Flying with No Shoes

Fly Like An Eagle - Steve Miller Band

I am not a particularly good flyer. I'm not an engineer or blind believer so when I see planes in the sky I expect them to fall. Yes I have been known to duck when hearing one overhead.

You throw a rock into the air and it falls. An airplane is heavier than a rock (a bit)! Even a aerodynamically designed airplane comes crashing down eventually. I get that it isn't exactly the same thing, but that is the basic premise of my fear. 

Beyond that is the human factor. We are not perfect and prone to errors in judgement and execution. Consider for a moment the recent scare with faulty ignition switches in a popular American manufactured vehicle. If that can happen in cars, it can happen in airplanes. Add to that human error, weather phenomenon and these days terror attacks and it is surprising that more planes aren't falling from the skies. 

If I have to soar among the clouds I would rather have the freedom to spread my wings and soar like an eagle. Protected from predators on the ground wanting to shoot me down. That's not going to happen, and yet, I still fly. Not particularly often and out of necessity rather than pleasure. For pleasure, I would much rather travel under my own power and control or by rail. I would throw by sea into that mix but that mode is still a dream to me now.

It's Christmas and road travel can be precarious with unpredictable weather and so I booked a flight to go see my kiddies almost 2,000 km away. I think I did well, non-stop flight (landings and take offs are the most dangerous) at a decent price. Spirits were soaring as I wrapped the gifts that had been selected with care and love. Local goods not available in the mass market, I proudly supported my local merchants. The bag was packed  2 days before departure leaving just personal items to be packed. 

When to my horror did arrive a confirmation email from the airline stating the dimensions of allowable carry on baggage. Old news, I knew there were size restrictions and the bag I had packed was bigger and I knew would have to be checked. Recent terrorist activities have brought about significant changes in the way we travel. Sad but I get the safety issues that have arisen. And I knew that accordingly my suitcase must be checked. Liquids and wrapped packages are not allowed on-board the plane.

But the email wasn't very clear about the procedures for checked bags. All that was clear was the cost for oversized, overweight and extra baggage. Panicked, I called the airline. What about my single bag that was not oversized or overweight but larger than carry on? 

All checked bags subject to $25.00 plus tax charge. Say what? 



According to the representative this new charge was put in place earlier in the year when other major carriers did the same so that they could remain competitive. I am far from a marketing specialist but does this make sense to anyone? Not satisfied with that logic I pressed on and was told the extra charge was needed to keep up the comforts and conveniences of the lounge area in the airport. Pardon my inexperience in this area but if plans were not delayed for mechanical, personnel or weather issues, why is a lounge area even necessary? Yeah, yeah connecting flights. Sorry, not buying the logic there. 

If 5 people out of 30 passengers pay the extra fee for baggage you still have to have the business expense of hiring staff to deal with those bags. You need the same equipment regardless of the numbers. Call it what it is....a money grab.

So, the airlines have removed any excess room to accommodate a growing (in size) population, and forced the passengers to stow their own bags. Flights have been delayed and turned around due to on board turf wars. Somewhat understandably, as reclining  seats easily infringe upon anothers personal space. There simply doesn't seem to be enough room in the cabin for all the carry-on people must bring with them. Add to that the fact that seats are so compressed that no one beyond a pre-pubescent teen less than 5'2" tall can fit comfortably. But society in general is increasing, not only girth but in stature. There is no wonder that products such as the Knee Defender have become popular for travellers. That particular gizmo prevents the passenger in the seat in front of you from reclining their seat. Quite frankly the time is past for the option of reclining seats. These days I think the concept of personal space is lost on the airline executives who fly first class in comfort, unaware of the gymnastics going on for average flyer. For hours, hips and knees are connected with complete strangers. Contortions are performed to turn the page of a book or have a sip of a beverage without elbowing your seat mate in the face or inadvertently coping a feel of breasts resting dangerously close to the invisible dividing line of the shared arm rest. Oh I love flying! lol

And don't get me started on the washrooms which have been downsized to the point where only double jointed 5 year olds could possibly fit in there to join the Mile High Club. The average adult meanwhile must perform complex gymnastics manoeuvres to turn around and wash their hands in the sink.

And for this privilege we pay ever increasing costs, receive fewer and fewer benefits for our money and suffer more and more inconveniences. Add at least an hour before a national flight to arrive at the airport, don't bring any food or beverages with you to compensate for the lack of amenities on the plane (but you can always purchase goods from the secured side for double or triple the cost). And learn to juggle that coffee and sandwich with your two carry bags, while you grip your boarding pass and official government ID in your teeth. Damn, is that the phone ringing? It better not be an alert from the airline that the gate or departure time has changed. Leave your toothpaste and shampoo at home unless you have paid a premium for the travel-size versions. Costco value-sized sunscreen be damn, you can pay for the concoction not approved by your higher government standards once you arrive at your destination.

I can abide by all these restrictions and cutbacks although with a snarl on my face and a curse on my lips. But what I can't forgive is travelling any where in any weather for any longer than 5 days with one carry-on bag (22x16x9in). Casual clothes, dress clothes, (one outfit each) toiletries, personal items and a few electronics or luxury items (deodorant) and your bag is full. You must decide before you travel how important comfort is to you. You can bring the warm jacket or the rain gear - would you rather be warm or dry? Comfort or style - can you handle a night on the town wearing your best formal wear with runners?

I Wish I could fit 3 pairs!

These are the questions I grappled with before this trip. The gifts were already purchased and wrapped do I leave them behind or unwrap them? In the end, I opted for a compromise. I would bring as many gifts as I could fit with a minimal amount of personal attire and check said bag. For the return trip I would save the cost and carry the bag with me as liquids and surprises would no longer be an issue. But that necessitated a complete re-think on the wardrobe choices. No room for the everyday purse or the warm footwear. The smaller handbag and comfort shoes took precedence. Now I ask you who can enjoy travel under those harsh conditions? One pair of shoes? Really? 

It would seem that I am not alone in being forced to pay the surcharge. At the baggage carousel there stood about 40 people waiting for checked bags. Not Including overweight and additional charges that Is about $1,000 in extra pocket change for the airline - on one flight, one way!

The bulky sweater was left behind, the hat and warm scarf didn't fit. So for Christmas in the centre of the Universe where the exhaust fumes should be enough to warm up the ambient air I will freeze. But please, don't think this is a call for the creature comforts for life in the north. I have plenty of warm gear back home in my other suitcase that I couldn't bring with me.

Wait until you see the size of the purse I buy for the next time I fly. My carry-on will dwarf it. This year on Boxing Day, I will be shopping at the luggage store! 

The Unfriendly Skies

Fly By Night - Rush

"Fly the friendly skies" That's what United Airlines encourages us to do. But there are no guarantees and lately it seems less likely then ever to be true. The skies are decidedly unfriendly to the commercial airline these days. Not to mention the animosity toward paying passengers. It seems that between terrorism, weather, ineptness and stupidity buying a airline ticket to anywhere is akin to buying into the national lottery. You might win, but there is a cost and sometimes the price is too high.

internet find

"Experience the difference" boasts Sunwing, but each time I fly (which admittedly is not often) I find the difference to be more and more distasteful on all airlines. It's not just the food which is crap that they want too much extra money for. It's the cramped seats and lack of leg room. As humanity as a whole grows in width and height, the seats we must cram ourselves into on public transportation is shrinking. That's good news for the airlines for they are forcing many to purchase 2 seats instead of one just to experience a modicum of comfort. Plus they can fit more seat paying passengers onto each aircraft. Putting on the seat belt entails giving your seat mate a personal side massage. The armrest which barely fits one arm rests on your conjoined thighs. If you have a foot larger than a child, you will spend most of the flight trying to find somewhere to put it as your legs must be extended for the tray table to be level and off your knees. Feeling a bit like a t-rex with tiny arms stretched out directly in front, you finally get your tiny laptop set up on the table with the snack you brought along with you and try to pass some time in the capsule. And lo and behold the bathroom rush starts. Timing is critical, all seatmates must file into the aisle with their arms full of tray table possessions - holding steady with an elbow perched on an unsuspecting head rest (or head). You pray that you won't encounter any sudden turbulence as all bored passengers observe your juggling technique. Where is the serving cart that blocks all passage? In a rush, you hope you will you be able to contain yourself as you stand in the queue? Now add the free beer and smaller planes of Porter airlines to that mix and you are in for an entertaining journey. Enough beer and you might forget the discomfort - good planning Porter! But it does mean potentially more bathroom visits. Just don't disembark and drive! 

Carl Sagan

But we are willing to forgive and forget the discomfort and inconvenience of the flight itself as long as we get were we want to go - fast. That's the idea in theory. Not always in practice however. Consider last Christmas in southern Ontario. A freak ice storm turned every surface into glistening hockey rinks, effectively shutting down the airport services. Leaving many stranded. Hard earned vacation days were spent sitting at the airport instead of the beach. If you were lucky you managed to get on another flight and spend at least a couple of days on the beach with a voucher for 10% off your next flight. Some spent Christmas living at the airport like Tom Hanks in Terminal. It seems that any rights you have as a passenger who is inconvenienced is dependent on the airline itself. Two would-be passengers on the same flight may get very different levels of acceptable compensation. In one case, a flight to and from a sunny southern destination was delayed by approximately 12 hours. The people stuck at the holiday airport were given their entire flight costs back. The people in Canada were offered a percentage off their next flight with the company. Why the difference? Well, the company (Sunwing) stated that it was more of a hardship for the people stuck so far from home. The others were able to wait it out at home. Ummm...not everybody lives so close to the airport. In fact some people can travel (or fly) great distances to get to a major airport. They are not home! Personally speaking it is a hardship, getting a ride to the airport once...never mind it becoming a personal transit route. Inconvenience is inconvenience. I do not understand the federal politicians not wanting to support some type of "bill of passenger rights". Probably because their first class accommodations don't require any battles for inconvenient travel compensation. 

Earlier this year, Malaysian flight #MH370 vanished into thin air (or deep waters) with nearly 250 people aboard. There have been comparisons to Amelia Earharts' disappearance in 1937 which has also never been found. However in this day and age of high tech gadgetry it seems more unbelievable that this would even be possible. Commercial aircraft have locator beacons that can be used in such a case - but they can be disabled and have a limited period of usefulness if they are on. Why spend the money to install them if they won't help in such conditions? The search has long since been called off with no answers forthcoming. Meanwhile countless numbers of friends, family members have lost (in the true sense of the word) all knowledge of the whereabouts and well-being of people who mattered. 

There is "Something special in the air" according to American Airlines but that special something may be something that you don't want or expect. As you soar above the clouds it seems that in some parts of the world you may have missiles and radar signals aimed at the wide body jet poised to bring you down. That passenger next to you could be the kook that has smuggled a new weapon of mass destruction aboard. If you are lucky, your flight will be turned back and stormed by the SWAT team. It happened with a Sunwing flight that had just left Canadian airspace when someone made bomb threats aboard. Ironically passengers spoke more of the fear brought by the on-board siege by the police than by being blown out of the sky. Remember the concept of good guys vs bad guys, people?

"Live today. Tomorrow will cost more." But does Pan American World Airways tell you that the cost could be to live your last day in the air. Whatever was on the agenda for the nearly 300 passengers aboard Malaysian flight 17 I doubt "die today" was at the top. But as they cruised far above a war zone, they were still within striking distance of military fire power. And with no goodbyes...down they came and not at their intended destination. Panic ensued and flights in the area were cancelled for a couple of days and then returned to normal as the caskets bearing the dead were transported on their true final flight. 

Weather was the downfall of Taiwan's TransAsia Airways flight GE222 that took with it 47 souls, including at least one which wasn't even aboard the plane. Wrong place at the wrong time. Or someone playing a game of chance with the lives of others. 200 other flights had been cancelled in the area due to poor weather conditions.

Maybe the pilot of the Air Algerie flight should have turned back when encountering poor weather instead of just requesting a different flight plan. I doubt that the new flight plan including an unscheduled stop in the middle of nowhere. Fortunately it was a relatively quick "Find the needle in the haystack" game that led to the location of another 116 unsuspecting flyers. 




500 people plus another 250 lost souls in plane fatalities, has me for one, questioning the safety of flight. I've always been one of those that looks up to the sky and engineering be damned, planes don't belong up there. And there are so many of them. The fact that there aren't more ground or mid-air collisions boggles my mind. Flying is something I tolerate rather than enjoy. So much can go wrong and although fatalities are lessening, my fear increases. Stories about sub-standard parts and used parts going into planes makes me uneasy. Pilots with not enough experience or not enough sleep botching landings. To be fair, with the exception of this most recent rash of fatal airline accidents, safety has been increasing steadily. In the five years prior to 2013 there was an average of 1 fatal accident in 1.6 million flights. That increased to 1 in 1.9 million flights. Considering that air traffic has increased and continues on the upswing, it is still perceived to be safe - weather concerns and war-zones aside. 3 billion people on 36.4 million flights last year with less than 50 crashes in all. And fewer fatalities in the year than in the past couple of months.  

So what are the options. For the number of vehicles on our roads and driver error and distraction being key factors, cars remain the most dangerous mode of transportation. No argument here, but having survived my share of collisions, and with the improvements in the safety of vehicles, I believe that my chances of survival are greater than if I fall out of the sky in a metal bird. And fatal accidents are declining with the inclusion of airbags and other safety features. For comfort and a measure of control over my destiny, I will ride the asphalt freedom trail.

Buses are wonderful for inner city travel but long distance has all of the appeal of a port-a-potty without an air freshener. With seats slightly more comfortable than restrictive quarters of an aircraft but that snoring or loud or obnoxious or smelly seat mate will be by you side for potentially hours or days - depending on where you are going. There is no escape. A walk of the aisle will take you seconds. And frankly I will never be able to get on a long distance bus ride ever again without thinking of the young passenger who was be-headed by a passenger who was carrying the weapon to do the deed. Security is non-existent in an era where security of self is on the fore-front of everyone's mind. Fatalities on the road would be just as likely as for cars but with long hours behind the wheel, driver fatigue can be more of an issue.  

somewhere in the eastern provinces
view from the dome car

So train it is for me. Yes, trains have been known to fall off the tracks and cause some unbelievable natural disasters and even claim unsuspecting civilians in their wake. There is no denying that danger exists. But statistics show that in Canada, most rail fatalities occur to cars or pedestrians playing chicken with the train. Where a train has the right of way and the public chooses to ignore it. Internationally the fatality rate on the iron ribbons is 0.4 in ever one billion passenger kilometres. 

Sunrise view from the train

But in truth, I like the train not because of the survival rate but because of the experience. Earlier this year I boarded a train for a 30+ hour ride through eastern Canada. It was a glorious experience. I first met Oliver, who was a charming young man originally from New Zealand and very knowledgeable on a variety of subjects. I admire intelligence and we spent many hours as seat mates, chatting about the world, Canada etc. Fascinating! We became friends and watched out for each other. I sure hope that everything works out for him and his cross-Canada relationships. In need of a first responder, I would call on Oliver first. There was a comedian in the dining car that had us all in stitches, there was the dome car where you could wander to take in the beauty as the countryside zipped past. I had meals with passengers that I got to know and enjoy when we moved into the bar car for a few beverages for dessert afterwards. You could walk around anywhere and stretch you legs or meet new people. Sabrina was my childrens' age and had many Nova Scotia friends in common with them. And did I mention the live entertainment? Yes, indeed a passenger was travelling with her harp and treated a gathered audience for an impromptu concert. Those kind of relationships just aren't formed on a "get me there quick" anonymous plane ride. 


Whether you are ensconced in metal or fibre-glass or a composite your chances of survival or minimal injuries is still far greater than if you are on two-wheels (motorized or not) or two-feet. Especially it seems in Halifax! Let's keep our eyes open out there. 



Be as safe as you can where ever you may go!











credit where credit is due:
Aviation Safety by the Numbers
http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/aviation-safety-by-the-numbers-1.2718687
Think slogans
http://www.thinkslogans.com/slogans/advertising-slogans/airline-slogans/
Is it safer to fly, drive or take the train
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/airline-safety-is-it-safer-to-fly-drive-or-take-the-train-1.1409337