To the Airline Industry

Reading a story on the Consumerist today about United raising their charge for a second bag from $25 to $50 reminded me of something else.

After staring at Google maps for about fifteen minutes last night, the mister and I determined that we will be driving to Wisconsin from here the next time we go to visit, which will probably be sometime around the holidays. Yeah, between gas and a couple of hotels there and back, it will probably cost somewhere in the neighborhood of what flying would cost. Yes, that's true, but that's not what this is about.

We won't, however, be supporting an industry that insists on continuing to treat their customers like cattle, nickle and dime us and act like we should be thankful for the opportunity, and the overall airport security system that believes that acting like bullies and treating everyone like a criminal is an acceptable way to keep the peace.

When you drive, you're on your own terms. You stop and eat if you want to (paying what you choose to pay for a wide variety of foods which are either in the car with you in a cooler or the stuff that's available at restaurants along the way). You take as much or as little as you can fit in the car you've chosen to own, and no one has the right to stop you and paw through your things to take away dangerous things like water, sterile feeding tubes, knitting needles, or tweezers. No one can check your name against a list of people to determine if you have the right to travel on the conveyance you've already paid to use. (Don't get me started on how easily a terrorist can get fake ID and subvert the no-fly list.) Even if something goes wrong with your car, you still have control over how it gets resolved and what happens to you in the interim.

No one hates being stuck in a car for long trips more than me, and I'd still rather drive just about anywhere than take a plane flight, even if the stupid thing was given to me for free.

I'm sure this information comes as no surprise to anyone reading this, as you've all undoubtedly heard me complain about the decline of the airline industry and the violations of privacy and decency endemic in the TSA "system" before, but when I see things getting worse and not better, you can believe that I'll probably just keep bitching about it more.