Words With Whitney: Plane vs. Train

This past weekend while traveling to and from Florida via what is now United/Continental (suck) Airlines, I realized something. Flying is quite possibly the worst way to travel these days. What was once the ultimate in vacation bragging rights as a youngster has become so frustrating and difficult that I'd really rather take a camping vacation driving for 16 hours to sleep in a pop up camper.

In July, Mike and I had some pretty scary flying experiences, which I took as either his bad travel karma or just a fluke. Having worked for Hole in the Wall for so many years and traveling so often, I've become used to the overshot runway braking method, the smell of exhaust filling the cabin because we've sat too long without moving, the irritable flight attendant who's just in it for the free flights. No big deal, right? Well, boy have times changed. I guess part of me still has a hope that the airlines might turn back to how they were when we were young. Friendly flight attendants (aka Stewardesses back then), actual food and drinks served with ice that won't give you a G.I. infection, leg room. Oh yea, leg room; I remember you.

A few key frustrations for present day flying include, but are not limited to:

Zone Boarding- does anyone understand the methodology behind this? Why do they board the middle seats last?
Adjustable arm rests- so when I'm wedged in between two people who are bigger than the seat and can't put the arm rest down, I'm stuck with their arm pit sweat dripping down my forearm and impressions of the contents of their pockets pressed into my thigh. Gross! (This really happened to me!) I paid the same price and got 1/2 the seat space and no arm space.
People who don't listen to the flight attendant's rules. On Sunday, a man next to me refused to turn off his electronic device and remove his ear phones. The flight attendant asked 6 times, yes 6, and then threatened to have him removed from the flight before he unhappily pulled one headphone out of his ear. Jerk! I would have yanked him after the 2nd request, but that's why I'm not a flight attendant.
No more blankets and pillows on sub-3 hour flights. So, the plane is a balmy 50 degrees and I don't get a blanket? It's not like there are a limited amount- there are literally NO blankets aboard. Really!?
Overbooking. How does this even happen. It's not OK with me to take a gamble on whether 10 people will no-show for a flight and then you bump innocent passengers because all 10 decided to show up.
Beginner pilots make less that $25,000 a year! Seriously. We watched Michael Moore's Capitalism: A Love Story last night (I know, I don't love him, but it was good). One thing that stuck out to me was the revelation that most pilots are so poor that they have 2nd and 3rd jobs and many live off of food stamps and credit cards. So, do I really want an underpaid, overworked, frustrated pilot in charge of getting me safely from A to B? No thanks!

Grrrr!!! So frustrating. On Saturday night, hours before my 6am Sunday flight, Continental called to tell me they had taken the liberty of cancelling my flights due to weather (?) and rebooked me for two days later. What?! How can they do that. How could they decide for me that I could just stay in Florida for 2 more days? With this, I ended up getting re-rebooked for a 1 leg flight from Tampa to Newark and had to take an Amtrak train home if I wanted to get home on the day I planned to. And- continental did not reimburse me nor take care of my Amtrak ticket.

But, the silver lining here is that I was reminded about how luxurious traveling via train can be. I rode the Amtrak for almost 3 hours and I couldn't have been happier. I would actually consider traveling via train more often in the Northeast. I had tons of leg room. My seat reclined all the way back into a nearly flat bed. I had internet and electricity for my computer. There was a bar and food car with reasonably priced items. The Amtrak staff were so friendly and welcoming. One gentleman who knew I was traveling to New Haven even made his way back to my seat to be sure I was awake as my stop was approaching. So nice! From now on, if I can take the train within a reasonable distance, I'm on it. There's no point in flying to DC or Philly or anywhere up here if you can spend a bit more time and actually have a nice experience. I hear you, Amtrak!