Useless Conversation

[Abagadro]

Bleh, 12 hours of traveling sucks.  Thanks jackass in the seat in front me turning my already shitty seat (missed connection so had to take the last remaining seat on a later flight, in the middle) even worse.  Traveling on the gubmit dime doesn't let you fly first class unfortunately.

[Sky]

Traveling on the gubmit dime doesn't let you fly first class unfortunately.

You in the wrong gubmint, homie

[Teleku]

Agreed, our corruption is way to low.  We even make our ambassadors fly coach.   

I have to rely on flashing my diplomatic passport at the ticket counter to try and get free upgrades.  Nobody in the US or EU gives a shit, but almost every time I do that in Asia or the Middle East, I suddenly get asked if I would like a free upgrade to business or first class (as long as I'm wearing nice clothing.  No luck in the tacky vacation clothing).

[schild]

Well, Asia and the Middle East are absolutely the right places to get upgraded. America certainly isn't. Our planes are literally flying garbage.

[Teleku]

No argument there.  Which is why the Fly America Act is especially painful.   

[Chimpy]

Someone check in on our few Clevelanders, they may just have all just had heart attacks. 

[Merusk]

Never thought I'd see Cleveland champs of anything in my lifetime. Wow.

[01101010]

Speaking for myself, I have no idea what to actually feel right now. 52 years will do that.

[Nebu]

Welcome the the Hall of Fame, Mr. James.

[Sky]

Did someone sport really hard over the weekend?

I saw a string symphony perform the Brandenberg Concertos and Four Seasons over the weekend, mind-blowing. Soloist was a bit weak, but we just saw one of the best a couple weeks ago so my ears are a bit spoiled.

[Merusk]

Did someone sport really hard over the weekend?

Cavs had an NBA-first comeback from behind in the series AND scored Cleveland's first championship in 52 years. So, yes.

It also means tons of people out saying, "The NBA is fixed, and it was all scripted. This is a hoax." in droves. It's kind of irritating from that aspect.

[Sky]

So it's like the NFL now? 

[Yegolev]

Yes, except not every NFL game is decided in the last thirty seconds.

[lamaros]

Is first class really cheap in America or something, does the word mean something else? Economy from Sydney to London is like $800, first class is $7000, why would anyone ever pay that?

[Abagadro]

There is a huge jump in price between domestic first class in the U.S. (which is more akin to international business class/premium economy) and international first class.

[lamaros]

Ah ok, that makes sense.

[Sky]

I'd rather kill myself than fly from Sydney to London in economy seats.

[Yegolev]

I really don't care.  Seal me in a coffin like Dracula, as long as I can't hear any other people I can sleep.  Maybe put in a handheld game system or three in case I really do get tired of napping.

[01101010]

I really don't care.  Seal me in a coffin like Dracula, as long as I can't hear any other people I can sleep.  Maybe put in a handheld game system or three in case I really do get tired of napping.

Seriously. Just make sure you have a charging station on the back of each seat and I'm good for 12 hours.

[Sky]

Maybe a window seat, so I can cocoon myself off from the infidels near me. Build a blanket fort or something.

When I used to take the train from NY to LA, I'd play the system to keep the seat near me open because sleeping next to a stranger is impossible. Amtrak puts little cards for through passengers, so the staff knows when to wake someone up for an overnight stop. I'd just go to another car during lunch and swipe another card (the staff would just replace the one I took, no problems for the passenger) and put it next to mine. Voila, coast to coast with two (very uncomfortable) seats.

Then again, half the time we'd drink ourselves to sleep in the lounge car. Intercoastal train full of musicians was a good goddamned time. 3 days of booze and music. Looking back, I feel bad for the 'normal' passengers, it must've been obnoxious.

[schild]

I've flown coach to Europe 5 times now.

It's fucking terrible. But I can't rationalize spending $8k on airfare. As such, I will take no dicey trips that wind me up in a place I *might* not like. So basically, if I ever fly overseas again coach it's straight to Florence or London and the rest can fuck right off.

[Signe]

I don't mind so much and I used to fly a LOT.  I always get a window seat (because I'm short and don't need leg room) and put on my sleep mask and use ear plugs if needed and doze or at least gaze into my arm or pillow.  I roam a bit every hour or so because I don't want to die of a blood clot and have my last thought be about clean underwear.  If someone tries to talk to me, I smack them.

[Yegolev]

I think I agree with schild on the point that the true demon is the changing of aircraft.  I won't spend money to get a good seat because that's not worth it, however I'll pay for a direct flight every time one is offered.  Direct from ATL to Honolulu?  Yes.  Slightly larger seat with more douchey neighbors?  No.

[Teleku]

I think I'm up to about 70 or 80 airline trips in my life.  95% of them coach, and the vast majority 5 hours or (much) longer.

It's fine.  I'm really good at just zoning out (I cannot sleep on planes no matter what) and not moving.  I've flown 10 hours without getting up once.  I think I've developed a skill to just hibernate the second I sit down in a plane.

Drink lots of alcohol before and during the flight is also highly recommended.   

[Yegolev]

This is basically how my wife and I fly together:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBBQdFSvvTE

[schild]

I can sleep on the shortest of shitty flights and through the majority of any long flight. Generally fall asleep by take off within 5 minutes of takeoff.

But flights still suck. There's no excuse for planes being so uncomfortable, even allowing for certain levels of cheapness.

[Soln]

I hope one day we get tiny self-contained soundproof cabins.  So we stow useless parents in there with their kids. 

(I'm a parent who preps well for these kinds of journeys and I don't assume anyone wants to hear my kids scream).

[apocrypha]

As someone with a fucked back and no money I loathe planes. Not been on one for years, unlikely to for a long time too, unless my financial situation changes drastically for some bizarre reason.

[lamaros]

I think I'm up to about 70 or 80 airline trips in my life.  95% of them coach, and the vast majority 5 hours or (much) longer.

It's fine.  I'm really good at just zoning out (I cannot sleep on planes no matter what) and not moving.  I've flown 10 hours without getting up once.  I think I've developed a skill to just hibernate the second I sit down in a plane.

Drink lots of alcohol before and during the flight is also highly recommended.   

This, without the alcohol.

I'll be on a flight with family or friends. I'll watch a movie or two, sleep a bit, and it's done. Everyone will get out and the other end and someone will be "oh did you hear that baby crying, it was driving me insane" and I'll be "I guess, now that you mention it? I just zoned it out".

Having six siblings probably helps, but I also enjoy travel, so the discomfort of the plane is offset by the fun of going somewhere else.

The only truly annoying trip I've taken was a 41 hour trip from Havana to Mexico City, Mexico City to Forth Worth, Fort Worth to Brisbane, Brisbane to Sydney. That sucked mostly because of the changeovers and waiting at airports, more than the flying itself though.

[Strazos]

I've taken to falling asleep while taxiing. Or playing boardgames on the iPad, or zoning out with music.

My flights to Benin were horrendous - Either COO-CDG-IAD, or COO-ABJ-BRU-ATL/JFK-PHL. The flights out of Africa were always the absolute worst, except the one time AirFrance comp'd me an upgrade to Premium Voyager, which was sweet of them. Other than that, cattle class overnight flights. 

[Signe]

I don't actually fall asleep, I doze.  Unfortunately, the very few times I've actually fallen totally asleep, I've woken up with a start and freaked out people around me.  I don't drink anything before I fly because the last thing I want is to die in one of those horribly creepy little toilets that you don't know who's been in and what they've done in there or who they've done it to.  EWW.  Also... dirty underwear!

[Yegolev]

What?

[Hawkbit]

I like to code on the plane. Throw in headphones, the background noise from engines and the music drown out pretty much everything else. And just code, or go through a new language book with my computer.

Do that for three hours, then doze for one or two, repeat. Anything that connects to an external service I build, but test when back home. But I can do 70% of it with no connection.

[MisterNoisy]

American air travel is part of what makes driving cross-country so great.  It's not a hard choice to make when your options are nine hours in your car listening to podcasts and audiobooks and two hours of lines followed by four hours of being crammed into a fart-filled can with everyone we could squeeze in with a random chance of either  'we overbooked, so now you're fucked' or 'we lost your bags that we charged you extra to transport'.

[schild]

It's true. For nearly anything less than 5 hours, I'd rather drive. Though iflyrise.com is gonna be pretty fucking tempting for Texas / random travel.