Airlines: You can't wear that

[htmb]

Interesting article on the AP wires.

www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ix3XmDh3aRXyjPZj2yfSIcrFaQvA?docId=eda50816d6cc499982b3b11c127ed68b

Quote by a travel-law attorney:

"They have this omnipotent power," Anolik says of flight crews. "You shouldn't argue your case while you're on the airplane. You're in a no-win scenario — you will be arrested."

[patricklondon]

That can leave passengers guessing how far to push fashion boundaries.

Am I missing something here? The answer is obviously: don't push the fashion boundaries at all. Why would you want to?

[lola]

Flight crews seem to have approx the same appreciation for terrorist humor that Secret Service does for assassination jokes. As in, not much at all.

[Don Cuevas]

I hate air travel. It used to be fun, but not any more. But a friendly and personable flight attendant can make my flight a positive experience. This is rare.

[htmb]

I'm a terrible flyer. I had a couple of really bad experiences on flights and didn't fly for awhile. Now I fly because I want to travel to places where I can't take a train or drive. Though I am getting better, I'm still pretty miserable for the duration of most flights. It's more of a motion and claustrophobia issue for me. I doubt it's very obvious to others because I just don't talk to anyone. I listen to music and try to tune everything else out.

I agree with you, Don. I sometimes look at flight attendants and wonder how they deal with so many different types of people day after day in such a confined space, particularly the selfish, obnoxious, offensive types of passengers. I certaonly admire airline personel who are efficient, have a sense of humor, and who can help make a flight as bearable as possible.

[mich64]

11 days until take off! I do not like the flight part of our holiday, but it is necessary to get to where we want to go.

We are a bit old fashioned, we just can not get used to HOW casually attired people are when they arrive for their flight. Many young people wearing what looks like pajama bottoms. What bothered me once was a young couple wearing flip flops (no problem with that) but their feet and toes were black with dirt, they must not have bathed for days.

This will be our 9th trip to Europe and we have been so fortunate having pretty good experiences. We take direct flights, have never encountered a delay or lost any luggage. In fact, the few little problems we encountered were quickly resolved.

We now know what to expect and what not to expect and although there may one or two inconsiderate fellow passengers there are many many nice people on our flights and we have had great flight attendants.

[mossie]

Mich, just sit back, relax, and enjoy the trip. There is a fellow called the pilot up at the pointy end who is even more scared than you are, because he knows he will be first at the accident. He is doing his absolute level best to ensure he gets to the other end in one piece.

[bjd]

A few years ago I was flying from Toulouse to Amsterdam to catch a connecting flight. The guy beside me was a young Kenyan pilot who had been at the Airbus training centre here. He was very friendly and we talked all the way -- he told me stories of flying in Kenya, about how the Airbus planes were technologically much better and more sophisticated than Boeing, the wonderful software, the training program, etc.

As we came in over Amsterdam, it was raining, foggy (this was November) and there was no visibility. I said the the pilot beside me, "Well, I'm certainly glad that we are on such a sophisticated system for landing, given what I can see through the window."

"Actually, the landing is done manually."

[mich64]

Thank you mossie! I know we will have a well experienced flight crew to get us there and home safely.

[htmb]

How exciting for you and your husband, mich. I'm looking forward to hearing about your future travels!

[tod2]

Mich, I am wishing you a really good Bon Voyage. I used to be in the 'scared to death' department of air travel. I have no idea how I even got to that stage because my very first overseas trip was an 18hr flight from Johannesburg , around the bulge of Africa, landing in Lisbon for re-fueling, then on over the Med to Israel. Not only was that my first flight as an adult, but I had a (nearly) 2 yr old baby to contend with!

After that subsequent flights became a nerve-wracking experience - becoming worse with every flight.
One day I read an article that accused frightened flyer's of being "control freaks". I thought long and hard about it. I eventually had to admit that this was my problem. I was not in control of the aircraft.
After that I started relinquishing flight duties to the pilot - who knew how to fly the thing a lot better than ME!

[mich64]

Thank you Tod!

I am going to attempt to write my experiences from my sisters perspective. This will be her first international flight and her first European holiday! Everyone else in mine and my husbands immediate family have lived there, she is the only one who has never been.

Luckily she has recently been traveling by air to and from the US for her company so she is not to anxious about the flight.

[Deleted]

I do believe that flights crews may have become a bit uppity since 9/11. Observing the constant humiliation of passengers going through security at the airport, which is certainly a joy to a lot of them, they have enjoyed adding a bit more harrassment to anybody the least bit out of line inside the plane.

This is just fine with most of us who are obedient and discreet, but the boundary between what is acceptable or not has become extremely vague (no groups of more than 3! no crowding around the toilet!), and we are all in danger of arbitrary rules these days.