It's a trade off, sleeper on a train is far less expensive than a ticket in J. It includes a full private bed rather than some type of suite as you would see in international J. Coach on a train is far more comfortable than on any airline. I believe it would have more space than most Executive airline seats.

Looking at the scenery go by even if your in coach is enjoyable. If your looking for a quick uncomfortable journey with all the annoyances take the plane :)

I'll put it this way.

The first time I flew on a plane was at age 11 (AS SEA-ANC). The second time I flew on a plane was at age 18 (UA SEA-IAD). The third time I flew on a plane was at age 28 (UA SEA-LAX). The fourth time was at age 33 (WN SEA-SJC). All these happened before 9/11. All of those were in coach.

My daughter's flown 4 times... in first class (as a result of my AS elite status and accompanying me)... by age 11. (There are some coach trips folded in with that, too.) She's gone to CUN in F. We're slated to go to MCO, and odds are decent we'll be in F for that.

I sure don't think my travel experiences suck compared to 20 years ago...

Oh, so much better!
Just fulfilled a 20-year dream with an around the world.
And I did it in First class!! Flat bed int'l flights are awesome. Couldn't even imagine that 20 years ago!

I agree. Traveling is better today than before especially if you are at the pointy end of the plane. Imagine traveling business class trans pac in 1990 versus today. The difference in the level of comfort of the seats is astronomical! Sure there may have been better dining options but both seat and entertainment technology today more than make up for poorer dining options. Lounges seem to be better today to, which lounge 20 years ago offered showers?

Mixed bag....could go either way, but I remember the triple miles promos and other things.....ground side really sucks now but J is better (when I fly it :( )

Used to be much more civil and I knew many airport employees in cities that I frequented then....knew more people in DFW (AA and DL employees) and at Admirals Club than I knew in my home town.....used to pull all sorts of stuff on long layovers (like the quick 2 hour trip to Billy Bob's - phone ahead to others working to get me past security faster so we had time for extra beer before flight, amongst other things).....

couldn't do that stuff today....

I say sometimes it has gotten less fun especially with inbounding into US flights(patdowns) but most of the time it's still more fun than I can ever imagine doing in my life. Not many people ever get the lucky chance of what FTers can do, I never fully recognized this til very recently when comparing my travel experiences with my college friends.

What we pay for lounges, first class, and the overall premium product is nothing compared to what people pay during regulation times, so there is no reason to cry wolf on such issue.

And no, 20 yrs old won't be better for me since I would've been less than 10 months old.:p

wow... what an awful post!
 

You're making a big assumption here. I did fly in the smoking section when I was a smoker and not only did I not smoke, but I hated the experience. An airport smoking section is completely different because you walk in, smoke, then walk out back into clean air.

1. :rolleyes:
2. I don't see how this relates to the topic.
3. Unless you are qualified to judge the behavior of a plane (i.e. you are a pilot, engineer or a mechanic of some sort), you are in no position to make that assertion.
4. Even the most seasoned travelers fly as tourists (i.e. not for biz) sometimes. I wouldn't say that tourists are "typically" (your word) annoying. When you decided that you were better than everybody else on board, did you take arrogance into account? :rolleyes: ALL of us were first time flyers at some point. On my first flight I was curious, excited, albeit a bit intimidated, but more importantly perfectly civilized.
You're basically saying that all people traveling for biz are well mannered while all tourists are rude. Clearly you haven't flown enough to notice that lots of people traveling on biz can be annoying pax just as lots of tourists can be pleasant. Where you came up with this correlation, I have no idea, but I assure you that you're mistaking. How do YOU know who's traveling for what purpose, anyway? :rolleyes:

You must be a very annoying pax who constantly complains about everything. I hope we're never on the same flight.

Less fun?
No, not really.

Bigger hassle/headache?
Yes, post 9/11.

I'm in the mixed bag crowd....for me, you have to "make" traveling fun again when you can but there are a lot of things that helped depress the experience such as security, TSA, rude passengers/employees....

when I can make the experience fun for me, I will but sometimes you just have to overcome the obstacles...

Maybe shorter routes it is cheaper. However, since I am base in Chicago, and I looked at the fares on the train from Chicago to west coast, first class sleeper cost the same or more than F on the plane.

I had also looked at the seat in coach, yes it is more comfortable, like an old style F seat on the plane, which means you have a seatmate, no divider, have to wait to take turns wait for the shower share with other pax, that is a big no.

No matter how plane travel becomes less fun than 20 years ago, I still would prefer plane travel than on a train. I can have short weekend trip on a plane but not on a train. Even if I have a week off vacation, think about if I travel by train, it had already taken 4 days out from my vacation, much less time on the destination.

That's why I said I won't travel on train not until I am retired have all the time on my hands.

Is air travel not fun anymore?
 

I still think it's fun but not as much before. It's more restricted because one has to go through the TSA, get to the airport much earlier, have to pay a lot of extra fees, can't fly standby for free unless you have status, planes more crowded, no free food, weather used as an excuse more, etc.

There are also fewer fun planes to look at. Now, it's mostly 737s and A320s. Before, there were lots of unusual planes, like the L1011, Concorde, Fokker 28, BAC One Eleven, etc.

Not all is bad, however. There is advanced seating assignments, not sticking stickers on the boarding pass at the gate. Fares are also lower than in the 70's. There's also a better hub system than in the 70's.

Compared to the 1970s?

Pros: lower real-dollar fares, loyalty programs / free flights, safer than ever

Cons: idiotic and ineffectual security, fewer airlines and aircraft types, less (or no) mainline service to small and medium markets, usually full flights, service levels have degenerated sharply, provider-customer antipathy up sharply, neglected infrastructure crumbling, increased stress

Was air travel ever fun? It's the fastest way to get from point A to point B, and it's tolerable in C or F.

Yes and no. When you factor in TSA, air travel can be horrendous. However, I still enjoy the feeling of engines spooling up, and our aircraft powering down the runway, bound for new adventures.

Just because DHS/TSA/CBP and the airlines try to rain on the parade doesn't mean the fun cannot take place anyway. It's just that it's not as fun as it used to be -- more akin to taking a bus with people determined to chart a course toward a police state.