Heat and Air Travel

Heat

Man, it has been hot in Metro DC this past week. It has regularly been over 90 degrees and the humidity has not helped. I was able to contrast the heat here yesterday with that of Toronto, where I had to go for business and it was quite a difference. It felt warmer in DC stepping off the plane after midnight that it felt in Toronto at noon.

Air Travel

I have travelled quite a bit over the past 7 years for the various companies I have worked for and business travel has become fairly unbearable. It used to be merely inconvenient but now it is downright deplorable.

Yesterday I experienced a 45 minute delay leaving DC because the flight attendant didn't show up for work. I agree that this is not the airline's fault that an individual employee screwed them over. I point this out only because 7 of my last 9 flights have experienced a significant delay for one reason or another.

Coming back home, the pilot of the plane was asked to deliver some parts that were needed for planes located at Dulles Airport. We were told it would be 5-10 minutes before the parts arrived. 20 mintues later, the pilot announces that they still say the parts are 5-10 minutes away. We finally push back from the gate after waiting 45 minutes and take off a full hour late. When your plane is departing at 11 PM, this is a big difference.

Once airborne, the pilots typically turn off the Fasten Seatbelt sign after the plane reaches cruising altitude. On the 53 minute flight with no turbulance, our pilot decided to keep the light on for an extra 20 minutes for no apparent reason (remember, this is following a 1 hour delay on the ground). Take into account that planes board 20-30 minutes before scheduled takeoff and it had been approximately 2 hours of time on the plane without an opportunity to move around. The reason I mention all this is because over such a time span, certain biological functions naturally occur and one will likely need to relieve oneself. Also note that if you have taken a previous flight, you may have just come in with a tight connection schedule, and it is likely that when you consider descending, deplaning and moving to the new gate, that it has more likely been close to 3 hours between times with access to a restroom.

Unfortunately, I do not see much hope for better prospects in the future. Even the friendly airlines such as Southwest and JetBlue had significant delays the last time I flew them. At least they are nice about it and try to keep you informed.