Air Travel Officially Stinks: Even USTA Agrees

By Robert McGarvey

If you have traveled in the past 9 months or so, you have been smacked upside the head with the reality that the air travel experience is woefully lacking across multiple dimensions. From overcrowded clubs to jam packed planes there is not much to like about an experience that, by the way, is getting ever pricier too (about 27% more than same flights to Europe last year for instance).  

You and I are not alone in that doubtful sentiment.

An Ipsos poll found that almost half of travelers (45%) rated their experience as average or worse.  As to where the process had gone awry, malcontent travelers pointed their fingers in multiple directions in Ipsos polling: “[they] cited crowding and congestion (58%), flight delays or cancellations (44%), the airport security process (31%), and cumbersome travel logistics (31%) as the top three contributing factors to their less than excellent travel experience.”

Matters are so grim that the United States Travel Association (USTA) has acknowledged that the travel experience needs improvement.  “The latest data is a clear sign that significant upgrades are needed to kickstart a reimagined air travel experience that works for all Americans,” said USTA’s CEO, Geoff Freeman.

There’s no need to guess what needs to be fixed with air travel. Ipsos pinpointed them: “For their upcoming leisure travel, business travelers are most interested in increasing flight availability and direct flights (43%), and travel discounts and loyalty programs (33%). They are also significantly more likely to want flexible cancellation policies (32%).”

Think about that: we want more and more direct flights; discounts and meaningful loyalty programs; and flexible cancellation policies.

The desires are realistic. But how likely are the airlines to deliver on any of this?

The Crowded Airport Problem

You are not imagining that airports, airport clubs, airport restaurants, and airport lavatories all seem so much more crowded this year. A Travel Weekly story examined the problem and came up with an explanation: “Aircraft used by large U.S. airlines are quickly getting bigger. As plane sizes increase, so do the surges of people during peak flying hours who pass through TSA security, wait at gates, use bathrooms and queue up for Starbucks.”

Pursuit of more profits is why airports are overflowing with people, said Travel Weekly: “The upsizing is unfolding as airlines work to improve flight economics by reducing average operating costs per seat. They’re doing that by replacing smaller Boeing 737 and Airbus A320-series narrowbodies with stretched versions and by replacing 50-seat regional jets with regional aircraft in the 70- to 76-seat range. Delta and JetBlue are also bringing on Airbus A220 aircraft with well over 100 seats to replace regional planes.”

There don’t have to be more planes to create airport crowds. There do have to be more passengers and that is in fact happening with more seats in planes.

Airport Lounges

You know this is a problem.  Like me, you probably have walked up to a lounge recently, sniffed a long line outside waiting for entry, and just walked away.

Sorry, I don’t have a solution.

Experts say the root problem is that so many of us now have lounge access built into the credit cards we carry.  

That’s why I am doubtful that steps such as Amex’s elimination of free guest entry into the Centurion Club  for Platinum card holders – it now costs $50 a head – will seriously reduce the bodies in airport clubs.  

What’s the solution? I have no idea. For now I am accepting that very probably a lounge will not figure into my airport hours.

Gate Checked Baggage – For a Fee!

Airlines are adept at twisting the knife and, frankly, they believe we have no other choices – and for many trips we don’t.  Nobody except a few hard core greens is thinking of skipping a transcontinental flight for a train ride.  

So I am not surprised that apparently major US carriers are enviously eyeing the revenues Ryan Air and most other European budget carriers squeeze out of gate checked baggage – and they are beginning to do it in the US.

Face it, we have brought some of this on ourselves. How often have I seen a coach passenger wrestling with both an oversized piece of luggage, to be jammed into the overhead compartment, as well as a stuffed department store bag that will fit about as gracefully under the seat as would Haystacks Calhoun.  

The historic rule of thumb with gate checking used to be that fees were not involved.

No more is that a blanket rule. Many airlines have begun charging basic economy passengers who are sneaking a full size bag aboard for gate checking. 

Many airlines also are now said to be charging fees for gate checking clearly oversized “personal items.”

The appeal is money.

Our money.

Personally I don’t push the limits when it comes to carryons – but I’ll still yell foul when I see other travelers nicked for cash just because airlines want it.

When Will It End?   

Don’t count on air travel getting better anytime soon.  Wherever I look it is getting worse. Personally I will be eyeing all possible trips looking for reasons to say no.  

If enough of us do likewise, you know what, air travel just may get more pleasant.

At least until word spreads that the skies are again friendly – and the cycle will begin anew.