Especially this one
I gotta fly for work next week. I really enjoy flying on the company jet. You donât have to put up with this kind of bullshit. I really hate flying commercial. It is just a shit show all the time.
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My best friend works for someone with a company jet.
He used to travel a lot for work, not so much anymore.
But when he flew for personal reasons he absolutely hated having to fly normal.
If you got the money to blow it is the only way to go.
No early arrival. No security screening. Get there, get on, and take off. Also get to fly into smaller airports that are more local to your destination. Where I am going would take 6+ hours to get there going commercial. Arrive an hour early, wait, wait, and wait. Get on the plane and wait. Wait to takeoff. Fly, land and wait to get off. Then wait for connection. Then repeat. Finally get off at the destination and wait for a rental car then drive an hour.
This way, I will be at my final destination in less than 1.5 hours. We fly to small airport with 15 minute drive. We get off and get a company car waiting at the airport and go.
There are other locations that take me about 11 hours to go commercial. I can be there in about 2.5 if on the time machine.
They are not cheap. Itâs probably about $1.25 million per year per plane to cover pilots, hangers, fuel, fees. Then about ever 10 years there is the major overhaul. Thatâs going to easily be $500K++. Yes they are expensive and I will never own one unless I win the big billion dollar lottery. You pretty much need to have a business that can write off the expenses and purchase price on the taxes.
He works for a company that makes store shelves, they have factories all over the country.
He is a Mechanical Engineer, but also the âcoolerâ when a plant is being badly managed, they send him in to turn it around.
From what he tells me, the accountants say the private jet actually saves the company money.
I never lived in the era of airline regulation, but I have to imagine it was a much more pleasant experience than today.
Tickets are cheaper relative to inflation, but the consequence of that is an airborne bus industry, with all the same dregs of society on board as youâd find on a 2a.m. Greyhound.
How disgusting. 
@brobbs - As someone who is old enough to have flown many times when the airlines were regulated I can tell you it was a significantly superior experience at that time. For example, when I took a flight from New York to Europe in 1971 the seats were very comfortable with a lot of leg room and there was a lounge in the coach section of the plane that had a sofa. Meals served during that flight included a very good dinner shortly after we took off and a good breakfast shortly before we landed. During the flight stewardesses came around with blankets and pillows to make sure every passenger was comfortable.
However, flying was much more expensive at that time than it is now, so most people couldnât afford to fly when the airlines were regulated. The advantage of deregulation is that almost anyone can afford to fly now. The main disadvantage is that airlines are now competing on price at the expense of service when back in the day the airlines competed by attempting to provide the best service possible.
Anytime I fly I try to go first flight out usually around 5:30am - 6:30am and always non-stop when possible. I do this for the same reason I donât park next to junkers in a parking lot.
I am currently driving a 2006 Chrysler SebringâŚguess that you wouldnât park next to me then.
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Gotta love Crazy Uncle Bob!!!
Flying sucks so much because WE demand that they do. Seats got smaller. All we did was bitch. you have to pay to check a bag . All we did was bitch. You have to pay more to pick a seat. All we did was bitch. Back in the late 90âs while we were on the road to shittiness, TWA and later American offered âComfort Classâ and âMore Room Throughout Coachâ. Both had a seat pitch of 34 to 36 inches. Compare that to 28 to 32 that we have today. They had hoped that people would be willing to pay a little more for a lot more comfort. We werenât. Price ruled. And it still does. So the reason flying is so shitty today is because we as consumers arenât wiling to pay any extra for a better experience.
Yep, airplanes have become flying Greyhound busses.
I havenât been on a bus in a very long time, but Iâve been told that the buses may be nicer.
If you donât care about travel time, the train is the way to go.
We might do that some time. The Southwest Chief line runs about 3 miles from our house and there is a station in Albuquerque. Unfortunately, it seems to routinely be 1-4 hours off schedule. Passenger trains are secondary to freights.
I watch this guy on YouTube that rides different trains and fairies in Japan. They look very nice.
25 years ago (I was at TWA) we already had a saying: âThose that used to ride the bus, ride on us!â
People used to dress up to fly. Now even pax in 1st class show up in their pajamas!
@glasspilot - Not only did people get dressed up to fly back in the day, we also got dressed up even if we were just going to the airport to either wait with someone for their flight or meeting them at the gate when their flight landed. .
Times have changed. My wife and I like going to nicer restaurants where youâre not sitting next to a guy wearing cargo shorts, a baseball cap and a âGit 'er doneâ tank top.