So I ain't gonna fly anymore...

[WCGreen]

It's not that I am frightened by some half assed terrorist or, for that matter, some full assed one. I ain't gonna fly because it is just becoming a big fucking bother. The shitty way the airlines treat their customers, the crappy condition of airports, the obnoxious people. In the ten or so times I have flown I have never had a pleasant experience.

But all that pales in comparison to the punishment and intrusion on our rights that people are willing to put up with just because there is a one in a million chance your plane will be targeted by some terrorists. More planes go down because of human error or weather problems or just plain bad luck. All of that is proof to me, at least, that the terrorists have won. They have altered the daily lives of millions of people because of the actions of a handful or extremists.

Jumped up fear of terrorism has been used so effectively by the leadership in this country that I fear that too much has been given away and will never be given back.

This whole episode with the TSA guy being denied a hearing because of some whacked out idiot that South Carolina feels is worthy to take a seat in the Senate is farce in the worst (best) way.

What then does this so called great country stand for if not the protection of individual rights and what the right yammers on an on and on about, freedom.

Where is the freedom in a forced electronic strip search?

Where is the freedom in reporting to the airport three hours early for a two hour flight?

Where is the freedom in continued monitoring of our electronic communications?

Tell me where has all the freedom gone?

[babylonsister]

1. I'll fly in a heartbeat. It's going to be about the same as it's been

since 9/11. I'm not hanging up my flying shoes and opportunities to visit elsewhere for anyone.

As for the strip search? They will be gravely disappointed in my bod, so fuck them.

[enlightenment]

10. Ditto.

The security farce doesn't bother me nearly as much as being crammed like a sardine into the plane. The pleasure of flying is long gone, but the joy of reaching my destination hasn't changed.

I'll keep flying.

[Hekate]

31. You and me both. I FINALLY have the means and opportunity to travel abroad...

... and flying is the quickest and cheapest way I know of to get anywhere off the continental US. Taking a cruise ship across the Atlantic is really not an option.

I am hoping that by the time Mr. H and I are ready to fly to Ireland at the end of May 2010 that Obama and the Feds will have figured out some more sensible approach to security than body cavity searches and wearing hospital gowns in-flight.

If not, well I will just try to suck it up and not let it ruin the honeymoon we never took 22 years ago when we got hitched.

Hekate

[ThatsMyBarack]

2. Where is the freedom in those....

Complicated guidelines for packaging little shampoo bottles and other liquids? :shrug:

[DesertFlower]

3. i have not been on a plane since 1997. flew from

phoenix to san diego. the plane was warm and crowded. thankfully it was just an hour flight.

my husband had to travel quite a bit on business. in fact on 9/11 he was in chicago on business. he kept the rental car and drove home.

my feeling now is: if i can't drive there, i'm not going.

[DesertRat]

7. I can't drive to Maui from Phoenix

I hear what you're saying, but for me, some destinations are worth the hassle.

[niyad]

12. used to love to fly--not anymore. I am with you--if I can't drive, ain't going.

[SPedigrees]

21. Same here except our last flight was in the 1980s..

back when everyone was courteous, and the stewardess brought you drinks and a hot meal with a smile.

Now if we can't get there via car (or possibly boat) we're not going either. Although the chance of an auto accident is greater than a terrorist on a plane, the peace of mind is greater. Autonomy and not being messed with are priceless commodities.

[SoCalDem]

30. ahhh for the 60's & 70's.. parties on the plane..even a fashion show on Air Jamaica

real silverware, and real food too..and roomy seats:)

[indepat]

37. That photo catches the essence of felinity: oh, how we miss our Katie and Butterfinger

:cry:

[Hugabear]

4. Airports are only the beginning

Wait until some idiot walks into a crowded shopping mall or sports stadium with plastic explosives taped around his/her chest.

[WCGreen]

5. That is what I have been wondering myself...

What if the Mall in say Fort Wayne Indiana was hit by a terrorist attack...

[Desertrose]

17. But we can't have the people STOP SHOPPING....

what would that do to the economy??

Think about it though, you could take out more lives in a mall than a plane, couldn't you?

[leftstreet]

19. +1

[SPedigrees]

22. Well the Planned Parenthood clinic where I go

has had double security glass doors in place since the beginning of the violence against doctors in the 1990s. You have to be buzzed in by the gal at the desk. But at least no strip searches (unless you count the gyn exam once you get inside!)

[rwheeler31]

6. I hear you.

Only people who have to fly will to keep their crappy jobs. Good by tourist industry.

[Blue_In_AK]

8. I wish I had that option,

but if I want to get anywhere in less than a couple of weeks, flying is the only way. I never left Alaska for 20 years between 1980 and 2000, but now that I'm starting to get out once in a while, I'm kind of enjoying it.

The Lower 48 is a nice place to visit -- but I wouldn't want to live there. :)

[babylonsister]

13. Hahaha!

I have to get up there one of these days! :D

[Blue_In_AK]

23. May and September are the best months.

The weather is better and it's less expensive.

[WCGreen]

15. My little sis was on an Alaskan Cruise when 9/11 happened.

They had stopped in BC and I had to get her Birth Certificate and fax it to customs so that she could re-enter the country...

[Blue_In_AK]

26. Yeah, we have to have passports now

to drive into Canada, and we have to drive through Canada to get to our capital (a ferry ride from Haines to Juneau. You can't get to Haines without driving through the Yukon Territory). In the old days, they used to just wave us through at the border.

[AlphaZero]

9. Summed it up

Fear is the greatest weapon of the government.

[nadinbrzezinski]

11. It is getting to the point that people laugh about this

not fear it.

And I have no choice but to fly when I have to fly. And it is INTERNATIONAL, so there.

[Bill McBlueState]

14. I almost wish I could stop flying.

But I have to 4-5 times a year for my job.

[Maat]

16. I haven't flown in over a decade and a half.

I don't miss it one bit.

If I can't drive or take the train, then just send me the DVD about the place, or the video, and that'll be fine.

[C_Lawyer09]

18. The breadth of issues people on the net whine about

Never ceases to amaze me. Oh, a computer strip searched me... Wahhh! How about walking several miles for your water, eating a meal a day, or wearing one pair of shoes for several years if that.

[WCGreen]

27. It's called human rights...

[laughingliberal]

33. Oh, you're just being picky

:sarcasm:

[voc]

20. "Tell me where has all the freedom gone?"

Slight correction. "Tell me where has the illusion of freedom gone."

Kick

[WCGreen]

24. True that,,,,

[JCMach1]

25. I have no choice...

[sabrina 1]

28. I'm not frightened either,

We're back to the Politics of Terror. Hours and hours of coverage of an incident where no one was hurt anyhow. Right at a time when we're expanding wars. Maybe if we stopped killing women and children in foreign countries none of this would be happening. We'd only have our own home-grown terrorists to worry about.

People die every day on the road. But we rarely hear about them. So why is there so much coverage of an incident, with all the fear-mongering, where no one died? And how many died today because they couldn't afford health care?

Watching the hysteria on TV, it's obvious that there is little concern about actual people dying. As if they care. It's all political propaganda to keep people in a constant state of fear so that we can continue to kill people in other countries, for profit.

But like you, I care far more about the loss of rights and the willingness to so easily give up what was so hard to get in the first place. Maybe Americans need to have to actually fight once again for the rights they seem to have no appreciation for. It will probably come that sooner than we think. But it isn't terrorists who are taking them away ~ I wonder if there ever has been a nation who so willingly gave up their rights before ~ I can't think of one offhand.

[kath]

32. Great post - deserves many recs of its own!

[Vidar]

29. K&R.

[Golden Raisin]

34. I haven't given up flying post 9/11

and don't intend to as I do like to visit my far-flung family and take an occasional vacation, but everything about it now from the airport experience to the actual flight is ugly, uncomfortable, cold, impersonal, inconvenient and passenger-unfriendly (and I'm not just talking about the security and freedom aspects). The final blow for me will be when they allow cellphone use in-flight, which is under serious discussion. Long hours on a flight to Europe or across the entire U.S.A. listening to some asshole shouting their private, boring business nonstop into their cellphone so the entire cabin can't miss hearing it. It bothers me on a short Manhattan bus ride, let alone NYC to LAX at 35,000 feet. And that ends my cranky rant for today.

[NMMNG]

35. Hear, hear

My wife and I traveled about a year ago. We took a flight for the first part of our trip. All the usual hassles at the airport, then a long flight crammed in like sardines.

We took a train for the second leg of our trip. Our departure was delayed an hour but we didn't care one whit because we were stretched out, each of us, across two seats, with a large table between us. Once we got underway it was pleasant going in the "Quiet Car" (there's no such thing on a plane). We read, napped, used our laptop, watched the landscape go by, and very much enjoyed the trip.

We're never flying again.

[PJPhreak]

36. I haven't been on an airplaine since 1967...

And have no intentions of ever doing so.

And it has nothing to do with terrorism,I just don't feel very comfortable on a flying Greyhound Bus.

The only way the airlines make money is the same way that Greyhound or any one of fifty Trucking Co's do...And that is to Run'Em Constantly If it ain't Flyin it ain't Payin!

Sorry I am not a Magnovox TV or a Case of Paper Towels,I would rather cross the ocean by renting a berth on a Merchant Marine Cargo Ship than fly in the upcoming Boeing Dreamliner (A Plastic Winged Passenger Aircraft,I wonder who Thunk THAT one up?) to get across the "Pond".

As to the Idea of building a BIG Passenger Aircraft with Carbon Fiber Wings and Fuselage Parts...Ask any Hi-Performance Bicycle Rider (Either Mt.Bike-Cross Country/Downhill or Road Race) How well those new fangled Carbon Fiber Frames hold up after about a years worth of hard use!

Naaaa,I'll Drive or Sail Thanks.

[TexasObserver]

38. Recommend. Because you're right.

I avoid flying these days, because the experience has become such a disaster.

They keep failing to deal properly with good intel, but instead of blaming that, they try to fix the other end. They can't communicate among each other in government, so everyone who flies has to play Simon Says to satisfy the need to say they're doing something about the problem.

[pleah]

39. Never been on a plane.

Don't care anything about flying.