I'm back from vacation. Snowboarding in Aspen was great. Getting there wasn't.
On Saturday, March 11, my family and I arrive at the RDU airport at 5 A.M. Our flight to Chicago is supposed to leave at 6:17, and from Chicago we will fly to Vail, Colorado, and then drive an hour and a half to Aspen. From the moment we get to the airport, I'm reminded why airports suck.
The woman who is checking our bags yells at us for not stepping forward the exact instant she says "NEXT!" even though the airport hasn't even begun to get crowded yet. After I pass though the x-ray machine I can only watch as security goes through my backpack and finds my wine bottle opener, which I'd forgotten about. Unfortunately, it has a very deadly 1/2 inch blade on it, so it gets confiscated. I'm informed that I can pay $8 to have it shipped to myself. I decline, since I can buy a new one for half that much.
We're supposed to take off at 6:17, but instead we sit for an hour on the runway. Because of this, we miss our connecting flight in Chicago by 5 minutes and have to wait 8 hours at the Chicago airport until the next plane leaves. Because of this I turn into a forgetful moron and lose my North Face fleece. So far the airport has cost me over $100 in lost/confiscated items and 8 miserable hours of my life that I'll never get back. To top it off, I can't find UNC's ACC tourney game at any bar there.
As I sat on the plane to Vail, I started thinking about why airports and airplanes can't be more fun. Airports and planes should be part of the vacation EXPERIENCE, not just a way to get there. Yeah yeah, I know gas prices are rising so they have to cut costs and lots of people don't care about fancy services but wouldn't it be nice if airports were actually fun?
Starting with buying tickets, the flying experience should be improved. Airline websites should copy amazon.com and use 1-click ordering, so we wouldn't have to navigate through multiple screens and forms to get the tickets we want.
Airports and planes should be more like cruises. We should want to be there because the food, services and entertainment are stellar. Imagine not caring if your flight is late or delayed, because you're having such a good time at the airport...Pretty hard to imagine, I know, but I'm sure things could be done to at least enhance the flying experience.
To start with, I propose giving people a 6-pack of beer under their seats. Or maybe even turn that crappy seat cushion into a cooler. We all know that when the plane goes down, the chances of you getting to use the seat cushion as a flotation device are pretty slim.
If you have any other thoughts on airports I'd like to hear them.