Why Does Flying Suck?
October 28, 2025
There’s that expression, “pissing into the wind.”
Since I began writing about commercial aviation, over twenty years ago, my foundational motive has been an evangelical one: encouraging people to rediscover the greatness of air travel. I’m well acquainted with the hassles and indignities of flying, and these too I’ve discussed at length. But what underlies my work is a seldom heard plea to reevaluate, and maybe even savor, the idea of getting on a plane. A newspaper once described me as “an air-travel romantic.” I can’t deny it.
“As a writer-pilot,” I said to an interviewer in 2004, “I hope to restore an appreciation for the airplane as part of the greater experience of travel.” Perhaps that’s too tall an order, but can’t we at least acknowledge the impressiveness of it? We live in an age when people can travel halfway around the world in a matter of hours, in almost absolute safety, at a cost of pennies per mile. Spend a little more to sit up front, and you relax in stupendous comfort. How is this not remarkable?
Well, remarkable as it might be, I worry it’s not enough. I’m afraid the bad simply outweighs the good, never giving people the chance to consider another perspective. They just don’t have the patience. My mission is a failed one, I suspect.
And I shouldn’t be surprised. We’ve worked pretty damn hard to make flying as tedious and infuriating as possible.
Our propensity to sabotage what could be, and should be, an enjoyable experience, seems to worsen every year. And the saddest part is, it doesn’t need to be this way. The lines don’t have to be so long. The delays don’t have to be so frequent. The security rules don’t have to be so stupid, or the noise levels so aggravating. But we make them so. Flying doesn’t have to suck, yet we insist on it.
What’s the most dreadful part? That’s subjective, I suppose, but I can offer you an opinion on what, to me, are the three worst things to happen to commercial air travel since the dawn of the Jet Age:
REGIONAL JETS
Number three on my list is the advent of the regional jet. Starting in the 1990s, advances in engine efficiency meant that smaller jets with a few as 50 seats could now be operated profitably. This changed the way airlines did business, farming out huge swaths of domestic capacity to contract carriers (the various “Express” and “Connection” outfits) flying what came to be called “RJs.” These planes have always been reliable, safe, and technologically sophisticated, but they’re a sub-par product compared to mainline jets, with tight cabins, limited luggage space and minimal onboard service.
In the old days, turboprop “commuter” planes, as we called them, fed passengers into the big hubs from outlying satellite cities. Suddenly, with the longer range and higher speeds of RJs at their disposal, carriers began deploying them even on mainline routes. Why use a Boeing or an Airbus when you could throw a couple of RJs on a route, flown by a contractor that paid its workers next to nothing?
Their proliferation dragged down wages for tens of thousands of employees. RJ pilots often earned less than $20,000 annually, and working conditions at many regional carriers were dire. Things have improved significantly over the last few years, but an entire generation of workers suffered.
And while those commuter turboprops could fly at low altitudes and use shorter runways, more or less staying out of the way, RJs share the sky with the big jets. Thus they’ve been a huge contributor to delays and congestion — maybe the biggest. At the height of RJ mania in the early 2000s, these mini-jets came to account for close to 50 percent of all commercial flights in the United States. That’s half of the flights carrying maybe twenty percent of the passengers — a terribly inefficient use of airspace and runways. Thankfully these numbers are more reasonable today, but hundreds of RJs are still out there.
TERMINAL RACKET
Next we have airport noise levels. This is the intangible one, but a big one nonetheless. It’s chiefly, but not exclusively, a U.S. phenomenon, and it’s gotten worse in recent years.
Beyond cellphone chatter and the occasional screeching kid, the typical airport terminal should be a relatively quiet place — no noisier than, say, a shopping mall. But we’ve managed to make it hellishly loud thanks to an infatuation with public address announcements, very few of which serve a useful purpose. It didn’t used to be this way.
The din starts in the concourse, where travelers are bombarded with music, promotional announcements, and pointless security advisories. Then, at the gate, at least a dozen mostly redundant PAs accompany the boarding process. There’s little relief on the plane, with cabin crew yapping orders as passengers stow their bags and settle in. Then comes the interminable safety demo, and yet another flurry of announcements. Your first thirty or so minutes onboard is spent being lectured to and barked at.
If even half of this clamor were helpful or informative, it could be excused. But it’s not. It’s nothing but noise, making an already stressful experience that much worse.
Corrosive as it is to travelers’ nerves, the effects can be subtle. You might not realize how loud the average U.S. airport is until you experience one of the more peaceful European or Asian ones. Something feels different… and then it dawns on you: it’s quiet. Some European terminals ban public address announcements completely, and most non-U.S. carriers, too, take it a lot easier with PAs on the plane.
Congrats to the few U.S. airports who’ve restricted the use of PAs. San Francisco, for one. Hopefully more will join.
SECURITY THEATER
But probably the single worst thing to happen to flying is post-9/11 airport security, and all of its foibles and foolishness. In the United States our punching bag is the TSA, but really this is global.
I’m in full agreement that some type of passenger screening is necessary. The monster we created, however, is not the answer. A system that treats every last passenger as a potential terrorist, and everything they carry as a potential weapon, is a ludicrous one, but that’s what we’ve got; an approach we’ve barely budged from in all the years since the attacks of 2001. The exasperating irony being that none of the checkpoint protocols in place today would have prevented the 9/11 hijackers from doing what they did.
I’ve written volumes on all the things wrong and wasteful about airport security. Most of it is obvious, and we’ve gotten so used to it that it hardly warrants repeating. But every now and then, the audacity of it hits you. The other day, watching a TSA guard confiscate someone’s toothpaste, I got to thinking: Have you ever considered the thousands of tons of supplies that are trucked into airports every single day? Food, beverages, alcohol, and endless amounts of retail inventory: all the crap for sale on the concourse. It’s verboten for a passenger to carry through a tube of toothpaste, yet mountains of goods aren’t given more than a cursory inspection.
Which is to be expected, because it’d be impossible to screen even half a percent of it with the same level of scrutiny we devote to passengers. Dare I suggest that a team of terrorists, with someone on the inside, working at a duty free shop or in a restaurant, could easily smuggle in something deadly, then pass it along to someone getting on a plane?
This is only one example of the holes in our security logic. The scenarios are endless. Meanwhile, TSA is micro-inspecting your toiletries. The whole thing is completely insane.
As I’ve always maintained, the true nuts and bolts of keeping terrorists away from planes takes place backstage, as it were, far from the airport. It’s the job of law enforcement and intelligence and international collaboration. It’s not the job of guards on the concourse. What the perfect checkpoint might look like is hard to say, but surely it’s not what we have.
Imagine a journey free of these three scourges. How different it all would feel.
Related Stories:
THE REGIONAL RECKONING
TERMINAL RACKET
WHAT IS AIRPORT SECURITY?
Photos by Daneil Shapiro, Aaskash Dhage, and Scott Fillmer, courtesy of Unsplash.
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39 Responses to “Why Does Flying Suck?”
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I believe that the worst thing to happen to commercial air travel was the introduction of overhead bins. In the 1960s you could board and off-board a full 707 in a quick, orderly and stress-free manner. No priority boarding needed. No boarding groups. No free-for-all struggle for bin space. No waiting for idiots struggling to fit massive suitcases into a space that obviously doesn’t fit. Boarding has become a nightmare on almost every flight!
The most fun I had going through TSA was when the conversation would go something like this:
ME: “So…When someone tried to build a bomb by mixing chemicals we were no longer allowed to bring liquids on board, right?”
TSA: “That’s right, Ma’am. It’s for your safety.”
Me: “So, when someone tried to light an explosive in his shoes we had to start taking off our shoes, right?”
TSA: “Yes, Ma’am. It’s for your safety.”
Me: “So when the guy put an explosive in their underpants, you didn’t change a thing. If you’re not going to look in my underpants, why do I still have to take my shoes off?”
TSA: Look on their face….PRICELESS!!!
Obviously, TSA is beyond logic.
Regarding “Security Theater”, some friends posted, “What was the DUMBEST thing that TSA confiscated when you went through security?” Me: Tiny (less than 2”) plastic scissors in a travel sewing kit. I was lectured, “NO SCISSORS EVER!” My sister: She accidentally left a Swiss Army knife in a carry-on day pack. It zipped right through screening…uh, you did make a VERY valid point!
Agree wholeheartedly on the terminal racket; it could be reduced by half if we communicated boarding zones via screens above the gate vs announcements, banned the use of the phrase “at this time” and the “final boarding call” was actually the final boarding call.
Also ruefully concur on the security theatre. I used to work airside operations at a major North American airport, and believe me, if a bad actor wanted to place something nefarious aboard an airplane, he or she could so easily gain a job at any number of airside providers and have easy access to any part of the apron.
As for regional jets, yes but they serve a very useful purpose: connecting smaller towns with large hubs. North America is a big place, and adequate passenger train service is essentially non-existent, so <76 seat jets are the only reasonable solution to provide service in most cases. It's the fault of the traveler and of the airlines that serve them, that they desire frequent service. It's the fault of low-time pilots that they accepted and encouraged the continuation of the poverty wage dynamic. You and I were both 500-hour keeners at some point – sadly not enough of our colleagues decided to take a moral stance; instead accepting shitty pay & working conditions for a coveted seat in the cockpit. You write as if the "big jets" have the airborne right of way, or some sort of ownership of the upper flight levels, but that simply ain't the case.
I find the mid size airports to be relatively peaceful. I fly into the Sunport in Albuquerque quite alot and find it quite nice. Regarding security, pre 9/11 I flew home from Stockholm. Before I could reach my gate, I was met by a young woman who asked a series of questions. Did I pack my own bag, why this plane etc. What I rember was her adking the same question many different ways yo try and trip me up. Helluva lot more effective than having a TSA officer checking to see if I took off my belt.
For short trips (I fly from SFO to Burbank or Portland regularly)I have an underseat duffle bag. For trips to the east coast, a small carry-on that easily fits in an overhead, and a small underseat bag for iPad and personal stuff. I have Clear and TAA pre. I fly economy plus. I’m always pleasant to the FAs, and they are to me. I’m 73, I still think flying is cool – and by keeping a low profile and paying for a few enhancements, it’s pretty easy. I do sometimes have to explain “those are drumsticks and brushes.”
A Granny cannot go through security with a gun, because it could do harm to people and the aircraft.
A Granny cannot go through security with a jar of her strawberry jam because it could be an explosive which could do harm to people and aircraft.
In the former case she will be arrested and grilled by law enforcement.
In the latter case, the jam is confiscated, thrown in a garbage can and she is sent on her way.
If they are both potentially deadly threats to the aircraft why is granny treated differently in both cases?
You’re right. Most announcements can be eliminated. A huge portion of passengers walk around with noise canceling headphones or earbuds and aren’t listening anyway. It’s perfectly illustrated by videos of several emergency evacuations. Despite coordinated shouting by Flight Attendants of our universal call, LEAVE EVERYTHING!”, passengers open bins and carry bags down a slide or out an exit window. If they don’t, or won’t listen to instructions designed to save their lives, why do we believe anyone listens to departure announcements in airports?
Piggybacking on ReadyKilowatt, what about deregulation? Seems to me this is why we have the bifurcation in prices (and service).
Re: Security theater…..I began flying with my new kitten in April of this year. We have had four trips so far and are taking another in December. Every time I take him through security they swab my hands for explosives whereas they never did that before. How are explosives even remotely related to a cat??
Interesting list! Definitely agree with noisy airports, but I’ve typically had good experiences with regional jets. But I hear what you’re saying about their impact on the overall system. I think TSA pre-check has made security much better — especially because people who go to the trouble of getting it tend to be more frequent flyers and know what they’re doing.
The things I think make flying suck are 1) crammed in seats, and 2) horrendous “food” in airports and on planes. I don’t think I need to say more about seat size/spacing. As for food, being at an airport in the US is basically being trapped with fast food and sketchy, soggy deli meat sandwiches. There are some exceptions (eg SFO), but in airports abroad there are fresher options. I recently flew Cathay Pacific in economy and the food was appetizing and recognizable, compared to a United flight I took this same year. Food is a basic need — it makes for a sucky experience to go without anything fresh or satisfying for hours or up to a day.
Sorry, Patrick, I have to quibble with one thing in any otherwise spot-on article: “Spend a little more to sit up front”. Uh, it’s more like spend 3-5 times, which I’ll admit, is sometimes worth it (long-haul international). Couldn’t agree more on the rest of your observations.
Keep fighting the good fight on airport noise! The music and endless PA work in terminals is crazy-making. I can’t believe there’s a single person in America who would ask for background music in their airport. Portland (OR) has a music-free terminal and it is bliss — although sadly, we live on the other coast.
RJs seem fine for low demand routes, including longer ones. It’s nice to be able to take nonstop flights that wouldn’t otherwise exist. The thing that seems ridiculous is using RJs on busy routes. I just checked LGA-DCA flights on a random Weds in December. Delta has 7 nonstops and American 8, all on Embraer 175s. I get wanting to have lots of flights but given how busy those airports are it sure seems like there could be slightly fewer on larger planes. I also remember when transcontinental flights were mostly on 767s but now you mostly get 737s and A320s.
Can’t say I’d argue with any of your points.
I don’t fly on fly on RJs often, but don’t mind them at all. For one thing, the boarding process does not take a full 40 minutes like larger planes.
I like RJs (CRJ-900s and Embraer 175s), personally — FC on the left side you get both window AND aisle.
I was travelling through DTW last month, and alongside all the Delta Connection livery SkyWest RJs at the gates, I saw one in actual SkyWest livery. It was kind of surprising. I’m so accustomed to seeing the regional carriers in their disguises that seeing one in its own livery felt weird.
In years past, I seemed at times to have an airplane glued to my posterior—I ran up close to a half-million actual (not bonus) frequent-flyer miles on American Airlines in the 1980s (even had a gold AAdvantage card)—and there were plenty of overseas trips as well. That was back when air travel was often enjoyable, or at least tolerable. Service was mostly good, food was okay (outstanding on occasion) and other passengers acted like civilized human beings. People were well dressed, didn’t smell, and didn’t hassle the cabin crew.
These days, you could not get me on an airliner at gunpoint. 😀 Commercial air travel sucks big time, and not just for the reasons you enumerated. People are all-too-often rude a**holes who make cabin crews’ and other passengers’ existence miserable. A particular peeve is the passenger who is ignorant of the beneficial effects of using soap, water and deodorant. Then there are the ignorant parents who allow their spawn to annoy everyone on the plane by letting them run up and down the aisles, screeching at the tops of their lungs. I won’t even mention the folks who think that the overhead bins are their personal space.
I don’t fly anymore and don’t ever wish to subject myself to that milieu ever again. I’d sooner take Amtrak. Technologically speaking, air travel right now is fantastic. From a comfort standpoint, however, a 19th century cross-country trip via stagecoach is no worse.
Two points about these observations. One is that regional jets have been a blessing for people living in smaller cities. Before their advent, you could either drive 100-200 miles to reach a larger airport or take a piston-engine put-put (and being on such a plane–talk about noise!) that only had a few flights per day and these would be canceled if there was even a breath of wind. The other is the very considerable improvement in customs and immigration. I first returned to the US in 1977 and remember very well standing in line for hours and then having a lengthy argument with a customs agent about the tariff due on a bottle of brandy, which required the agent to consult a whole series of printed volumes listing appropriate tariffs, only for him to conclude the amount due was too small to be collected. Even if you’re not part of the global entry program–and especially if you are–coming into the US is now much quicker and simpler (of course assuming the administration doesn’t have something against you politically).
The noise at terminals for me has me ignoring announcements causing an anesthetic effect. I have missed more than one flight due to falling asleep at the gate.
Geezz Pat, you must have had some bad flying this month. It sounds like you are ready to retire and buy yourself an airplane and stay out of the major airports. Happy Holidays buddy
We put a bunch of psychopaths in the C-suites of most large corporations, including airlines. Gave them one rule: Make more money for the shareholders. So when we complain that it feels as if some sadistic tyrant is running some sort of experiment on the general public, one that sees just what we’ll accept for a $3 cheaper ticket, why are we surprised when that’s the outcome? Oh, but we can fly to Disney World for $29.99! Who cares if we have to sit on a bed ‘o nails while verbally humiliated by the flight crew the entire trip, it’s just that cheap!
I find it truly amazing that the one thing that could fix this dilemma, raising prices and running with a few fewer souls aboard, isn’t an option. Not even test marketed. You can pay $50 or $5000, no reasonable in-between.
Regionals should fly in their own colors and interline [code share] with ALL part 121 carriers just as the local service carriers did up to deregulation. It should be obvious who is really flying the plane. Regionals owned by the majors should be merged into the major or spun off.
I maintain it is not the regional jet aircraft but the cheapo regional jet carriers that are the issue. At the very least they should be required to operate under their own names, no “Express” or “Connection” and no wearing the uniforms of the airline they are sub-contracted to, they have to operate as “Skywest” or “Endeavor Air” or whatever their real name is. This would bring transparency as often several companies will operate under the same name but with wildly different safety histories and qualities of service.
So we board these magical metal devices that hurl themselves down a runway, leaping into the sky at just the right moment. A few hours later, we are thousands of miles away. If this ain’t livin’ large, folks, your sense of perspective needs adjusting.
And what do we do? We bitch. We piss, and we moan, and complain. We even might pay double or triple for a few more inches of legroom. Or demanding to be treated by attendants like we were something more than ordinary citizens, imagining ourselves in some sort of luxury hotel.
Sheesh, people! Most of the time, it’s just a couple of hours! Where is the sense of wonder? Why are comfort expectations so high? Why demand the luxurious comfort of a very fine living room – perhaps more comfortable than what we have at home?
On your three points I am in complete agreement. I’d just add that the gate lice really annoy me 😉 The very folks most likely to complain and they just cannot wait to get on the plane!
I’ve certainly afforded myself the joy of upgrading on a long haul flight. I know this; it was a very lovely experience. It was. First class (on points!) from JFK to BOM, 17-½ hours, for instance. But RSW to ATL? Really?
I love airplanes.
On the noise front you should count yourself lucky if you don’t have to fly Ryanair regularly. I can’t bear it without noise cancelling headphones as it seems like half the flight is sales pitches for duty free, catering and lottery tickets.
Luckily here in Europe we’ve largely avoided the scourge of RJs but we’ve now got a new craze of transatlantic narrow bodies. Thankfully a 737 can only stay up long enough to do a small number of very short crossings but 8 or 9 hours in the middle seat of some form of A321 is no fun at all.
There’s always going to be people who are disdainful of modern art.
I don’t know if it’s a cause or an effect, but I’d add, “Airlines putting passengers in competition with each other for scarce resources.” Gate lice, luggage space, seat-reclining etiquette…the list goes on. I’m pre-mourning Southwest’s switch away from numbered boarding to “reserved” seating.
Why leaving out immigration control? Sometimes an hour, perhaps two, standing in line to get into the the US or the EU.
I haven’t flown since January 2017. The combination of delays, increasing fares and fees, computer issues, cramped seating, terminal noise, and the godforsaken security theater just one day led to me saying I would never fly again. And I haven’t. And I haven’t missed the experience. I used to enjoy flying, but in the post 9/11 age, it simply became worse and worse.
The noise problem is so bizarre for how fixable it is, but here we are. I’d love a journalist to interview the CEOs of the top ten US airports just to find out why they think this is acceptable.
Not to mention that flight announcements are now peppered with commercials to the captive audience, whether for the airline you’re already giving your business to, or its frequent-flyer program, or its frequent-flyer credit card, “corporate partners”… granted I’m getting older and grumpier, but I’ve sacrificed the packing volume and begun bringing my over-the-ear noise-canceling headphones.
@Rob shout out to Albert Heijn in Amsterdam, a full supermarket that charges the same prices as every other location (albeit outside security).
And yet, for all the annoyances and inconveniences, I will never lose the excitement of sitting at the end of runway, hearing the engines power up and feeling that thrust of acceleration towards lift off. I’ve experienced that moment many times in my life, from an A380 at Heathrow to a 727 at Truk, and it’s thrilling every time.
But, yeah, fewer pointless announcements would be welcome.
My last RJ flight was frankfurt to a minor city in poland. I rather enjoyed the RJ aspect: we boarded and deplaned directly from/to open air tarmac, it was quite warm in poland so after landing the pilots got out ASAP and were hanging out in the shade of the fuselage. rollaboards were collected at departure gate by a very stern flight attendant and were forced to check. She let my soft leather carryon go and I was just able to cram it into an overhead. After landing and before we got on the bus, rollaboards were retrieved from the hold and everyone grabbed their bag off the tarmac.
In short, a very different and more engaging experience than the usual corporate mcflight deal. Helps that I had a window seat and of course the RJ flew lower and the view was good.
I too would prefer to be a passenger on a modern widebody than on a regional jet. However, what is the alternative? Presumably many destinations now served by regional jets don’t have the passenger volume to justify larger aircraft, and for those smaller cities, RJ service is better than no air service at all.
Trains cannot be flown into the sides of building, killing thousands of people.
I take 50-60 flights a year from various airports (but ultimately London based). LGW security & LGW // LHR immigration queues were twin tormentors a decade ago. Security would tediously eat 30 min and then frequently over an hour for immigration — to neither taking longer than 4 or 5 minutes for the past few years. LGW security is one of the fastest in the world these days. So there are occasional bright spots
On the flip side: JFK has marginally improved on either front (esp if you don’t have Global Entry). Amsterdam immigration is often a sh1t show.
I would add to your list financialization of airport concession. Its particularly crazy in the US and certain European airports like CDG. $9 for a bottle of water // $55 for a burger and glass of wine – crazy, and offensive. I love Japanese & Korean airports where airside Family Marts are charging virtually the same prices as their landside locations.
Interestingly, trains, which in most countries have zero security checks, have very few incidents of terrorism.