(no subject)

[olivermoss]

Very little advertising gets through to me between adblockers and paid subs, but what does, for some reason, is ads for airlines trying to make flying look glamorous. Images of people taking selfies in coach, etc. Lissen... If there is one thing you can't sell me on it's the idea that the actual time on a plane is a fun, sexy, instagram-ready experience. Delta killed that dead the time I arrived in Atlanta wet and smelling horrible because the plane's AC condensation drained onto me from above during landing and the airline was like 'that's normal plane functions, part of flying, etc' Not even an apology because they were dug in on the idea that that's just part of flying.

This post brought to you by EVEN MORE radar troubles around NYC airports. At first I thought it was the same story just different sources, but fuck, no it keeps happening. This is not normal. This is not 'it hit the news cycle once and now people are paying attention to it'.

I haven't done my RealID yet and haven't even looked into what I need. So, I can't fly right now anyway and the DMVs are slammed because we're past the deadline. In addition to the technical debt, we've got fuckey regulations around air traffic controllers where they can't strike and during the pandemic they were 'essential'. We don't have enough, the job keeps getting worse and worse, and we were on track to have a serious crisis around this before the current problems.

What started the ball rolling on the tech debt and this job that is so necessary to the US economy being so terrible it's hard to keep staffing up?



Though, of course, the recent federal gutting is making things fall apart faster.

On a very tangential note, I repeatedly considered going out to the TWA Hotel while in NYC, but taking a rideshare out to the airport would have cost a ton. I love that the classic terminal is now a hotel with a really cool bar that I was very tempted by. (TWA is a now-defunct airline that had a strong sense of style and iconic buildings. Their JFK terminal was restored and made into a hotel I'd loooove to stay at. The youtube channel Brightsun considers it over-priced, but I actually disagree. When something caters to such a tight niche audience, prices are high.) But getting between NYC and it's airports sucks. Maybe my NYC trip shoulda been a lot longer because my prediction about never making it out there again and also maybe never flying again is starting to look more and more likely. (but also NYC hotel prices are... NYC hotel prices. I did extend by a single day because the Cardinal only runs certain days and that one night cost over 2x what my upcoming Welches trip will)

Comments

[princessofgeeks]

You can fly with a passport if you don't have a Real ID. And I don't have any details but I think they are phasing it is and you wouldn't be turned away yet for not having a Real ID. But don't quote me on that.

[olivermoss]

I don't have a current passport and need to get one to get a RealID anyway. I'll deal with it once the current crush dies down.

There's been some confusion around the rules, and it's a mess. I want one just in case, but it's going to take a lot to get me on a plane again.

[princessofgeeks]

I'm sorry your state is having trouble with it. I'm in Oklahoma and I didn't have to have a passport to get one. They would have accepted a passport but I used my birth certificate and here they also wanted proof of address.

Good luck!

Oklahoma was one of the last states to grudgingly accept instituting it at all. At one time we had a state law refusing compliance!

[mistressofmuses]

Flying sucks, and I do not understand any attempt to make it look like it doesn't suck. I don't *hate* the experience *of* flying... like, I don't get airsick, I'm not afraid of flying, I'm still enthusiastic about getting to look out a plane window (even though I never have the window seat), etc. But being crammed in ever-smaller seats, dealing with the most frustrating ticketing/boarding/luggage experiences, knowing just how horribly lacking any sort of cleanliness procedure is, plus the general safety concerns that just grow more and more prevalent by the *day* it seems like... yeah, no. Flying fucking sucks.

[olivermoss]

Flying hasn't been glamorous for a long, long time. I find not being able to stretch and being crammed in with strangers exhausting.

How competitive people get about being in line for a flight has always baffled me.

And yeah, the current state of things is worrying.

[mistressofmuses]

Yeah... I don't like random strangers enough to want to have them piled on top of me/be piled on top of them. Plus all the other aspects of it that are a headache. There is nothing ~glamorous~ about it, haha.

Oh man, the demolition derby for lining up for your boarding group this last time I flew seemed very strange to me.

[olivermoss]

How intense people are about trying to cut at least one person makes me wonder if there is some form of joy they feel that I just don't.

[mistressofmuses]

I guess it's just an extreme sport I never learned to play! Weird obsession with cutting the line in at least some fashion. Hovering between seats in the terminal to try and pounce, racing along the windows to try and sneak in front of the line...

[olivermoss]

My favorite is when a guy cuts me, and then acts like I cut between him and his girl like a creeper, and expects me to just let her pass. Like he managed to get a point he can pass onto his girl. They are always so confused when yelling at me doesn't work.

Perhaps this game has rules I am not following?

[mistressofmuses]

Yes! The couple that has one half cut and then look at you like you're the problem now keeping them apart. Had that one happen... though usually it's still the guy who cuts in front of me, and then the girl who glares at me like I'm now making a move on her guy by being in between them...

I can't say I'm too sorry that I never learned this game!