I'm very glad I'm retired from a career requiring commercial flight. I couldn't do it now, physically or mentally. A more unpleasant day I cannot imagine.
My wife thought it would be nice to go back to the UK on our 25th anniversary for a visit, until we priced up-class tickets so I could physically tolerate the trip. Looked to be in the ballpark of $2500 each way "business class" for each of us, so $10k round-trip before the fees start getting piled on.
Travel should not be a misery or impossible for even the mildly handicapped. Forget cheap tickets in coach for me. It just isn't in the cards physically.
The other thing is, what distance really gives a time advantage any more? It takes near as makes no difference ten hours for my wife and son to get from here to Savannah; the college run.
Flight duration at 500mph is 1.5 hours, actual service duration jumps to 3.5, and layover times often push that to 5.5. Add the drive to the airport of an hour and the "two hours before flight-time" and we are hitting eight hours of fun.
Have we really saved anything after all? Certainly not that justifies the misery, the discomfort, the pain, the cost, the having to endure crowds of people I loath on principle. I'll drive.
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