[Ipg-smz] The Case for Checking a Bag - Gay Mag

[Patrick Corrigan]

>  United is Satan’s airline

United used to be my favorite, but no more.

 The Indianapolis airport is the best airport in the United States; fight
me.

Have you flown into or out of Portland, OR? Yes, it's my local airport, but
still the best U.S. airport I've traveled through. Light rail to downtown
and elsewhere even goes right into the terminal.


On Wed, Oct 30, 2019 at 1:57 PM Gabe Goldberg via Ipg-smz <
ipg-smz at netpress.org> wrote:

> Author writes:
>
> Travel is a chaotic, exhausting experience exacerbated by people who
> forget the social contract the moment they step foot in an airport. I
> travel constantly. I chase miles and have status on three airlines. I read
> websites about how to best manage airline and hotel loyalty programs,
> airline credit cards, and the like. I have an app that shows me where every
> single plane currently flying is and other aviation geek information. I
> have an app that lets me listen to air traffic control chatter. There is a
> small park near the edge of LAX where I sit and watch incoming planes
> landing. I have favorite planes (Airbus 380, Boeing 787, Boeing 757, Boeing
> 737) and planes I truly despise (CRJ 700, Embraer 145). In short, I have
> made a necessary condition of my work something of a hobby.
>
> As you might expect, I have a great many travel-related opinions, most but
> not all of which are wildly uncharitable. For instance, United is Satan’s
> airline and I will take almost any convoluted route to avoid flying them.
> Alaska Airlines planes smell weird. The food on American Airlines flights
> is worse than what I imagine dog food tastes like. Delta serves delicious
> Biscoff cookies and the flight attendants wear festive purple uniforms. The
> Atlanta airport is a cruel mistress. There is a bathroom attendant in the
> Charlotte Airport who likes to sing gospel as she does her work, serenading
> weary passengers and she is a delight. LaGuardia is unspeakable. You
> basically have to walk ten miles from the gate to customs in Montreal. The
> Indianapolis airport is the best airport in the United States; fight me.
> There aren’t nearly enough women or people of color serving as pilots. It
> is incredibly grating to get a chatty pilot who wants to narrate the entire
> flight when all you want to do is sleep or stare into the Grand Canyon. The
> way people treat flight attendants is, for the most part, absolutely
> disgraceful.
>
> ...
>
> I reserve my most passionate opinions, however, for carry-on luggage. If
> you are ever wondering if you should check your luggage or carry-on, the
> answer is that you should check your luggage. I don’t care why you want to
> carry-on your luggage. You should check your bag. I say this with the
> caveat that air travel is prohibitively expensive and baggage fees are
> horrible and if you can’t afford the fees, you do what you must. For
> everyone else, check your bag.
>
> In 2007, airlines began instituting baggage fees to offset the cost of jet
> fuel and once they realized they could charge for luggage and other basic
> amenities of air travel, there was no looking back. Once people realized
> they were going to have to pay even more than the cost of their plane
> ticket to travel, all hell broke loose with carry-ons. Suddenly packing for
> trips of most any length became an exercise in austerity.
>
> Writers, in particular, love to discuss the ways in which they contort
> themselves toward austerity to go on book tour. Nearly every writer active
> on social media has discussed, at length, how they will travel or have
> traveled with only a carry-on suitcase for a five-day trip or ten-day trip
> or three-week trip. It is something of a competition, as if there is valor
> in self-imposed deprivation. They offer tips, like rolling your clothes or
> stuffing your socks in your shoes or traveling without toiletries. They
> talk about wearing the same, increasingly soiled outfit for days on end
> because hey, you can wash it in the hotel bathroom sink or not.
>
> https://gay.medium.com/the-case-for-checking-a-bag-b0f92968a852
> --
> Ipg-smz mailing list
> Ipg-smz at netpress.org
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>


-- 

Patrick Corrigan
Email: phcorrigan at gmail.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrick-h-corrigan-61669422
Member, Internet Press Guild http://www.netpress.org

"For every difficult and complex question there is an answer that is
simple, easily understood and wrong."
      H.L. Mencken
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