I have the safest way to travel thing figured out but what I dont like is the fact that in the event of something going badly wrong your chances of survival are pretty slim. The worst part for me though is the cattle truck aspect. I am not particulalry tall, just under 6ft with inside leg of 32" but I can never get comfortable in those awful seats. I was lucky enough to get an upgrade on the way back from Seattle and would fly that way all the time if I could afford it. But I am most of us cant. So why not give people a bit more comfort and leg room? Okay we would have to pay a little more to make up the difference but I am sure we would all pay a few more quid for a more comfortable seat. And dont get me started at having to turn up at the terminal three hours before the flight.
Iâve never had a job that required me to fly at someone elses expense so itâs âCattle Classâ for me every time. Iâm 6â2" so have it worse than SoG.
A flight to Las Vegas a few years ago on Virgin Atlantic was typical. I was sat behind an old woman, (4â11" in high heels) she decided to take half of my travelling space by reclining her seat into it.
Now, in removing myself from this limited space it was impossible to stand upright and shuffle into the aisle. It required me to hang on to the back of her seat to swing myself athletically into the aisle. On my return I asked the old woman if sheâd kindly return he seat to the upright position as it was impossible to return to my seat. She told me she couldnât as I had broken her seat by puliing on it to get out of it. Facepalm moment.
I told her to press the seat-recliner button and wham! I set the seat upright at some force. 
Her sleeping husband woke with a start and said bizarrely, âDonât you swear at my wifeâ
âI swore at your wife? Pray tell me what the swear word wasâŚbetter still, go back to sleepâ
The last words I had with the old dear was to advise her to check with the person travelling behind her if they minded giving up what little space they had paid for. I didnât hear another word from her nor did she attempt to recline her seat again. 
Yeah, why the fuck do they have reclining seats on planes??
so you can put them back relax and enjoy the fact that you are completely fucking with the person behind you as well as allowing you to push the seat in front of you up as soon as the stewardessâs com round with food and drink t o annoy them as well.
Or if everybody laid back you all get the same amount of room and as you have a reclining seat your space is as far back as the seat goes that is the space you have paid for.
Troll. 
I donât mind air travel. When Iâm on my own itâs a great chance to watch a movie and read a good book.
My wife and I recently brought our 2 year old back to England to see the family and that was much more stressful. Not because she was a pickle on the flight, oh no. Because other people can be such assholes we ended up over compensating for everything and doing our damndest to eliminate any potential annoyance. We got some dirty looks when we boarded from people who are obviously far too important to travel with children! One person actually made a comment at the departure gate whilst I let her run around to her hearts content (why not? It was nearly bed time and she fell asleep after take off!) to which I did snap back suggesting that my mother had as much right to see her grandchild as anyone else and that the lady would owe me an apology when my daughter was well behaved on the flight. I didnât get one.
Originally posted by @PhilippineSaint
Originally posted by @BTripz
Yeah, why the fuck do they have reclining seats on planes??
so you can put them back relax and enjoy the fact that you are completely fucking with the person behind you as well as allowing you to push the seat in front of you up as soon as the stewardessâs com round with food and drink t o annoy them as well.
Or if everybody laid back you all get the same amount of room and as you have a reclining seat your space is as far back as the seat goes that is the space you have paid for.
Yeah, then why donât fecking trains have fecking reclining seats then? Maybe people like you should be a bit more receptive to the feelings of others, selfish c**tâŚ
Originally posted by @lifeintheslowlane
Troll.
OhâŚ
I can sort of understand the point of reclining seat on long haul, but why for the love of god does someone need to recline on a trip to Barcelona - the only good thind about ryan air is that their seats dont recline ever since Michael Oleary discovered he spent ÂŁ2m a year fixing them.
I have been fortunate enough to fly a lot of miles for work in business class - the down side is that once youâve turned left once and experienced the promised land, flying cattle class sucks balls.
I will never ever fly chartered on a long haul after a horrendous experience on a trip to mexico with Thomson. On the return leg thay had run out of beer, cider, wine, soft drinks and bottled water. The only thing avaiable was a water fountain thing with those stupid pyramid cups. the air crew couldnt give a shit either. tossers.
Originally posted by @Sadoldgit
And dont get me started at having to turn up at the terminal three hours before the flight.
This is why I pretty much only fly from Southampton now, if I can help it (and Flybe go to the desired location, of course). Normally rock up about 45 mins to an 1 hour before flight time and waltz straight through to Departures.
OK, the flights are often a little more expensive but a) itâs bloody worth it and b) itâs generally offset by the fact that you donât have to drive or get a train to London, reducing travel time/offsetting expenditure significantly.
Flights in the developing world can be a bit âedgyâ. I remember a lovely flight to Indonesia, travelling first class all alone in the top deck of 747, followed by the scariest flight Iâve ever been on, which was from a landing strip near Ambon, one of the spice islands. The runway was actually longer than the island, so it had a ramp - more like a speed bump - at the end of it to chuck you into the air.
This was made all the more ominous by what turned out to be my first experience of durian fruits. I boarded the plane and was hit by this overwhelming smell of rotting corpses - or so I thought. Travelling on a badly piloted plane full of dead people felt like a journey into Hades.
Iâm always nervous when I fly PIA (Pakistan International Airways - or as theyâre known locally: Please Inform Allah). Theyâre the only international airline I know whoâve been stupid enough to land a Boeing 747 having forgotten to lower the landing gear.
PIA do have the worst reputation by far, rats on the plane being the worst thing Iâve heard of. Also saw a news article online today about how PIA crew on an Islamabad to Karachi flight got in an argument with passengers and refused to take off and then proceeded to turn off the a/c while they sat on the tarmac for several hours.
All this someone else picking up the bill travel is all very well but pre 1977 travelling to the US meant you had to pay what the major carriersâŚBritish Airways, Pan Am, TWA decided or join an Air Charter Club to get your flight a little cheaper.
Those major carriers operated a cartel courtesy of the CAA and the FAA to keep fares artificially high and exclude other airlines that wanted to provide a scheduled operation at price the average Joe could afford. Finally in 1977 Freddie Laker got his licence to launch his âSkytrainâ budget route to New York and it ran profitably for 5 year or so until the major carriers decided to collude in a price war to drive him out of business. They succeeded with the help of a recession but Richard Branson has also found competeing with the big boys is not easy.
When I first went to the US in 1976 I had to book my A.B.C (Advanced Booking Charter) 6 months in advance as part of the regulations. The alternative was to pay around ÂŁ500 return on a scheduled British Airways flight. I paid ÂŁ157 open jaws (to NY return from SF) by Laker Airways. Oh yeahâŚonly allowed to take ÂŁ300 out of the country too.
HuhâŚkids today have it easy.
As you appear to be a well traveled lot I have been invited to a wedding in Bali (via Singapore for pre wedding do) at the end of October but only have a weeks leave I can take. Know anywhere I can get some amazing deals? Or shall I resign myself to being overdrawn for longer.
I heard Vietnam airlines had taken delivery of a large fleet of new planes and were offering some crazy deals. It would mean a stopover in Hanoi, although that in itself would be fun.
I should also say that the London singapore route direct is one of the busiest and therefore more expensive
Indeed, but for obvious reasons the ones via Kuala Lumpur are pretty empty.
The Great Boarding Pass revolt.
Duty free is not cheap shopping like it used to be. Take a bottle of gin. Chances are you will be able to buy this cheaper in a supermarket offer. The only reason to buy in duty free is if you wanted a bottle of something in your holiday apartment.
Oh whilst weâre on the subject, electronic check in, what is the fricking point.
On our recent family excursion I checked in electronically weeks before the flight, the printed tickets said that when we checked in we didnât have to turn up en-masse as a family, one person could do it.
So having 3 children with us, 2 in pushchairs, I left them with their mother and rocked up to the checkin with our hold baggage. After 10 mins of queuing I finally get to the check in desk only to be told that they had to see everyone in the family! I pointed out the bit on the printed electronic checkin and they said that it wasnât right and that they needed to see our passports (this despite the fact that when you check in electronically you have to put in your passport details and then your passport is checked when you go to the check in gates!!)
Anyway, I stood at the check in desk and phoned the missus and she bought the family over, all this to a good few evil stares from people around me 
As a single traveller electronic check in is great as I have used it several time before but for more than one I ask *WHAT IS THE POINT*?
As has been said, my major issue with it is just how crammed in you are. Iâm 6"3, so generally any form of public transport just isnât built for me.
Flying to & from Australia was pretty darn close to hell. Obviously made worse by the relatively recent knee op, which of course, swelled up massively. All good fun.
I also have really rubbish ears, so the pressure at landing is agony, and itâs not uncommon for me to be almost deaf for a day or two afterwards. Other than that, flyingâs wicked.