Comment by arthurcolle | Hacker News Reader

Comment by arthurcolle | Hacker News Reader

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I just flew in from MIA to BWI (flight 1488 if you're curious) from Southwest last night. I am so sorry for the people effected by this. Yesterday was supposed to be my start date at a company I previously worked for and I had to delay by a day because Frontier Airlines, another garbage low-cost airline, cancelled a flight due to "weather" (there was no weather issues) and then refused to rebook with another carrier because of the aforementioned weather issues. Absolute bullshit.

Frontier was dirt cheap, so ok whatever, but Southwest basically chargerg 535 bucks for a 2.5 hour flight from major city to major city and then didn't even let people drink on it. They even gave us free alcoholic beverage coupons that were then invalidated. Complete bullshit.

Definitely one of my top 5 least favorite flying experiences. Flying is such a shit show these days. It used to be so calm. I can't believe airlines can charge half a g and also not let you drink. I get stressed a bit during flying and they just chuckled and kept walking. Fuck the airlines. It is egregious that this covid culture has resulted in this insane fear of interacting with other people.

I think when I move to Miami in September I am not going to fly, I'll take a train with the highest possible class just to get around the absolute garbage experience that flying has become. It'll take 24 hours but maybe, just maybe, it won't be Kafkaesque

Several airlines have cut alcohol service because their employees were being abused. They continued to serve alcohol through the height of Covid, so blaming "covid culture" is counter factual. Airport bars exist. If you can't manage to make it through the horrible travail of 2.5 hours without alcohol, feel free to drink up before boarding. Or bring some on the plane with you. Or pop a Xanax. Finally, $500 to safely fly from one city to another is not expensive. Planes cost >$100 million to buy. Pilots are well trained and expensive. Ground crews, maintenance, flight plans, etc. If you don't like flying - please take the train. Nobody is stopping you. But if you do fly, you'll be happier (and the people around you will be happier) if you stop complaining.

Come on, I'm just saying that banning everyone from a typical experience just because there are a few bad actors makes flying extremely irritating. Maybe ban those people instead of making the experience terrible for the rest of us.

It's more than just a few bad actors. From 06 May 2021:

New statistics from the Federal Aviation Administration show a rapid rise in plane rage incidences.

The FAA says it’s gotten 1,300 reports in the past three months, as the number of passengers remains below pre-pandemic levels.

...

In a typical year, the FAA sees anywhere from 100 to 150 cases - only a fraction of those seen since February.

Source: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/faa-reports-rise-in-plane-...

Thanks for the reference. I just read through parts of it. Two part question:

1) So what is wrong with all these psychos?

and

2) and what does any of this have to do with drinking? All of these cases seem to be people either retaliating against former employers or just not wanting to wear a mask. Banning drinking seems to be a band-aid that doesn't solve the issue at all, and doesn't even address the core issue at hand.

Agreed that it sucks when a few bad actors create the need for general restrictions. But that's certainly the case for why we have airport security. Or, in fact any security - anywhere. I look forward to living in your world where either everyone acts well, or we all just tolerate the minor inconvenience of the "bad actors" running wild.

https://youtu.be/sPin5LRBfZo?t=29

Yes or ban those people from purchasing alcoholic drinks — depending on the incident.

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