I fly every other week.

When this stuff happens, I am amazed how the first comments made out loud determines the mood of the crowd.

The best tactic is to jump in and make positive comments out loud right away.

Commercial airliners and especially their engines and control electronics are some of THE most complicated things ever created by humans.

I used to be amazed that 1, anyone could have dreamed up something as complex as a high-bipass ducted fan engine and 2, having dreamt it up, we actually managed to make it work - considering that the temperature of the burning gases in your average jet engine is higher than the melting point of the metal.... keeping the hot air away from the metal is minor engineering miracle.

There isn't anything you have to do - no meeting, no wedding, no nothing - that is worth risking death over.

Other characteristics of the whining can't delay me species -

1) trying to cram inordinate amounts of crap into overhead bins
2) putting bags in bins long way rather than head in to save space
3) Standing in front of the jetway door waiting for gate checked bags, clogging up the whole process - as if standing in front of the door makes their bag come out sooner
4) Whining about bags of pretzels - listen theres no friggin meals on this flight - says it right here on my itinerary!
5)Try to sneak on board before their row is called
6) complain about seat belts, seat backs, tray tables, leg room
7)rip pages out of the in flight magazine..........

"I'd much rather be inconvenienced by a delay, than dead from a bad decision. For me what matters is safety above all."

Really? So I take it then that you don't drive.

If anything, air is far too safe and we spend far too much on air safety.

Almost all adult Americans who are able to and can afford to drive automobiles -- we are comfortable with the risk entailed in doing so to the extent that we are not willing to forego the benefits of driving in order to avoid the risks.

A sensible air safety policy would set the risk/benefit ratio at a level designed to imitate the inherent risk we take when driving -- there doesn't seem to be much good reason that air travel shouldn't be as risky as driving *assuming* that there is a cost reduction from lowering safety standards.

The people who are bitching and complaining are taking on far higher risks driving everyday than from air travel, and their complaining is entirely rational.

Worse than just drive, I ride a motorcycle.

Even worse than that, I build and fly experimental aircraft, hence the name of the blog - varieze + frank = varifrank. The name goes way back, long before I had a blog or there even was an internet, but I digress.

What I was trying to say is my criteria for airlines is "safety first". For example, people ask me why I wont fly on Northwest Airlines or Jetblue, and the reason is their record on safety is pretty poor. Northwest has the oldest aircraft in the fleet and has a terrible record for maintenance. Jetblue outsources most of its maintenance to El Salvador. This might be good business for JetBlue, but it makes me twitch like closeaus boss Inspector Dreyfuss. Its much more important to me is a culture of quality be established at the company than just low prices. United has it, Southwest has it, American has it, Delta has it, but not many others do in my opinion.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for taking the time to write this post. I agree with you 100%! I cannot believe the terrible attitudes people display when the airline is trying to, oh, save their lives. I'm with you - safety is The. Number. One. Priority. (Or, should be.) It is the airlines' first and foremost responsibility IMHO - more than on-time arrivals, more than intact luggage, more than profits. Safety. People, you are about to put yourselves 30,000 feet in the air. If the plane is broken, you really, really, really do not want them to let you on. God bless that flight crew person who just may have saved 300 lives.

wrt "Gotta-get-there-itis" and driving - that's probably the leading cause of death in automobiles.

-- Peeps who should wait out the storm or stop for the yellow light, or just slow the f-down, don't. And they end up dead.

And I figure every time they do, they help to prove Darwin right for them....

(btw, yahoo is still a banned e-mail addy.)

I fly every week, twice a week. I don't scream at the ticket clerks, because 90% of the time the systemic problems are out of their hands. The other 10% I still don't, because they hold all the cards. It's kind of like arguing with cops (and since the FAA has given airline personnel a number of police powers that's the way to think of it).

That said, it's nuts when an airline knows they are going to delay / cancel the flight and don't announce it. It's even more nuts when they announce the cancellation over the PA while the message board continues to say for 2+ hours more that the flight's on-time. But, hey, I can't do anything about that. What I can do is boost tech that makes flights unnecessary, so I don't have to deal with their crap.

I don't fly all that often, but I'm just amazed at the tiny things that set people off, not just delayed flights. Not only are airlines supposed to sell cheap tickets, evidently they're supposed to do it while totally satisfying every single nutcase customer in the world.

Honestly, I think that, much like road rage, much of it is due to the inability of so many people to recognize that they are not alone in the world and it isn't set up for their personal convenience.

I get somewhat annoyed at delays. But until I find evidence that the person at the ticket counter went in and broke a hydraulic line or busted a magneto to spite me, I suppose I'll refrain from yelling at them.

I'm probably on the road only 120-150 days this year, but two years ago I was flying multiple times a week and gone as many as 300 days a year. Everything you said was true, and I'd only add two points:

* When amateur travelers start screaming (and in my experience it is ALWAYS amateur travelers who don't know how to deal with schedule variances), a kind word to an airline staffer may be the only thing that keeps him or her from having a 100% awful day. Kindness doesn't get you anything in a situation like that, other than the satisfaction that you're offsetting some of the shouts.

* When I'm king, there will be separate-but-equal airports for amateur travelers. ;)

My husband used to work American Airlines reservations, and he would get some of the calls from people, especially during weather-related delays. It wasn't company policy (to say the least), but he usually remarked to irate customers "It's better to be safe-and-sound on the ground than 6 feet under it." That usually would give people some pause.

Hi -

I do a fair amount* of international travel (my biggest joy is when my company springs for business class for the transatlantic flights: pure joy...) and can only underscore what others have said: there is no way that yelling at someone can help you. Sure, I get pissed when something doesn't work, but I have found, invariably - invariably! - that being nice to people who have to deal with nutcakes, of smiling and making them feel like you're pleased that they are there, brings not merely enormous karmic awards, but has gotten me the nice seats (you frequent flyers know what I'm talking about).

What many amaterus don't realize is that the ONLY thing you get with your ticket is transportation from point A to point B. Everything, literally everything else is icing on the cake. Can't get seats together? Check in earlier, idiot! Can't get an window seat? Check in earlier, idiot! Can't get that extra bag of peanuts because the waitress - woops, stewardess - is busy helping parents get their 6-month old baby strapped in properly or because they're helping someone in a wheelchair? Shut up and sit down, you're gonna be in that situation someday and if you screw it up now for everyone else you're gonna regret it.

Jeez. My wife worked briefly for Austrian Airlines as a stewardess before we got married (yah!) and she thought the only thing worse was waitressing at a really cheap bar.

* Been over the Atlantic 17 times in the last 4 years...but I don't get to keep my frequent flyer miles. :-(

John

I don't fly that often, but recently I've been on two flights that were delayed by over 3 hours, both times due to weather. One time we were all on the plane in the middle of a thunderstorm, and I was very happy the crew did not decide to take off. I was also pleasantly surprised at the lack of whining and screaming, at least that I could see. I think enough people had iPods and laptops and portable DVD players that they could keep themselves entertained during the wait.

Red River,

I like that advice! I always make positive comments to the desk workers and the crew, since I figure they could use a kind word in that mess. Maybe I'll try to make my positive comments earlier, and louder.

Since my work is all on my Tablet PC with me wherever I go, a flight delay just means that I work in the airport rather than on the plane. I plan lots of slack in my travel schedulre; and I try to be as relaxed and accommodating as I can when delays happen, because life is just less stressful that way.

I want you and Frank on my next delayed flight. Maybe between the three of us, we can sway the mood.

Thanks.

I work for a major airline. When I tell people that, I sometimes get asked: 'In a public-contact job?'

'No. In a make-sure-they-get-there-alive' job.

Frank, what you say about get-there-itis may be true in piston GA, but when you look at the airlines it's more like cut-costs-itis. Flight crews seem to be doing a pretty good job but maintenance (one of the first things to get cut when cash gets tight) is the more proximate cause of a lot of what we've seen in the US in the past 10-15 years.

I fly fairly often and I've had my share of airline delays, rerouting, and canceled flights. What upsets me the most though is the lying and and not being honest. The airlines will seldom ever tell you why your being delayed, and at times it is a bussiness decision rather than a safety issue. They are seldom upfront about the real reasons for the delay or how long they really expect the delay to be. Just once I would like the folks at the counter announce "there is going to be a minimum 15 minute delay on flight xxx but It probably will be at least a 3 hour delay. I don't feel too bad about the way the folks at United were treated, they tend more so than most airlines to treat their passangers pretty crappy.

Well,

You obviously don't realise that, like all "successful" big corporations, the airlines are gleefully contemptuous of us, their customers.

Next time, try logic.

"The people who are bitching and complaining are taking on far higher risks driving everyday than from air travel, and their complaining is entirely rational."

I would encourage this person to consider that driving on the Interstate won't take out 300 people in one shot if a minor mechanical mishap occurs.

Yeesh...

Thanks for your article, and your kind words, Frank. I'm an airline pilot, and I see the kind of whining and kicking and screaming you're talking about, any time things don't go exactly according to plan.

A few years back, my airline took over a route that was previously served by another airline. That night, fog had brought clouds nearly down to the surface, and visibility was down to about 1/8th of a mile -- way under what we'd need to land. I went to the gate to make the announcement myself, explaining to the folks that we'd watch it for a bit, but it's unlikely that the fog's going to lift before morning at this airport that's situated in a valley.

Within seconds, a passenger comes storming up to me, and begins *SCREAMING* at me. "This is $@!*(& RIDICULOUS! I take this flight all the time, and [the other airline] would never have stranded me here! You just don't know how to do the approach into that airport -- you just have to go *lower*, like they do."

I was a little stunned. This guy was so red in the face, I thought we were going to have to call the airport police -- he really looked like he was going to blow.

I simply replied, "Sir, two things: First, I've been doing this for fifteen years; I know how to fly an approach safely and correctly. The reason we don't go lower is because there's a MOUNTAIN in the way.

I then lowered my voice, as I saw no need to alarm the rest of the passengers. "Aecond, [that other airline] crashed an airplane into the sea less than a month ago. I appreciate that you want to get there, and so do I, but I'm not going to unnecessarily risk my life, or the lives of the rest of the people on this plane. Understood?"

He went and sat down, and fumed until we finally took off. Just amazing.

Plane crashes are extremely rare. Even if you fly frequently, it's very unlikely that you'll die in a plane crash. If trading a one-in-a-million chance of dying for a one-in-one-hundred-thousand chance of dying is going to get me where I need to go a few hours earlier, I think that's a pretty good deal. Safety is not an absolute good.

I'm usually sympathetic to the screamers. I'm pretty calm myself, but airline service is often really terrible. I think those people deserve to get yelled at.

Over the last 6 years I have made numerous flights. In two of those years, it was for 35-45 weeks a year. I can't agree with you more. Delays are a problem but I would much rather get there late than get there dead.

BTW. I knew Denny Fitch, the training pilot who help to land the plane through our Marriage Encounter group. He was lucky and lived. I listened to his story of the flight after he got better and realized the amount of effort our flight crews have to make every day when they go up with a load of passengers. If there is ever a delay, I would much rather end up on the late and safe side rather than being one of those to witness a plane crash firsthand.