Standard of air travel in America has really dropped

[Lisafuller]

I'm back in the US for the first time since Covid as my daughter is going to college. Though she's only moving in at the end of the month, we came early to see family.

While we've been here, we've flown a couple times between states, and I have to say the experience has been nothing short of disappointing.

Delays here are rampant and there's very little service recovery.

Each time our flights have been delayed there's been very little communication by airline staff, resulting in a lot of confusion and unhappiness.

I spoke to some of my friends who've been living here, and what they told me was that this is the new normal. There's no way around it, unless you fly private, of course. Regardless of whether it's a budget airline or not, they are subject to the same delays. Truly disappointing... this is not how I remember things.

[NYY1]

I'm back in the US for the first time since Covid as my daughter is going to college. Though she's only moving in at the end of the month, we came early to see family.

While we've been here, we've flown a couple times between states, and I have to say the experience has been nothing short of disappointing.

Delays here are rampant and there's very little service recovery.

Each time our flights have been delayed there's been very little communication by airline staff, resulting in a lot of confusion and unhappiness.

I spoke to some of my friends who've been living here, and what they told me was that this is the new normal. There's no way around it, unless you fly private, of course. Regardless of whether it's a budget airline or not, they are subject to the same delays. Truly disappointing... this is not how I remember things.

I was wondering when your daughter was heading off to university. Hope she is pumped up and excited for the next stage of life.

Anyways, there's nothing worse than a US domestic flight; the entire process is terrible.

[bro75]

SeaTac airport has terrible TSA queues. About 2-3 hours. If our flight was not delayed, we would have missed it.

[PNGMK]

Yes - it was going that way before Covid but Covid made it worse. I try to fly directly into where we need to go and use a car or train for domestic travel. If I have to fly domestic I try to avoid stop overs if possible due to the risk of delays and disruptions. We are heading into LAX though next summer and my wife wants to go to Colorado so I'll try to fly just to Denver from LAX and back direct.

Flying domestic in Australia on the other hand is almost a pleasure. Reasonable queues and no jack booted TSA thugs and no need to show ID.

I suspect the US airline are in for another round of M&A, bankruptcies etc whereas Qantas just sucks off the taxpayer.

[rajagainstthemachine]

last flew in the USA in Jan 2023, SF to LA and from LA to Vancouver... didn't notice anything that bad, but the security and screening process in US airports is so ancient and traumatic.

[Lisafuller]

I'm back in the US for the first time since Covid as my daughter is going to college. Though she's only moving in at the end of the month, we came early to see family.

While we've been here, we've flown a couple times between states, and I have to say the experience has been nothing short of disappointing.

Delays here are rampant and there's very little service recovery.

Each time our flights have been delayed there's been very little communication by airline staff, resulting in a lot of confusion and unhappiness.

I spoke to some of my friends who've been living here, and what they told me was that this is the new normal. There's no way around it, unless you fly private, of course. Regardless of whether it's a budget airline or not, they are subject to the same delays. Truly disappointing... this is not how I remember things.

I was wondering when your daughter was heading off to university. Hope she is pumped up and excited for the next stage of life.

Anyways, there's nothing worse than a US domestic flight; the entire process is terrible.

She really is, and while I am a little sad, I couldn't be happier for her.

Have you taken one recently?

[Lisafuller]

SeaTac airport has terrible TSA queues. About 2-3 hours. If our flight was not delayed, we would have missed it.

Seriously?! I haven't been in years, but I certainly don't remember it being this bad. We flew into Newark and then Miami. When we flew out to meet family, it was from Miami and queues were never terrible. A little disorganized for sure, and very crowded, but the wait was maybe 40 minutes.

[Lisafuller]

Yes - it was going that way before Covid but Covid made it worse. I try to fly directly into where we need to go and use a car or train for domestic travel. If I have to fly domestic I try to avoid stop overs if possible due to the risk of delays and disruptions. We are heading into LAX though next summer and my wife wants to go to Colorado so I'll try to fly just to Denver from LAX and back direct.

Flying domestic in Australia on the other hand is almost a pleasure. Reasonable queues and no jack booted TSA thugs and no need to show ID.

I suspect the US airline are in for another round of M&A, bankruptcies etc whereas Qantas just sucks off the taxpayer.

I try to as well, but unfortunately, there aren't any direct flights to Miami, so the best we could do was to fly into Newark.

We actually had a pretty nice experience there, because of all our bags we chose to fly first class which came with lounge entitlements. Lounge at Newark was very new, spacious, and quiet. They had a full-service bar and buffet.

Flights out of Colorado are kind of hectic right now, a friend of mine just returned to Singapore from Aspen two days ago, her flight was delayed seven hours. Eventually, she had to be rebooked on a completely different route because of storms.

[Lisafuller]

last flew in the USA in Jan 2023, SF to LA and from LA to Vancouver... didn't notice anything that bad, but the security and screening process in US airports is so ancient and traumatic.

What happened? Admittedly, the TSA staff can be a little rude and harsh, but that's about it. I try to be alert and prepared when going through security, and find that they tend to be nicer when you know what you're doing.

[NYY1]

I'm back in the US for the first time since Covid as my daughter is going to college. Though she's only moving in at the end of the month, we came early to see family.

While we've been here, we've flown a couple times between states, and I have to say the experience has been nothing short of disappointing.

Delays here are rampant and there's very little service recovery.

Each time our flights have been delayed there's been very little communication by airline staff, resulting in a lot of confusion and unhappiness.

I spoke to some of my friends who've been living here, and what they told me was that this is the new normal. There's no way around it, unless you fly private, of course. Regardless of whether it's a budget airline or not, they are subject to the same delays. Truly disappointing... this is not how I remember things.

I was wondering when your daughter was heading off to university. Hope she is pumped up and excited for the next stage of life.

Anyways, there's nothing worse than a US domestic flight; the entire process is terrible.

She really is, and while I am a little sad, I couldn't be happier for her.

Have you taken one recently?

Glad to hear that!

I haven't post-COVID, but I thought it was something to avoid like the plague even before then. Of course, sometimes there is little choice...

[Lisafuller]

Unfortunately, I have little choice. That being said, I would suggest to avoid it where possible.

[rajagainstthemachine]

last flew in the USA in Jan 2023, SF to LA and from LA to Vancouver... didn't notice anything that bad, but the security and screening process in US airports is so ancient and traumatic.

What happened? Admittedly, the TSA staff can be a little rude and harsh, but that's about it. I try to be alert and prepared when going through security, and find that they tend to be nicer when you know what you're doing.

nothing in particular, wasn't harassed by TSA or anything i was just rolling my eyes and comparing the stark difference in security procotols in most asian airports with the USA, but then again I think Indian airport security is even worse than the US! their scanning machines are broken and they make you take out literally everything out of the bag and dump it in a tray for scanning

[Lisafuller]

That I can agree with. Flew into Mumbai for a friend's daughter's wedding at the start of the year. Complete chaos. The airport was also incredibly hot.

[malcontent]

I always advise people to avoid domestic legs when flying into or out of the US.

Consider Amtrak where available for short distances… it’s not the greatest, but far better than air, plus it’s cheaper and fairly quick. There are some tricks to getting the cheapest tickets, even when it appears they are sold out.

[Lisafuller]

As a matter of fact, tomorrow morning we'll be doing just that. We're in Orlando right now, and flew in from Miami. Took spirit airlines.

Worst decision I could've made. Flight was terribly delayed, but what was more frustrating was the lack of communication and transparency that left everyone frustrated and confused. I was really dreading the return flight, in spite of the fact that it's a easy 35 minutes.

Made the last minute decision to book us two tickets on Amtrak, and I'm now feeling much better. Will update with my experience.