The unfriendly skies

Air travel these days is a total disaster. I'm reminded of that every time I fly — especially this past week when I went home to Illinois for Thanksgiving.

On the flight from Seattle to Chicago last Tuesday, I sat aboard a motionless plane at the gate for two hours after boarding. The explanation? Some maintenance work was being done on an engine, and the issue was resolved, but they needed to submit some "paperwork" on the incident. During those 120 minutes, I pondered in irritation why they had boarded the aircraft in the first place if it hadn't been ready to go. (I would have much rather sat in the terminal for that time period, sipping coffee with room to stretch my legs, instead of being stuck on a cramped, stationary plane with nothing to eat or drink. I'm sure I wasn't alone.) Then, of course, there was the mysterious "paperwork" question: Why did such a technicality prevent our departure? Couldn't someone staying on the ground take care of filing the report while my already-delayed flight moved on? It's probably some ridiculous FAA regulation that causes more headaches than it solves.

But I had hardly experienced the worst. Chicago was hit with its first major snowstorm of the season on Sunday night, so I was incredulous when I arrived at the airport on Monday morning and saw that my return flight was listed as being on time. Indeed, we did board the aircraft at 8 a.m. as scheduled. This time, however, we sat motionless at the gate for four hours — yes, four hours — while the crew waited for the plane to be de-iced. The pilot advised us that regulations require all passengers to be boarded with the doors closed before the procedure commences. He didn't mention how long it would take for the de-icing equipment to arrive. Unfortunately, we were to find out.

Aside from mammoth departure delays and airport incompetence, there's the increasingly stingy nature of airline industry. This past week, flying on American Airlines, I had to pay $15 each way just to check one piece of luggage. And, of course, they stopped serving food on domestic flights long ago — if you want so much as a snack on board, you can expect to pay at least $5. One complimentary beverage is generally served, but I don't even expect that to be long for this world. This time around, I didn't even receive one of those small bags of trail mix or crackers with my drink.

I understand that the economy is in the tank these days, that bad weather was involved in one of the aforementioned instances, and that it was a busy week for travel. But these experiences represent a pattern; they aren't isolated cases and certainly can't be attributed to any of those factors alone. It's unfortunate that air travel has become so miserable; now that I live in the Northwest, it has become an essential part of visiting anywhere outside of this region.