21 Comments
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Leah Eichler's avatar

I’ve been on 4 Boeing planes since the incident and once upgraded to business so I wouldn’t have a window seat (I know, logical.) I smoked once on a plane in 1996 and it was amazing. I stood in the “smoking section” and made friends.

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Sam Colt's avatar

That actually sounds great. I assume smoking is a great baby on plane deterrent, which is a very underrated and overlooked benefit.

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Tina Stolberg's avatar

So much great material to use when writing about airline travel. On a recent flight, everyone with carry-on luggage found out at the jetway that they would have to check their bag because the overheads were the size of glove compartments. The Barbie dream house has more closet space than this airplane had.

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

Airline employee here: it gets worse--Some A/C types have nice, oversized bins, while other airframes (same manufacturer and model) have teeny ones. Passengers love having to guess.

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Tina Stolberg's avatar

Oh, yeah I forgot you fly for a living. You've seen it all. I've recently gone back to bringing a knapsack onboard, one I can squash down if need be.

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Dee Rambeau's avatar

And let’s not even get into a discussion about the new pilots trained on oversized Gameboys. 🙄

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Sam Colt's avatar

Anything to cut costs and pay executives more money!

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Peewee Hermeneutics's avatar

Thanks for summing it up so succinctly and so honestly as is necessary. You’re a talented writer my man.

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Sam Colt's avatar

Thank you! And thanks for reading.

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Space Egg's avatar

Your ‘just let us smoke on planes’ closer reminded me of this quite convincing article from a while back on how we should just entirely abolish the TSA: https://benjaminstudebaker.com/2018/02/22/im-ready-to-give-up-on-gun-control-but-lets-close-the-tsa/

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Sam Colt's avatar

This is awesome. Thanks for sharing!

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Christian Näthler's avatar

This was great. Love how he’s just out there publishing on WordPress. Really enjoyed some of his other stuff as well, thanks for sharing.

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Sean Sakamoto's avatar

Just canceled a trip after a full day at the airport due to constant mechanical delays. Non-refundable hotel rooms booked through the airline as well. Great business model, JetBlue: sell me a flight and hotel, ditch the flight and keep my hotel money.

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Sam Colt's avatar

Yeah the customer service is really indefensible. I’ve been reading about some trust busting in the airline industry. I won’t hold my breath but it’s one that really needs some competition.

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Christian Näthler's avatar

Took some Aer Lingus flights from Berlin to Toronto via Dublin a few years ago. Both planes must have been built in the 80s because they still have the ashtrays right there in the armrests. No chance covid survives the air supply in a cabin like that.

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Sam Colt's avatar

I saw a study that chain smokers actually had a hard time catching Covid because the tar build up in their lungs essentially blocked it lol

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Christian Näthler's avatar

Nothing like a pack of darts at altitude.

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Amran Gowani's avatar

"Back" to cattle class implies there was some point when we weren't cattle class. Very aspirational.

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Sam Colt's avatar

I thought we leveled up to sheep

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Amran Gowani's avatar

Fair. Given the high cost of beef -- thanks, Obama -- I assumed sheep were beneath cows these days. Either way, we're firmly in the proletariat.

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Sam Colt's avatar

No as long as it isn’t libtard meat (chicken, turkey, other birds) then it’s ok to be a sheep, unless you’re the type of sheep that sheepishly buys into the liberal agenda.

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