Flying: A Necessary Evil

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by maloney50 My wife is a former flight attendant and she said the same thing. Unfortunately, the policy in europe of allowing one person in the cockpit at a time was a disaster waiting to happen. It is crazy to think that the pilot could lock the door with a switch and know one else could get in the cockpit. I guess they didn't learn anything from 911. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Actually, I believe 911 is what started the locked cockpit practice to protect the pilots from terrorist passengers.

[MRG]

That's how I understand it as well. I didn't know not all countries adopted 2 in the cockpit. Seems like a good idea, perhaps not 100% foolproof, but much better than 1.

[Mulligan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by maloney50 My wife is a former flight attendant and she said the same thing. Unfortunately, the policy in europe of allowing one person in the cockpit at a time was a disaster waiting to happen. It is crazy to think that the pilot could lock the door with a switch and know one else could get in the cockpit. I guess they didn't learn anything from 911. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Though never knowing exactly it was a law, I have frequently observed a flight attendant entering cockpit when pilot left to use the bathroom. I just assumed they were in there incase the one left in cockpit had a heart attack or passed out. The thought of a suicide attempt prevention never entered my mind.


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[mystang52]

DW and I have different attitudes about flying. We both dislike it, but I view it as the necessary evil it is. DW has a harder time dealing with the many annoyances. Perhaps our best vacation in our life was when we went to Italy, followed by a Greek Isle cruise.
Until this thread, I had forgotten the absolutely miserable flight home from that trip - not one but two screaming and misbehaving children. But like I said, when I think of that vacation I have only great memories ---- or at least I did, until this thread

[Chuckanut]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mulligan Though never knowing exactly it was a law, I have frequently observed a flight attendant entering cockpit when pilot left to use the bathroom. I just assumed they were in there incase the one left in cockpit had a heart attack or passed out. The thought of a suicide attempt prevention never entered my mind.

+1

It seems like a rational thing to do. Though as I understand it, the pilot or first officer has a code he/she can type into a door pad and enter. On the German flight it seems that the co-pilot overrode the pilot's attempt to do this.

On some flights I have seen one flight attendant enter the cockpit, while a second one stands guard in front of the door, looking straight down the aisle in case a bad guy tries to position himself to rush the cockpit.

[Texas Proud]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mulligan Though never knowing exactly it was a law, I have frequently observed a flight attendant entering cockpit when pilot left to use the bathroom. I just assumed they were in there incase the one left in cockpit had a heart attack or passed out. The thought of a suicide attempt prevention never entered my mind. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I really do not think that if a pilot or copilot wanted to commit suicide that a flight attendant will stop them... when the pilot leaves, just knock out the attendant and crash the plane...

I agree it does help in case of health issues, but from what they say the pilot has the ability to do a code to get back in after awhile... the person on the other side can override that code, but if it is medical they probably would not have hit that switch....

[akck]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Texas Proud I really do not think that if a pilot or copilot wanted to commit suicide that a flight attendant will stop them... when the pilot leaves, just knock out the attendant and crash the plane...

I disagree. In the case of the German plane, he wouldn't have risked it because of the chance he'd have been stopped. Him leaving his seat would signal the flight attendant something was wrong and give them a chance to open the door. Also, he could just as easily tried too knock out the pilot, but again him unbuckling himself would signal a problem. Now, the attendant will watch for strange behavior and be prepared to react.


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[Bamaman]

For all the horror stories, there are many times as many decent flights.

My wife and I have traveled extensively the last 25 years. We stay close to home much of the year--saving our money for international travel at least every other year.

We're always on the outlook for cheap cruises to the Caribbean and Mexico--usually 1x per year. And we can drive to ports in many cities.

When international flights get expensive (like now to Europe), we travel in the continental U.S. and Canada. We often fly to cities non-stop and to places with good weather. We also travel in the off seasons when traffic is down and weather's better.

Without air travel, we really wouldn't have nearly as much in life to look forward to.

[EastWest Gal]

I like flying over land because I love seeing geographic features such as Lake Tahoe, the Grand Canyon, the western volcanic mountains, from the air.

I credit the easy ability to fly as one of the factors leading to my marriage. I was in school in Los Angeles and DH in SF when we started dating (we had been friends for years). Back in the day a now defunct airline, Pacific Express, sold coupon books of 10 for $29 flights each way between SF and LA. Needless to say we used a couple of those babies up when living apart for 3 years.


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[someguy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by athena53 We're going to Iceland n August- OK, can't drive there, but I've carefully built something that minimizes the headaches and risks of flying. 3. Flight from BOS to Reykjavik is a nonstop. It's also Business Class, meaning we can use the Elite TSA line if one is available.

Iceland is amazing if you haven't been before. Do you mind if I ask how much you paid for those Iceland Air Biz class tickets? I've never been able to find them for less than $3-4K PP RT.

[athena53]

Quote:

Originally Posted by someguy Iceland is amazing if you haven't been before. Do you mind if I ask how much you paid for those Iceland Air Biz class tickets? I've never been able to find them for less than $3-4K PP RT.

Ours were $2,100 pp RT, booked a few weeks ago I was pleasantly surprised; Business Class airfares between the US and Europe right now are pretty crazy and this was a lot more reasonable, even adjusting for the shorter duration.

[someguy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by athena53 Ours were $2,100 pp RT, booked a few weeks ago I was pleasantly surprised; Business Class airfares between the US and Europe right now are pretty crazy and this was a lot more reasonable, even adjusting for the shorter duration.

Thanks! I've got to look into this. Even though our set aside travel budget means we could "afford" $4K PP RT, there's no way I could bring myself to do it. $2K PP RT is very tempting!

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bamaman When international flights get expensive (like now to Europe), we travel in the continental U.S. and Canada. We often fly to cities non-stop and to places with good weather. We also travel in the off seasons when traffic is down and weather's better.

We are paying a little more to fly to Europe this year compared to last year. Most of the increase is due to the dates being in "high season" compared to last year. Otherwise - maybe just $100 more.

That said, the savings on hotels, trains, tours, etc. compared to last year are HUGE with the lower exchange rate. This more than makes up for the price increase.

I like to go to Europe when the exchange rate is low.

[Chuckanut]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bamaman We often fly to cities non-stop and to places with good weather. We also travel in the off seasons when traffic is down and weather's better. Without air travel, we really wouldn't have nearly as much in life to look forward to.

+1

[Chuckanut]

Quote:

Originally Posted by audreyh1 We are paying a little more to fly to Europe this year compared to last year. Most of the increase is due to the dates being in "high season" compared to last year. Otherwise - maybe just $100 more.

I've found that prices are up about $300 for a round trip. Maybe I chose the wrong cities to fly to. But, as you say, the declining Euro will pay for a lot of the increase. I wonder if the airlines take that into account.

OTOH, flights from Europe to the USA are not benefiting from the declining Euro. Bookings from Europe are supposedly down. So..... start your trip in Europe rather than the USA and just fly backwards.

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chuckanut I've found that prices are up about $300 for a round trip. Maybe I chose the wrong cities to fly to. But, as you say, the declining Euro will pay for a lot of the increase. I wonder if the airlines take that into account. OTOH, flights from Europe to the USA are not benefiting from the declining Euro. Bookings from Europe are supposedly down. So..... start your trip in Europe rather than the USA and just fly backwards.

I noticed that dates after May 15 came with a $400 price increase.

Last year we saved at least $400 by flying after August 26th. So those look like the "high season" boundary dates.

If we had been able to leave on May 15 this year, we would only have paid $100 each over last year's ticket.

I suspect more US folks are traveling to Europe this year as this is the first time in almost a decade that the exchange rate is below 1.25. So I figure there is more demand for flights out of the US this year.

My brother got good prices for his family flying to the US from Europe this year.

[robnplunder]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Texas Proud I really do not think that if a pilot or copilot wanted to commit suicide that a flight attendant will stop them... when the pilot leaves, just knock out the attendant and crash the plane...

It better be a 250 lb, well fit, male flight attendant. Otherwise, the pilot can easily overcome and crash the plane.

There was a successful intentional crash even with other pilots present. One pilot just turned off the engine and the other two pilots could not get the plane back under control and crashed.

DW and I recently drove to Oregon and back from California. 9 hour drive each way was endurable given all the recent plane crashes, and hassle at the airports, not to mention extra charge for checking our golf bags. The evil is losing against us.

[kgtest]

Flying = Means to an end.

I basically try to forget about the experience on the plane and in the terminal, and focus on the experience and culture of the trip and destination I am about to embark on. The DH has a tough time with this...she does not do airports very well at all.

I tune out all that TSA noise intentionally. I get the extra security in the sense that our government and agencies are completely reactive...but I do believe it's been taken a bit to the extreme.

[kgtest]

Screaming infants are easy to block out with headphones on. It's the smelly obese folks that take up two seats that I take up issue with. If they are breastfeeding it's the cherry on top or what I call the annoying in-flight passenger tri-fecta.

[Meadbh]

I can deal with the inconveniences, but crashing is my worst nightmare. These 138 people were lucky to walk away from a crash landing in a snowstorm yesterday. As the TSB expert said, it could have been a lot worse.

Air Canada AC624 crash probe gets help from police drones - Nova Scotia - CBC News