plane (less expensive to run). Left Sunday afternoon, four hours on the ground at Ft. Hood, turn around Monday afternoon.

It rained the whole time we were there, it misty drizzled looking at the Paladins and they were outside. It poured as soon as we packed up, rained all day.

Left Austin to Atlanta at 4:30. Left ATL for Albany at 8:30; 30 minutes into the flight there were "hydraulic issues". Turned back. Oh wait, we have too much fuel to safely land, we'll just drive around a while.

Wait a minute: 30 minutes out, 30 minutes to return, 45 minutes to burn off excess fuel, it's a frikkin' 90 minute flight!

They didn't ask me....

Got home at 2:00 am.

Dan

I hate airplanes. No fear, other than the fear of beig crippled by the seats, sickened by the air, or irked by the security dude that makes me take my belt off.

I'm with you on that.

I love travelling in general (road trip, anyone) but I positively loathe flying, especially shorter distances.

Yep. If I can drive it in 6 hours, then I'm driving instead of flying. Even if it's a 1 hour flight, I have to leave my house 3 hours prior, and then deal with at least an hour of BS on the ground on the other end, making 5-6 hours the break even time.

What I hate the most is the seized-up feeling afterward - it's hell on my back. I'm flying down to L.A. next week for a driving program, then flying back the next day. Those kind of turnarounds are a bit scary when you're looking at a day of driving on top of it. I don't mind the actual flying as much as I hate the BS that goes into getting on and off the plane. Some airports (Pearson and O'Hare come to mind) must feed their staff bile for breakfast.

DILYSI Dave wrote: Yep. If I can drive it in 6 hours, then I'm driving instead of flying.

This.

I just had to spend a week in Chicago for some job related training. I remember being a little kid in the 70's and flying was a Really Big Deal (tm). Nowadays it's nothing more than a Greyhound in the sky. My flights coming and going were both packed! I guess they are running less flights and just making them 100% full. Oh yeah -- both ways the flights were oversold and they were looking for volunteers to go on a later, presumable oversold, flight.

With the flights now charging for checked baggage everyone is bringing all they can onboard with them and now we have the stewardes, er, flight attendants and the pilot yammering on while people are boarding about what/where they can stow stuff, if there is no room, to see a stewar, er, flight attendant to get your bag checked, etc.

I liked it in the 70's when you got crappy food on the flight for free. Now you have to pay $3 for a crappy cookie. And drinks are more expensive than at a 2 drink minimum comedy bar......and yet smaller, too!

914Driver wrote: Detroit to Austin was in a commuter plane Dan

BWAHAHHAHAHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHHHAHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAA!

Sucker!

orphancars wrote: With the flights now charging for checked baggage everyone is bringing all they can onboard with them and now we have the stewardes, er, flight attendants and the pilot yammering on while people are boarding about what/where they can stow stuff, if there is no room, to see a stewar, er, flight attendant to get your bag checked, etc.

the win here is to take a bag you know is too big to fit in the overhead or underseat, but carry it to the door on the jetway and have the handler tag it and check it from there. it's free, because they have no way to charge you for it at that point.

Travelling is fun, it's flying that's no fun.

Maybe I've been lucky, but I have not had a bad experience flying. Yeah the whole TSA thing is aggravating, but other than that, no big deal. Also, FLL is a great airport. MIA is a form of torture. I still get a thrill on take off, watch out the window like a little kid. It probably is different because I'm flying Air Jamaica or Caribbean Air, never on domestic lines. They do treat people nicely. Old joke about Air Jamaica- How do you know you're on AJ? Because somebody is tring to put a Toyota engine block in the overhead. Then there was BWIA, referred to as Bound To Wait In Airport.

Here's a typical business trip for me. They typically are for a ~2 hour meeting:

-Leave work or home and drive to STL (1.5 hours, buget two for traffic)
-Arrive at STL one hour early (unless I'm going to Canada)
-Board plane and arrive 1.5 or 2 hours later, depending on location (IF it's a direct flight)
-Get rental car and leave airport (~0.5 hour)
-Drive to wherever the meeting is (they're ALWAYS about 1 hour from the airport)
-sleep at some hotel somewhere
-Installation is reverse of removal

The saving grace in all of this? SouthWest freaking Airlines. I think they feed the employees "Happy Crank" or something and their "Business Select" tickets (which include the short security line, free drink coupons, and you get to be one of the first 15 folks onto the airplane...sitting in the front of the plane: a key to making connections) are way cheaper than most other carriers' cheapest tickets. SouthWest ROCKS! I don't typically praise corporations or businesses in general for doing what they are SUPPOSED to be doing when it comes to customer service. But everyone else is doing such a E36 M3ty job and Southwest is doing it right.

Clem

It once took me 13 hours to drive from Gainesville FL to north GA. Dave was there.

ClemSparks wrote: Here's a typical business trip for me. They typically are for a ~2 hour meeting: -Leave work or home and drive to STL (1.5 hours, buget two for traffic) -Arrive at STL one hour early (unless I'm going to Canada) -Board plane and arrive 1.5 or 2 hours later, depending on location (IF it's a direct flight) -Get rental car and leave airport (~0.5 hour) -Drive to wherever the meeting is (they're ALWAYS about 1 hour from the airport) -sleep at some hotel somewhere -Installation is reverse of removal The saving grace in all of this? SouthWest freaking Airlines. I think they feed the employees "Happy Crank" or something and their "Business Select" tickets (which include the short security line, free drink coupons, and you get to be one of the first 15 folks onto the airplane...sitting in the front of the plane: a key to making connections) are way cheaper than most other carriers' cheapest tickets. SouthWest ROCKS! I don't typically praise corporations or businesses in general for doing what they are SUPPOSED to be doing when it comes to customer service. But everyone else is doing such a E36 M3ty job and Southwest is doing it right. Clem

It is rediculous how awesome southwest is for business travel on a budget. Every flight is a 737 (BIG win over commuter planes plus mechanics anywhere in the US can have'em back up and flying with very little downtime and things don't unexpectedly "break"), one you're a frequent flyer you're guaranteed good seats (being in the top 15-30 everytime) and they never deny you extra food or drink (though I assume they'll cut you off sometime no matter how many drink coupons you hand them). I second Clem on praising Southwest.

However, going through the airport gets more and more humiliating every time and I dread business flights just becuse of the security theatre we now employ.

Southwest once opened the door to the jetway-after it was finally closed-to help me get home on the last flight of the night. They rule.

I live about an hour north of SF, and my last trip to LA I drove because it was quicker/easier/cheaper to not have to drive to SFO, find parking, take the shuttle, be 1.5 hours early, get strip searched, wait for the plane, fly, find my baggage, find the rental car agency, rent a car, tell then "no, I do NOT want your free 'up'grade to that POS", then drive the hour+ from the airport to my destination.

Were I going cross-country, I might change my mind.

If I take a nap on Southwest and I miss the free coffee; they usually come back later and ask if I want something to drink. Nice people.

The other airlines would NOT do that. Little things like that has me sold on SWA.

I fly and drive all over the midwest and east coast. This morning was an early drive to Dayton and Cincinatti, Ohio.

on another note, I really hate the young women that drag on a giant oversize bag and struggle to put it in the bin.

With FREE baggage on SWA; PLEASE check your luggage or travel lighter.

I used to fly SWA a lot. Then, you were treated like cattle, no reserved seating, just a bag of pretzels and maybe a drink, etc, but it was cheap and they made money. The other airlines treated you decently, but you paid more. To me, it was worth the extra $. But - the others all 'lost' money. Now they all treat you like crap and pack you in like sardines and SWA has done a flop, treating people as customers. Who'd a thunk?

Time to spare? Go by air!

I had a fun one the other week. Everything going hunky dory on Wednesday afternoon when I get hit with a "YOU HAVE TO TRAVEL NOW TO VIBRATE THIS BRAKE CALIPER NOW!!!"

"except we won't have the fixture ready until Friday."

Wonderful. So I get a flight and some parts ready - get the caliper in line and get the vib table booked. Get to work Friday - "guess what - you're driving, we aren't ready yet". So I woke up at 3 am for the kids on Friday - went to work, worked a full day, drove the (normally 10 hours) 13 hours to Florida, worked a full day on Saturday, slept a bit, worked a full day on Sunday and then drove home Monday - all so they could ignore the results. My wife is ticked off.

poopshovel wrote: It once took me 13 hours to drive from Gainesville FL to north GA. Dave was there.

I nearly had such an experience, but the bike is eligible for HOV lanes, which allowed me to JUST keep ahead of the massive traffic jam that occured around Atlanta that day. When I got to Cleveland, they were surprised to see me, and showed me the news. Cars stopped on EVERY road around Atlanta. Not a single car moving. Never found out why, don't care why. Just happy that I had HOV rights.

poopshovel wrote: It once took me 13 hours to drive from Gainesville FL to north GA. Dave was there.

I still have no idea how we berkeleyed that one up so bad.

737s are the Miatas of the sky.

Yep, Dan.

That sounds like Carlson Wagonlit Travel, alright.

Appleseed wrote: 737s are the Miatas of the sky.

Dude. P71s.