Am I on the right forum? None of you guys seem to like flying! On any thread about a flight that is longer than a few hours, it's all belly-aching about metal tubes and hell on (or above) earth, and how crap 2-5-2 is / "cramped" longhaul 757s etc etc.

I would leap at the chance to spend 15 hours in the air - I'd take a 15 hour flight over a 70 minute hop anytime. See the sun set, rise again, read three books, watch a movie, chat to the cabin crew, sleep, eat a third meal, land too soon. When I flew to SF on Virgin earlier this year, we landed after 10 hours and I could have done another 5 easy. What's the problem? Love planes, post on Airliners.net, watch cockpit videos, read aviation books...then when you experience it first hand it sucks?! Either you enjoy it or you don't. But if you don't, why are you here at Airliners.net? Am I the only person here who prefers being up there to being down here?

I like flying, but most airlines make it a real challenge to stay happy for more than an hour or 3 (unless you are lucky enough to get a businessclass aisleseat in an exitrow with the next seat unoccupied).

Most airlines use extremely cramped interiors, the seats are too narrow and too close together, leaving you neiter legroom nor elbowroom.

Absolutely!!!!!!!

But some people prefer to fly "comfortablely"...

Jimmy

Being quite small (for now) i have no problem with the size of seats/legroom. I love flying long haul, when discussing where we should go this christmas, i had my heart set on going back to Sydney, simply because it is 2 huge flights. I just loved sitting on the aircraft knowing there was still 7-8 hours left of my journey, and when coming back, the first flight i still knew i had another huge flight after that.

Being so far away from home is great, its not like being on holiday in the Medittereanean(sp?) where its just a 2-3 hour hop back, which is like Driving from here to MAN.

I'd do anything to get on a long haul flight once more, i am going to YYC this year, and have heard that it is a 9 hour flight, but knowing that when you step on that plane you are going to straight to your final destination (no pun intended) is definetely not as nice as knowing you still have another huge flight.

Cheers

Dan

Yeah, I know what you mean. People are saying "This carrier is taking the fun out of flying!! Boohooo I'm crying!"   Oh but I thought only the flying part was what made you excited about flying. Not some dumb movie on the plane. That's what books are for. You can always go rent a movie and watch it at your house, there are also such things as move theaters. Watching movies isnt all that on a plane. A true aviation enthusiast would love flying and probably would not notice the rude employees or bad seat pitch or width but instead (if you have a window seat) watching the clouds outside or listening to the plane noises. But still we have people that go "Southwest is anotehr word for crap" "American sucks" "Delta sucks" etc etc.

I do. The hardest part for me is getting off the plane(literally, my muscles are all tight)
rgds,
blink182

Hey now, some sane people. My sentiments exactly. There are few better opportunities than flying for some serious uninterrupted reading, and if you check-in on time you get the window, see the clouds slide by, ahhhh. Who gives a tinker's shit if the flight attendents are having an off day? If you want great service (or for that matter great food) go to a decent restaurant. If you want to see a movie rent one or turn on the box. If you want a huge armchair stay in your living room. If you want to be blasted into the great blue yonder and see clouds and countries from above and feel gratitude at being born at such an amazing time, go on a plane.

And stop complaining about 2-5-2 seating! I'm not interested!

You have to be realistic. On a 15 hour flight all the window shades are down and you can't look out the window. ( open your window shade and face the wrath of all the other people trying to sleep). How can you enjoy flying like that? There has to be more to the experience like enjoying some movies, eating good meals, having some legroom.
I love watching the takeoff and landing on my PTV on the CX 777-300 , especially the thrill of the landing and how fast that runway comes up on the screen in front of you. But on a long flight, not much else to do with all the window shades down.

My objective in flying is to get from point A to point B in hours rather than days, in reasonable comfort at reasonable cost. To whatever degree comfort and amenities have been sacrificed in the interest of allowing airlines to offer the very reasonable fares usually available has been, IMO, an acceptable tradeoff.

Do I like flying? Yes. I have found that my hours in the air give me an otherwise rare opportunity to read, as well as to do some reflective thought and jot down what comes to mind. It doesn't matter whether I'm squeezed into a middle seat or have a set of three seats to myself -- although I very much prefer the latter!

One thing I have discovered that seems to make all the difference in liking/enjoying flying is to treat airline staff with due respect and consideration, and they will nearly always reciprocate to the extent possible. By this I mean the basics, like checking in at least one hour before departure and having your picture ID (or passport) and flight information (or paper ticket) available. These simple actions seem to work wonders in getting moved from the middle to my choice of an aisle or window seat, often without even asking.

What I don't like about the full-service U.S. majors is the games they play with fares and in their marketing schemes based on half-truths. It seems that if the same airlines would give as much effort to efficient, reliable operations as they put into their promotional charades, more people might actually like flying.

I used to like flying, but now I do it only to get to where I want to be, not for any type of enjoyment.

Judging by your wanting to take a 15 hour flight I would guess that you A)are under 40; B) have not flown a whole lot of long haul flights; and/or C) have not experienced many delays, bumpings, rude airline employees, missed connections, lost bags, etc.

I think you should take your 15 hour flight, or even longer if you can arrange it, and the sooner the better. The day is probably not far off when you will not want to do it.

Have fun. It will be something to remember when you're older and more experienced, and have the same type of cynical response to questions such as yours as I do.

Perhaps you should fly to ORD some day when snow or thunderstorms are in the forecast there.

You'll understand later.

You flew Virgin. Of course you enjoyed it!!

In answer to your question, I love flying. I've been in everything from a Cessna 172 to a JetRanger helicopter to a YS-11! And as someone who flys in and out of South Florida a lot, I can tell you it's an adventure to watch the coastline creep up on you, to spot sharks in the shallows as your jetliner is on final onto a coastal runway, to hang on as the boss up front swerves and banks to avoid otherwise harmless afternoon tropical thunderheads.

That having been said, it's not up to any one person to define what should or shouldn't be posted on these forums. The topics here are generally about commercial aviation.....and that's a mighty big world which can and DOES include some things worth complaining about.

I love flying, I will take any oportunity to get on a plane, or to an airport. Take a 15 hour flight, their interesting. I flew one on SQ, which is the best airline I have ever flown on. The problem is, after 13 hours you get bored of waiting for the landing.

I have done maybe 100 20hr+ journeys, and I love them more now than when I started travelling. Here's the list, and most of these are more than once, and several are into the dozens. If there's a 747 listed it's probably Europe to Sydney so it was a very long flight.

Air Europe 737, 757
Air France 737, 747, A300
Air-India 747
Air Inter F100, Caravelle
Air Littoral F100
Ansett 727, 737, 767, A320
Britannia 737, 757, 767
British Airways 737, 747, 757, Trident
British Mediterranean A320
British Midland 737
Caledonian L1011
Cathay Pacific 747
China Air Lines MD11
Continental 727, 737, MD80
Dan Air 737, BAC111
Delta 737, 757, 767, MD80, L1011
East West BAe 146
easyJet 737
Finnair MD80, MD11
Garuda A300
Gulf Air L1011
Jersey European BAe 146
Lufthansa 737
Mandarin 747SP
Middle East Airlines 707, A310
Monarch A300
Northwest 747, A320
Novair DC10
Olympic 737, 747, A300
Pakistan International 747
Philippines 747
Qantas 747, 767
Singapore 747
Swissair A321
Thai 747
Trans Australia Airways DC9, 727
Transavia 737
Tyrolean F70
United 727, 757, 777, DC10
USAir 737, 767
Virgin Atlantic 747

+others I can't remember

Flying is the only thing that makes me feel good. Either as a pilot or as a passenger except if some idiot disrupts it complaining with the crew.

Kevin/DCA

I have been on 978 flights, I'm well over 40, and I still love to fly. That's one reason I go to places like Australia or Singapore from Virginia just about every year. The long flights are great, and I'm really looking forward to my segment from Chicago to Hong Kong this Christmas Day on my way to Singapore. My only real complaint is having to keep the window shades down. In October I'm flying to Las Vegas on AA MD-80s. Although I prefer a variety of aircraft on a trip, I chose AA with four MD-80 flights so I can keep my shades up, since they don't show movies on MD-80s.

Bob Bradley
Richmond, VA

Phxairfan, and others, may have misinterpreted my remarks above.

My cynical remarks relate to how commercial aviation, in my view, has been degraded over the past 20 years. They were not meant to criticize the posting.

I think everyone should be able to express their views on the subject, despite what those views are. That is all I was doing.

Apologies to anyone who was offended.

Cedarjet--Either you enjoy it or you don't. But if you don't, why are you here at Airliners.net? Am I the only person here who prefers being up there to being down here?

It's not quite that simple, Cedarjet. Of course it's way less preferable --heck probably undesirable, if there're better alternatives readily available-- to be an Airliners.net junkie, or even just a 'Net junkie period, for whatever 'real world' hobby or devotion that can be enjoyed. Especially if the goal is just to whine about stuff and little else.

On the other hand, in this long-since deregulated and very razor-competitive, high-stakes, high-capitalisation (and even, for some things, high-tech) industry, the companies that are still in the game do have a lot to think about, probably more than ever in fact, and the sort of glory 'n glamour days of commercial air travel even a few decades ago are gone for good now.

Not that folks still can't have fun on aircraft, -- heck I hope you see the all the posts around here, bearing witness to that too -- but it has changed from the way it was. Way way more people are flying, and while I for one think that's a really good development to allow such afforable and greater mobility around the planet, on the other hand for folks flying for some other reason than just aviation-appreciation --even if it's job-related aviation appreciation-- problems can arise, particularly if there are meetings that risk being missed, family members kept waiting or even in poor health and needing urgent care, traffic jams on the highway on the way home or to the terminal, or worse . You get the idea.


So I hope you can appreciate it's not always a love-it- or-leave-it matter, especially when people are traveling with other responsibilities on their mind. Even if, no matter how old they are, why of course they still like looking out of a plane window at the sky, clouds, or earth below, if they get a chance. And that there are all kinds of peripheral issues which, even if they don't relate much to recounting of just pure appreciation of flying, can still for many be a memorable part of their traveling experience --good or bad-- and so shouldn't necessarily be off-limits for discussion at places like this forum.

I agree with Contrails; much of the novelty of flying comes with not being able to often, and experiencing delays and rude employees often would indeed grow tiresome. But I still enjoy flying, since I only get to about once a year!

I love flying

Flying is the best!!! Without flying where would i be?

Seeing the sun set over the arizona mountains while passing through FL100, or watching the sunrise over the florida coast at FL350,

gotta love it,
-tom

I love flying and, and the longer the flight the better it is. I love everything about flying and being inside a plane, I really dont care if the f/a's are rude (I just dont pay attention to them).
Chepos
Puerto Rico

Are you kidding????? I don't like flying......


















I LOVE FLYING!!!!! I just flew on an A340 for the first time 3 weeks ago......the next day, I wanted to fly again!!!!!

Anyways I'm flying on an A320 and 757 in September so I'm happy!  

I absoultely love flying!!!! I enjoy being on the plane at the airport and the best part is the view from the air. I love seeing all the cloud formations and seeing the ground and scenery. I love every aspect about flying and every flight.
You're on the right fourm I think most of us like to fly.
che

No you know you are not the only one! I really do enjoy being up there, and believe it's only as interesting a you make it. Reading aviation books, planespotting etc. is partly a compensation for not being able to be up there more often!

I am flying next week and looking forward to it.

I absolutely love it. That's why I am a pilot.

Hi !!!

I LOVE FLYING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My favorite places are airports and planes !!!

Greetings from Germany

Patrick

Strapped to a seat inside a pressurised metal container doing 600mph some 35,000 feet up? Knowing that outside, there is hardly enough oxygen to support life - and that or the unfathomable cold would kill you should the door come off? It's the least natural thing to do in the world!

And I love it.

Well, I absolutely love flying but I can't really understand your statement on the 15+ hours flight.
Don't get me wrong, I also like taking longhaul flights (even planing the route in order to fly a little longer when possible) but longhauls are not always fun.
My longest flight was 13.40 hours (+1h connection flight + 4 hours sitting at CDG...) and believe me after a flying time of about 8 hours I wished we landed somewhere because landings and take-offs are the best part of flying.
So actually flying long distances but stopping several times is more fun I think.

Yes, you're right, Cedarjet, absolutely!

Hey, people: stop complaining about being cramped and service. Enjoy your flight. Sometimes F/As are tired of people like you. If you do not want to be cramped, pay business or first. If you can't afford it (I, for one, can not, either), that's what it is. Stand up, move your legs, walk down the aisle. I love being in the plane. I eat EVERITHING (why do I find that food so much?), I have patience with the F/As (I know that not all of them would like to be there, although it is -should be- a vocational job...), and FOR SURE, I ENJOY TURBULENCES (why do you think I chose this name?)etc., etc., etc.

YES!!! I ADORE FLYING!!!!

My wife is Brazilian, and we're going to Bahia next Christmas. VASP, who were flying directly between Barcelona and Salvador de Bahia, stopped the route. It was comfortable, and cheap: round BCN-SSA for US500 in 8hrs30. I'll miss the price, but, do you think I'm sad for this?: next christmas we're flying BCN-CDG-GRU-SSA, which means 2hrs+11hrs30+2hrs15 on the air. Later on, SSA-GYN (Goiânia, where my sister-in-law lives) and finally GYN-GIG-CDG-BCN.
I can't wait!!!

BTW: I'll have the opportunity to fly 777 (CDG-GRU) and 340 (GIG-CDG), two new types for me, both of AF.

Yes: on December 22nd and on January 20th I'll be VERY VERY VERY happy!!!

Best turbulences!!!

I love flying, unless it is on UNITED! Who has terrible service and attitude.

I love flying, I always have. I love the feeling of the plane accelerating down the runway, lifting off and climbing, and I love the feeling of being up in the air, at cruising altitude, as well as descent and landing (even though landing is a bit of a let-down...). My mother and her two sisters are very afraid to fly, and it takes my mother taking relaxation pills or a drink to get her on a plane. However, I am somewhat able to take away some of the fear for her because I love it so much, and tell her what I like about it as we're taking off. Never mind it's the safest way to travel.

Whether on an Aeroflot TU-134 with relatively uncomfortable seats or on a Midwest Express MD-82 sipping champagne and enjoying freshly-baked chocolate chip cookies, the experience of flying itself is unbeatable!!