WTFWJCVDD – Edition Twenty-Two

I’ll Wait at Home

If there is one thing that I have never understood it’s peoples extreme desire to arrive at an airport two hours before their flight is supposed to depart. I have never once been on a flight that has left early. On top of that, I can’t think of more than one time out of twenty or thirty flights that the plane has actually taken off on time. Yet everyone has this urgent, panicked rush to make it to the airport early enough to sit and wait for an hour and half, only extending their time spent traveling.

Additionally, the extra time wasted waiting in the airport inevitably makes you hungry or thirsty for a beer. It turns out, a simple 12 oz cup of Miller Lite in the airport costs $9.00. An average keg of Miller Lite costs about $80. A keg has roughly 200 beers at $9 a pop is $1800. So they’re making over twenty times their cost! I blew $80k on a college education and have been working 50+ hours a week for the past two years and this whole time I could have just opened up a bar in an airport and stole money.

On my most recent ticket, it read in fine print, “Make sure to arrive at airport 1hr 30min to 2 hrs prior to flight”. Of course they want you to arrive early, you waste your time, are hungry in the process, and spend a killing on a sandwich. Sounds like a fucking scam to me and I don’t buy it.

Another reason it makes no sense to get to the airport that early is because airports simply aren’t busy enough to require that kind of early commitment. Air travel is down dramatically – the ATA recently reported that domestic flights have decreased 18% in the last 9 months. That’s one reason they are charging people $15 to check their luggage each way. How fucking crazy is that? You pay for a plane ticket to take you to a destination. The plane is already going to the location planned, and has enough room to fit bags that people want to bring with them below the plane. That’s like paying to go skydiving, then having to pay extra for your parachute – they kinda go hand in hand. At $400 a ticket, I think they can take enough money out of there to pay the guys that play ring toss with my luggage without having to make me pay a 10% extra fee to bring clothes with me on my trip.

This whole system is spiraling out of control. I’m willing to bet that in a short time airlines will start charging to use the bathroom. I hope they do because the second that happens, I’ll gladly pay the price and kindly piss on every single inch of that bathroom. If this becomes a reality, I suggest if you spot me on a plane and you need to use the bathroom, you do before I get to it.

Until the next Kumate…

For your consideration:
When people start using flying cars, wouldn’t it make sense to keep your normal car and avoid the traffic?


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