Quote:
Originally Posted by mechman600
Drive to the airport (or drop your car off at a friend's house and have him/her drive you to the airport) - 1/2 hr, check in - 1/4 hr, wait - 3/4 hr, get on the plane and wait - 1/2 hr, fly, wait for bags - 1/2 hr, rent your ride - 1/2 hr, drive to your destination -1/2 hr. That's another 3-1/2 hrs on top of the actual flight.
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And who's being an effing optimist now? My own experience (extrapolated a bit since I haven't flown commercial since they instituted the TSA):
Get to airport: about 1 hour from home.
Check in & security: 1-2 hours, minimum.
(Understandable reactions to security: anything from going home to jail time.)
Waiting for next flight 'cause the one you were scheduled for either was canceled, is overbooked, or has already left: about 1 in 5 chance of delay up to 8 hours.
Boarding & taxiing: 1/2 hour or more. 2 hours if you happen to be departing Dallas and there are tornados sighted - and isn't an airplane sitting on a taxiway a FUN place to wait for a tornado to hit?
Sitting on the ground for hours at a small airport in Iowa 'cause Chicago (where you're supposed to catch your connecting flight to London) is shut down due to T-storms.
Finally arriving in Chicago to discover your connecting flight has left. Having airline people tell you you can get on another flight leaving from a different terminal. Spending 1/2 hour getting to other terminal, only to find that flight has left. Airplane people say oh, the next one is back at the gate you started from, better hurry.
Arriving, wait an hour for bags. In Geneva discover your luggage is in Brussels, or maybe Moscow. Arriving home, find your luggage is somewhere, probably, but not here.
Then there are the pleasures of air travel itself: getting to sit between two obese people, having the guy in front recline his seat while your tray's down, having the people with the squalling infant in the next row decide to change its diaper in their seats...