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How is it possible that people are being told to show up at the airport 2.5 to 3 hours before their flight, and that isn’t considered a failure of massive proportions?
The article really doesn't have much to say beyond the above quote, but it's worth reminding ourselves of the many horrible ways in which air travel is a giant failure. (It is also a giant success when you consider that we are hurling a pressurized vessel through the air at high speeds with relatively few mishaps.)
The easy answer to why this happens is that regulation distorts everything. Industries that are highly regulated are also highly inefficient.
But I'm curious why we have accepted it. Probably it has to do with 9/11 and the carte blanche we gave our rulers. It's been 24 years and we're still dealing with stupid, wasteful rules. Is there any hope?
222 sats \ 2 replies \ @clr 15h
For them it's great. More time at the airport means more shopping, eating, drinking (you are not allowed to bring in liquids) and spending. Why would they want to change that?
In many airports, they don't show the boarding gate until 1 hour before the flight (even if they know it sooner). The reason is for people to do more shopping rather than hanging out at the boarding gate.
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122 sats \ 0 replies \ @Signal312 11h
Yes! This pisses me off to no end. They keep you congregated in the shopping areas, instead of telling you where the gate is, so you could go relax and get some work or reading done.
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Airports are pretty horrible.
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Is there any hope?
Looks like someone missed the news about not having to take our shoes off anymore for TSA. Freedom restored!
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Let freedom ring! I got little liberty bell miniatures and attached them to my shoelaces. Sadly, the metal triggered the metal detectors and they made me take off my shoes.
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144 sats \ 1 reply \ @BlokchainB 14h
I normally don’t mind it. I few it as the cost of using the service especially if you are flying somewhere that will take over 6+ hours to dive to.
But overall the flying experience has gotten worse. A race to bottom has crushed the overall experience
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183 sats \ 0 replies \ @Signal312 11h
Speaking of the race to the bottom - now on some airlines, you pay extra not just for checked luggage, but even for carry-on. (Spirit airlines).
I'm taking a flight soon, and to get the cheapest fare, I'll need to stick to whatever can fit under the seat in front of me.
Actually I'm kind of relishing the challenge. I'm a minimalist at heart, and like the challenge of ultra-light travel.
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102 sats \ 0 replies \ @gmd 11h
Well at least we have phones now to keep us entertained lol
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That recommendation seems excessive, I live 3+ hours from the airport which means I have to leave a lot of time for incidentals en route, and never get there THAT early... 2H tops for domestic, if I lived 15 minutes from the airport I'd probably get there 1:15 early.
Security is rarely more than 20-30 mins without pre-check, 10 with.
With border and homeland security finally in patriot control, I expect airport security spending will relocate a bit, that will move the next bottleneck to Air Traffic Control...
... coincidentally I started re-watching Ground Control yesterday with my kids after letting my oldest play a few minutes of Airport Madness and him getting hooked.
The first few minutes of that movie play out exactly what they disclosed in Newark earlier this year, systems going down while IT duct-taped cables back together. The entire premise of the movie is based on their being critically short-staffed.
That movie is from 1993.
That Newark conversation coordinated with the regime change does lead me to think the pendulum is swinging back, and we're on the precipice of another 50's-like building period we're still living off of today.
I don't think the economics of airports becoming malls get in the way of this, rich people aren't going to big airports any more... thats a lot of lost revenue because people are paying to fly out of small airports on private charter. Also there is demand destruction to be reversed, there's still plenty of incentive to make air travel more efficient.
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107 sats \ 1 reply \ @rootmachine 13h
They are saying 83 billions lost. I am saying more than double won through the in-airport spend by all those people waiting 2-3 hours. Plus you have to consider that there are airports where 2h-3h are barely enough to check-in, pass through security and get to the gate. So no hope to have this rule taken out. :)
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I believe that we would we see greater productivity for those 2-3 hours if people were allowed to choose what to do with their time rather than being compelled to spend it at the airport.
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107 sats \ 0 replies \ @eluc 13h
It is for sure the biggest hurdle of air travel. I use to travel regularly to 2 locations for work, one by air, one by train. Air journey: leave home super early or super late (2 flights per day only), 10min walk to train station, 45min by train, 2h wasted at airport for security, customs, boarding, waiting, 45min flight, 15-20min to get out and reach train station. 45-60min by train to hotel in city center or to working place. Alternative was 8-9h by train.
By train to second location: 10min walk to train station, train already here, take seat, leave 10min later top. 3h of train with large seats, table and wifi access, I could work all travel or rest really for a couple of hours. Get off of train, walk 10min to hotel in city center. 10-15min by street car to working place outside center. Oh and there were trains every 2h and I could change train often up to the last minute with few or no fee.
Wonder which travel I would prefer.
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107 sats \ 0 replies \ @RamPl 13h
I think a lot of people have just given up hope that air travel can be anything but frustrating. It’s wild how “show up 3 hours early and maybe your gate changed twice” has become normal. Security theater, bloated systems, and zero accountability. What’s crazy is how much time life, really is wasted globally because of this. Feels like we optimized everything around control, not efficiency or dignity.
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I support the theory that the more time you spend inside the airport, the more you buy!! And if we add to that the simple fact that waiting for three or more hours is mentally fraught, it causes some people great anxiety... Why not calm it with junk food?
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