milepig

Can't tell if your tongue is in your cheek or not, but during one of the many periods when UA was in .bomb mode I was offered a flight from ORD-IAD with a change of plane in BRU. The price, however, was prohibitive.

chimphappyhour

Grew up an air force brat, spent most of my youth flying from one place to another. So I guess flying and being in airports is a bit of childhood nostalgia for me. I like it quite a bit.

I have a trip coming up for work next month and I picked the routing. If work had done it, I would be running from one plane to the next. I picked layovers that will allow me to stroll along and enjoy the airports I'm connecting in. I can watch the planes and people just pass by for a few hours.

In flight, I love a good window seat. Looking out at the world passing below. Taking off and landing through a layer of clouds is always neat. Meeting fun people who might be sitting next to me on the plane...when they're up to doing as much. Taking photos of those zonked out, mouth open when they aren't.

And this is all while sitting back in economy! I would probably wet myself if I ever found myself up in first/business. Doubly so if it was the top deck of a 747. (Two things definitely on my bucket list. The top deck of a 747 and the first/business. Not the wetting myself twice. Took care of that one at a very, very early age. Although, if I make it long enough in life, I'm sure I'll get another crack at it.)

lovely15

Sounds like a lot of people in this thread need to get a pilot certificate. I promise you, it's 1000 times better than riding in cattle class - or first, for that matter.

Except you (generally) have to land to go to the bathroom.

zeddy218

^^

SJCFlyerLG

I used to enjoy it a lot more than I do now. Back in the day, we had a reasonable chance of either an upgrade or at least an empty seat next to us. AA used to block the middle seat next to anyone with status, until the plane filled up. Upgrades were a given for anyone at the 50k level (but you didn't have unlimited ones, so choose wisely, grasshopper!). There was edible food in economy, and decent food in first.

Now? I am shocked if I see any empty seat on any flight. As a 50k flyer on both *A and One World, I am lucky to make it below number 10 on the upgrade list, the food in economy is terrible even if you pay for it, the food in first gives me stomach cramps (on those very rare occasions where I have to book YUP), morons slam their bags into my shoulder all of the time, and despite the capacity restrictions, I still have to wait for a gate to open every time the plane gets in early.

Nope, flying commercial is no longer fun, pleasurable, or exciting - it's barely tolerable.

SANspotter

Just like the poster above, I used to enjoy it a lot more about 10 years ago. I still love to travel and fly for no other purpose than just to go, but I do admit that I do it less now than I did back then.

belfordrocks

That would be me haha. Doubly so when at the pointy end of the aircraft.

For those who frequent the US forum, you would undoubtedly know my (currently ongoing) attempts to book SYD-AKL-SIN-ICN-SPN-ICN-SIN-CHC-SYD, with less than 24 hours at each spot

adampenrith

Love airports except when I have to line up (yes I don't fly much in the USA and have to deal with TSA),

but certainly in the good old days with plenty of spare seats and a real this is something experience it was fun.

But I will still find a long way around when I can - these days I do most of my flying the front - and there are still some great deals out there if you look around.

ft101

Not everybody flies in America or in Economy Class.

vivekman

My friends (non-av) and colleagues thought I was nuts when I flew from BOM to DEL and then from DEL to BLR and finally from BLR to BOM just to fly on the brand new Air India 787 Dreamliner (which operates on the DEL-BLR-DEL sector)

They said, "You flew across India just to fly on a particular plane? It's just a plane!"

What do they know?

chinatraderjmr

+10000. Traveling is FUN, Seeing new places is FUN, There is NOTHING fun about getting on a plane. Some airlines might give me an "enjoyable" flight but I'd still rather not have to take it in the first place. If I could just say "beam me up Scotty" & be in Dubai, New York, Hing Kong in seconds without having to take a flight I'd be a happy man

belfordrocks

But, even if I was flying domestically in the US in coach everywhere, I would go as far to say I would still enjoy it.

rankourabu

of course.

all my flights are for fun.

I am sorta young, have no commitments, for most of the year, lots of free time.

I would hate flying if I had to do it for anything but vacations!

ok2uselane

My first flight was when I was two. My mother tells me that I giggled the whole time. Those feelings of giddiness, around airports, airplanes, and flying have lasted a lifetime. Things may not be as "fun" as they were before 9/11, but I still enjoy it.

I have an award trip coming up that could have been routed SFO-SYD-SFO, if I wanted to spend the least amount of time in the air. But, that's not me. Instead, my route is: SJC-LAX-ICN-SYD-BKK-SIN-DOH-IAH-SJC. My friends think I'm crazy. They're right, crazy about flying!

Santander

If you count MRs as "fun", yes I do enjoy flying for fun. But my last SJC-LAX-CLE-SJU-CLE-DEN(stuck overnight)-SFO MR was far from fun. I do love being up in the air but I also hate being disconnected from the rest of the world.

I have a CPL with ME/IFR and I used to own a share of a C177 but I just don't find flying myself fun anymore. Maybe if I could afford a jet and a safety pilot I'd enjoy flying myself around but I have more fun sitting around watching a movie in a 747 than flying a small plane in the mountains. I admit this could be because I used to fly professionally and was extremely disenchanted by it but I guess I'm just one of those people who is fascinated more by the idea of transportation (like airlines and trains) rather than being in the sky itself.