Air travel isn't as fun as it used to be
Oh, I know. I am just complaining. I was in Miami this week at a recruiting conference. I think that I mentioned that I am not big fan of flying (specifically: take-offs and turbulence) and given the fact that there were no direct flights to be found, I knew this was not going to be one of my favorite flying excursions.
I can get over the fact that I had to toss my favorite lip gloss because I forgot to put it in my checked luggage. In response to the desk agent's question of whether I'd taken all liquid and gel products and put them in my checked bag, I replied that there was nothing in my carry on that makes me pretty. No lotion, no lip gloss (hey, I'm a girly girl! What can I say). Only I missed one residing on the bottom of my bag. OK, that's not a big deal. Seventeen dollars later and I've replaced it.
The part that was bad though was the relative lack of beverages on the flights. I'm someone who always has a water or diet soda at hand. I'm perpetually thirsty. I'm thirstier just thinking about being thirsty. I have about 5 different kinds of water (some with bubbles, some without) in my home. Add to that the fact that I struggled with season allergies last week which got significantly worse when I got to Florida. On the flight back, I chugged 2 bottles of water at the gate (which made waiting for the captain to turn off the fasten seatbelt sign an interesting exercise in control, if you know what I mean) along with a Benadryl. Yet those measly little cups of water or soda weren't even close to enough to helping. All I could think about was water, iced tea, slurpees, ice cubes, Popsicles, diet coke, rain gutter run-off. I would have paid $50 for one of those big liter bottles of water. Note to airline companies...there's a money-maker for you. Yeah, and also, if you could stock some Estee Lauder Lip gloss in Berry, that would be great. I could actually tell that my tongue was swelling due to dehydration (I'm not joking...it's the allergies...I just drank 1 and a half 17 oz bottles of water since I started typing this....I'm turning into a raisin...albeit one with plenty of lip gloss now).
I get the security measures and of course, safety is the utmost concern (and I partially blame myself for the lip gloss thing). But I think that it's time that the airlines start to figure out how to make traveling more comfortable, given the restrictions. I'm not suggesting features that add great cost, but give people the option of buying water on-board. By the way, I think there's a huge opportunity here for hotels to differentiate themselves by allowing you to ship some of your personal items to them overnight (oh, you know, things like, say lip gloss...and other toiletries) . I also think that some of the consumer goods/ health and beauty companies have an opportunity to allow people to buy small sizes of things at their destination...maybe even pre-order them for pick up. Maybe even in a shop outside the terminals at the airport or delivered to your hotel at an enormous charge. It's OK, I'll pay.
I think that now that air travel is becoming less pleasant, someone can make money by providing some simple conveniences that don't breach security. Because there are people like me that would pay the extra price of maintaining a positive attitude if they could just buy a way-over priced bottle of tap water or fore go checking their luggage for a two day trip that requires 12 travel hours each way. I'm just saying.
Comments
- Anonymous
September 15, 2006
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September 15, 2006
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September 15, 2006
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September 17, 2006
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September 18, 2006
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September 18, 2006
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September 18, 2006
Ben, I bet they either check it onto the plane directly or they don't sell liquids now. When I bought a bottle of water at the Ft. Lauderdale airport, the gal at the little store told me that it was a regulation that you had to leave the cap in the store. Didn't have that issue in Seattle. I did see someone saying (or maybe speculating) about the Body Shop stores in airports having to close down.
Regarding the flgith to NYC, that's exactly what you would have to deal with. They do drink service a couple times on flights but it's still those little cups. You can bring cookies though. But no jello.
I just hate the idea that me asking them for extra water is perceived as trying to get away with something. Well, at the very least, I'll be switching from Benadryl to Claritin for flights. Hopefully the airlines will figure out some way to make us all comfortable and make some extra profit at the same time. I think that when more people have a chance to fly under the new regulations it will get more attention. - Anonymous
September 18, 2006
I recently flew home to NYC from toronto. When I bought water they squirted it into a cup and kept the squeeze bottle. I asked them to pour it, to keep the splash down, and they said it was easier to squeeze out. Odd. - Anonymous
September 18, 2006
I entered a blog about this new set of regulations. It's pretty ill-tempered and probably not the best way to get on the good side of the TSA, but it's just so ridiculous that we have to go through all this rigamarole just to board a plane. - Anonymous
September 19, 2006
I'm not going to discuss politics and policies because I don't feel this is the appropriate forum; however, you make a great point Heather. In my six hour flight to Seattle from DC I got two 'measly' cups of water (along with a less then stellar meal).
This is a great opportunity for businesses to market their products. Why even stop at selling water? Why not allow companies to compete for meal alternatives to passengers? I remember being a kid (wasn't too long ago :-D ) and getting a McDonald's happy meal on United. What happened?
The airline companies need to do whatever they can to make passengers comfortable .. and they need to do so by spending as little money as possible.
Great post Heather! - Anonymous
September 19, 2006
Yeah, I don't even care about debating the policies here. But it's up to the airlines to decide whether we are going to be comfortable or not. There's no regulation that says they can't start serving larger cups of water or bottles of water or whatever. A friend told me yesterday that if you fly Jet Blue, they have the water in the back and you can get as much as you want. How ridiculous that that should seem like such a huge bonus but it does. Good for Jet Blue. - Anonymous
September 19, 2006
I've been thinking about bringing an empty water bottle and asking the flight attendants to fill it. Has anyone tried that yet? - Anonymous
September 19, 2006
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September 19, 2006
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September 20, 2006
Adele-I haven't tried that yet.
Vicki- I suspect business and first class get a lot of things us comon people in coach don't : ) - Anonymous
September 23, 2006
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September 25, 2006
OK, I am happy to report that I flew Delta this past week and they were generous with the water (in bottles not tiny cups) and according to the news this morning, the TSA is lifting the ban on water on flights. - Anonymous
September 25, 2006
This might be coming off a bit too late since the TSA already lifted the ban, yet I think Heather's thought on airlines making money through charging for water was an interesting thought. The only problem with that was the airlines implementing it would have gone down faster than a shooting star.
Here is my reason: No sooner had one airline implemented this pricing than the others found this opportunity to differentiate themselves by serving FREE bottled water on flights. I can almost see the commercials saying things in the spirit of "We don't charge you to replenish your body" at XYZ airlines. Trust me, the psycho-economics of the consumers would rebel if they were charged for water, but would be ready to pay a higher surplus for "great service with free water "
Thoughts/comments upon this hypothetical case situation? - Anonymous
September 27, 2006
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