3 Ways to Take the Fun Out of Travel

Recently I traveled to the Midwest for a family reunion using Frontier airlines to get there. Before hand I was ecstatic; I love to fly, the environments of airplanes and airports are amazing to me. All the different types of people together in one place, culture and worldliness, a bigger sense of self, I love it. But everything is changing on the air lines and its not for the better.

1. Nothing is Complimentary
I remember a time when they would give you a little snack, a drink, a blanket and or pillow if you wanted, and a free on flight movie. Not anymore, it cost 2 dollars for one little cup of drink, 3 dollars for a tiny bag of m&m's, and 6 dollars for a movie. Why? Is making money that necessary? The big business of travel and ruining the adventure for passengers. It is no longer the pleasant life changing experience that it used to be. Greed has taken over. The corporation should, at least I think, tone down on the obsession with money focus more on the people they are transporting.

2. The Change of Baggage Policies.
Nothing on the website front and center, but deep with in the rules and regulations of the frontier travel guide there is a big change to the baggage policies. No longer is it free for carry on's, and 30 dollars for a checked bag. Unbeknownst to many travelers it is now 35 dollars for a carry on and 20 dollars for a checked bag. People are misinformed and having to hand over money for bags,  and its stupid. The reasoning behind the change is to speed the boarding process up and I respect that. But if you are going to make such a big change you need to inform the travelers ahead of time. I cannot tell you how many people I saw having to swipe credit cards to pay for their bag.

3. Advertisement and Commercialism.
When I first sat down in my seat I noticed a little TV right at eye level in the seat in front of me. Playing cute little animation during the safety talks and pictures of clouds. Well, that's pretty cool right? Wrong, there's no movie paying unless you want to pay an obscene amount of money. So the entire flight you have the same Frontier and Volkswagen commercial playing over and over and over again for 5 hours. You cant turn it off, and you cant turn the brightness down its just right there, right in front of your face, the whole flight. I'm still a little bitter at this point. I felt as if I was in Fahrenheit 451.

flying is flying, anywhere you go. The whole trip was still very fun and I enjoyed looking at the earth from high above, and conversing with people from all over. The community and energy in airports and on each flight was very enjoyable. I just wish that everything wasn't so big business driven.