I've just finished my third roundtrip since the attack. Saturday and Sunday FLL, TPA and ATL were chaotic. All my flights had cancellations or delays. US seemed to be less problematic than DL with getting to some semblance of a normal schedule. Everyone seems to have more patience and is more friendly. My concern for the airlines is that planes are 20~30% full unless multiple cancelled flights fill the flights. I worry that rather than returning to normal, what I may be seeing is the new norm. I fear more flights may soon be dropped from the schedules.

I just had my first flight to the U.S. and the emotions of the FA's were quite different than their Euro counterparts. I was on UA and spent some time up front talking with them. The purser who has 15 years with UA and more with Pan Am said she really didn't want to take this flight. She was quite afraid til after the flight got up and going OK. Now she says that flying is her chosen career and she won't give it up due to terrorists.

I'll write something up in trip reports about this flight.

It's funny how time heals everything, well, most of it anyway. Last week I was coming home in a "basket-case" state, i.e. complete emotional wreck. I thought that that last trip will be my last one this year. Now a week later, the itch of travel is coming back. I catch myself thinking of the loveliness of Paris in September, of the warmth of Sydney in spring, and of the excitment of getting on the plane and just GOING somewhere.
I don't know what you call this: emotional healing, stupidity, denial... Whatever it is, I want to be back in the air! Not because I HAVE TO, but because I WANT TO.
BTW, I enjoyed reading about your experiences on this thread. Glad that you are back on the planes and are going somewhwere. See you in the air!

Smooth, I call it an addiction. I get the shakes if I've been in one place for more than 5 days.

I was standing in the First Class galley last night talking with the FA's. The divider to coach was open and thus the view up and down the plane was clear. A coach pax came forward and asked me to sit down because I was standing by the cockpit and making them nervous. The female FA made a joke that I was so thin that even she could take me down. Pax did not think that was too funny and I took my seat. Hmmm. Not the same at all.

I flew down to PDX and back yesterday. There was one elderly oriental gentleman on our plane who was actually supposed to be on the plane to Vancouver. Unfortunately he didn't speak English and wasn't reading the hand signals to follow the crew off the plane. There were eventually at least half a dozen crew members on board, ground and flight, trying to convince him to leave our plane and board the right plane. You could tell that they were somehwat more tense than they usually would have been.

Other than that, the airport garage, the airport and the planes were strangely empty. It makes me sad that people are so afraid of dying that they can't continue living.

Hunki wrote:
TA told you wrong. The FAA has canceled nothing since the ground stop was lifted. Southwest was back at 100 percent within just a couple of days.