Spring

My life as a dog bed… complete with the bossy dictator whose paw directs my actions!  It’s now spring — since 5:24pm today, anyway — and there are currently flurries.  We were reminded that the weather will be “changeable” for the next little while ranging from below freezing to mild, and with assorted precipitation all week long.  I was (mostly) good today, and my back has calmed a bit, plus I had 2 actual meals!  It feels good to have an appetite and to want to eat.  Food still tastes not quite as it should — I pick up some flavours that shouldn’t be so prominent (like acid in tomato sauce) and still can’t quite manage spices.  Even the smell of a scotch bonnet makes my stomach curdle, so that better correct itself soonest!  Don didn’t sleep at all well last night, and is catching up now.  I had him up today as my support worker was here and we had some things for him to do, so after she left he “watched” baseball, but halfway through that interminable game, I heard snores, so… 

I did say that I liked happy news stories, didn’t I?  And that I was tired of endless gloom and doom?  Well, the universe is full of jokes.  On this evening’s news, they ran stories on bears waking from hibernation, turkeys in mating season that are chasing people off a trail, the “ugliest dog” contest and a discussion on spring weather conditions.  Today there seemed to be more “light” news — including interviews with the winners of the “good deeds” contest — than of wars, famines and disasters.  Thanks!  That makes a big difference.

Can anyone explain airline pricing policies?  I’ve been amusing myself with trip planning and looking at costs for a few trips.  One trip has a route with 1 stop that’s priced at $878, and 2 stops at $853  How is it less expensive to make 2 stops — both including the same interim airport — than just the one?  Then they have one fare ($439) heading one way, but a completely different fare ($876) to return, in the same class of fare?  As to fare class… economy has about 4 levels, ranging from the price shown on the website to almost 5 times that, with not much difference in service offerings, although if you add the costs of things like checked bags and meals, you might as well ignore the posted price and select the next rung.  Whichever monster decided that passengers should pay to take clothes with them on a trip should really suffer a painful existence.  Then we get into the “taxes, fees and surcharges” section… those cost more than the actual airfare.  The fee breakdown shows that the fees include airport landing charges, airport improvement charges, security fees, “temporary” fuel surcharges (which have been temporary for almost 20 years now), baggage handling fees (which are not the fees to check a bag), and so on.  Then the discount airlines pop up, saying that they can provide the same service for less, which is partially true.  They somehow manage to lose luggage at the same rate as the larger airlines, so that might be due to the ground crews, but they also seem to cancel or reschedule flights at a higher rate.  I include the “discount” lines of larger airlines in this, as they astoundingly manage to provide some incredibly appalling service from the same desk!  I once travelled with a larger airline which offers a “budget” option.  On one leg, I used the “full service” and the discount on the other.  Same airline, uniforms, messaging, appearance, etc, but the service was chalk and cheese!  I won’t even touch on the routing question — how do the algorithms consider that a flight from Toronto to Trinidad (south easterly direction) should route through Chicago, Tennessee, Dallas (all west of the destination) and Miami, taking over 30 hours for a 5.5hour direct trip?  Nor will I say much about the “security” checkpoints that add up to 2 hours to the time in a terminal without (IMO) doing anything notably useful?  I mean, with current technology, we could reduce staffing levels significantly and just have passengers scanned as they proceed through the terminal — which is mostly done anyway.  That line of emptying everything into bins doesn’t add value; everything can be scanned without needing to go through that process.

I admit that I have a deep appreciation for the flight and gate crews of the airlines.  They remain unflappable and professional in the face of some utterly disgusting abuse from passengers.  In their shoes, I’d probably have thrown a few people out an airlock at 10km in the air… I once overheard a passenger swearing at a flight attendant because the passenger’s suitcase fell out of the overhead bin as they were removing it.  How that relates to the crew member, I don’t know.  I’ve seen flight crew chase passengers to try to return personal belongings left onboard, and they’ve always been kind and helpful to me.  Gate crew, likewise, are usually good with client service, and I pity them on the days with problems when people seem to think that they are personally accountable for delays.  My administration and respect for the staff and support personnel of the airlines does not, though, address my frustration and annoyance at the charges and bizarre practices of the industry.  

After all that ranting, yes, I’m still travelling.  I’m in the process of selecting dates for travel (I haven’t cleared with my medical team yet, but I’m optimistic that they’ll agree that me travelling makes me happy, and me happy is good for my health!) and have alerted my friends/relatives that I’m in planning mode.  I’ve confirmed one trip (by train; so comfortable!) and have tentative dates for 3 more.  Allons-y!  Good night!