Commercial air travel has to be one of the biggest scams perpetrated on humanity. We figured out train travel centuries ago. Everything that's come after that, whether automobiles or airlines, is not comfortable, economic friendly, or affordable.
You pay 6x the ticket fare; arrive more than an hour before departure at ungodly hours, at an airport well outside town with no decent parking and absolute chaos in the drop off area; queue up to actually enter the damn place; queue up in a never ending check in lane; get harassed and penalised for having the audacity of carrying luggage on a trip; queue up in the security lane; empty your pockets; fish out your laptop, tablet and mobile phone, laying them out in trays, all the while worrying someone is going to flick them; get X rayed and groped (thank God I'm done having children); witness your favourite nail clipper, the one that doesn't leave your nails scratchy like a cat's, being thrown into a dustbin; repack your bag; walk for miles to get to your gate; get checked Again; get on a crowded bus that jolts around all the way to your flight; get checked AGAIN; fight to find a place for your hand baggage; get dirty looks from the air hostess for having your phone on; and squeeze past your co-passengers.
All this for what? For the most miserably small seat ever invented. How small? You can't even adjust your ass an inch throughout your flight small. And the seat won't recline because you are in front of the emergency row.
And then you get overcharged for stale cold food. Not to mention the stale air interspersed with bursts of gases (formerly packaged inside humans or tin cans).
And then the lady to your right wants your arms off the armrest so she can put her arm on the armrest. Like she's the maharani of Jodhpur.
Train travel is so much vastly better, no comparison would do justice. Whether you take the train in India or in Canada, you drive/bus into a station in the center of town, and within minutes are walking into your compartment. You did not get checked, frisked, or submit to any sort of state sponsored sexually exploitative security theatre. You get a full flat bed, ample space for your luggage, fresh linen, warm food, and the occasional breath of natural fresh air whenever you want it. You get woken up only once, to attend to the ticket checker, not every time someone next to you decides to crawl over your toes on the way to the restroom. And you can stretch your legs by walking all the way to the dining car for your hourly snack.
I mean, how does this industry even survive? The airports are no longer subsidised. The fuel isn't subsidised. The aircraft manufacturers aren't on government dole. People are actually paying to travel cattle class?!?
Oh God. Someone farted again. I've got to go throw up.
But before I leave, the parting shot. So where does all this take you? You endure this misery to get where? The Bengaluru International Airport. But there's nothing Bengaluru about it, being separated from the metropolis by a 60km wide glacier of traffic. And there definitely isn't anything international about it. So what's in store for me after I land? A road endurance test that will last longer than the actual flight.
Damn it Indian Railways. Why did you not conform my tatkal ticket and subject me to this never ending nonsense.
You pay 6x the ticket fare; arrive more than an hour before departure at ungodly hours, at an airport well outside town with no decent parking and absolute chaos in the drop off area; queue up to actually enter the damn place; queue up in a never ending check in lane; get harassed and penalised for having the audacity of carrying luggage on a trip; queue up in the security lane; empty your pockets; fish out your laptop, tablet and mobile phone, laying them out in trays, all the while worrying someone is going to flick them; get X rayed and groped (thank God I'm done having children); witness your favourite nail clipper, the one that doesn't leave your nails scratchy like a cat's, being thrown into a dustbin; repack your bag; walk for miles to get to your gate; get checked Again; get on a crowded bus that jolts around all the way to your flight; get checked AGAIN; fight to find a place for your hand baggage; get dirty looks from the air hostess for having your phone on; and squeeze past your co-passengers.
All this for what? For the most miserably small seat ever invented. How small? You can't even adjust your ass an inch throughout your flight small. And the seat won't recline because you are in front of the emergency row.
And then you get overcharged for stale cold food. Not to mention the stale air interspersed with bursts of gases (formerly packaged inside humans or tin cans).
And then the lady to your right wants your arms off the armrest so she can put her arm on the armrest. Like she's the maharani of Jodhpur.
Train travel is so much vastly better, no comparison would do justice. Whether you take the train in India or in Canada, you drive/bus into a station in the center of town, and within minutes are walking into your compartment. You did not get checked, frisked, or submit to any sort of state sponsored sexually exploitative security theatre. You get a full flat bed, ample space for your luggage, fresh linen, warm food, and the occasional breath of natural fresh air whenever you want it. You get woken up only once, to attend to the ticket checker, not every time someone next to you decides to crawl over your toes on the way to the restroom. And you can stretch your legs by walking all the way to the dining car for your hourly snack.
I mean, how does this industry even survive? The airports are no longer subsidised. The fuel isn't subsidised. The aircraft manufacturers aren't on government dole. People are actually paying to travel cattle class?!?
Oh God. Someone farted again. I've got to go throw up.
But before I leave, the parting shot. So where does all this take you? You endure this misery to get where? The Bengaluru International Airport. But there's nothing Bengaluru about it, being separated from the metropolis by a 60km wide glacier of traffic. And there definitely isn't anything international about it. So what's in store for me after I land? A road endurance test that will last longer than the actual flight.
Damn it Indian Railways. Why did you not conform my tatkal ticket and subject me to this never ending nonsense.