Is There an End in Sight?

Am I talking about the Iraq War? The Democratic Nominee process? My splitting headache? No, no, and no.

I'm talking about the ever-present crapiness of flying anywhere within the United States. Since I started flying regularly (around 5 years ago) the process has gone from moderately annoying to a complete abomination.

How bad is it, you ask? Well, you typically have to arrive 2 hours before your flight departs. Then you get seated and if you're lucky enough that no one is in your seat, you still have to deal with no leg-room, a potential obese person and/or crying baby in your row/general area, crappy snacks, smelly bathrooms, recycled oxygen, and (insert your personal unfavorite thing about flying here).

Did I mention that the price of the ticket was a tad costly?

And with any problem, we need to find someone to blame. Terrorists? Easy enough to hate, but no. The price of oil? Again, easy to point the finger at, but no. I for one put the blame solely on the shoulders of the idiots running these companies.

Let's dispel the first two favorite scapegoats:

- Terrorists - Airplanes are a target and we've all accepted the concessions involved in order to keep everyone safe. The American traveler has become accustomed to this.

- Oil - This is a little more complex. Oil is refined into jet fuel. Jet fuel is used to...well, duh. SO the increasing price of oil is taking its toll on the airline industry, just like the American consumer. Simple enough, right? Wrong. Airline companies should be hedging their exposure to the price of the commodities they consume. There's no reason that they couldn't be locking themselves into cheaper fuel prices for 1, 2, 3, however many months into the future in order to control their costs. Any smart company that consumes a commodity (e.g. oil, copper, corn, etc.) that wants to control expenses will lock a price in for future periods to better predict costs regardless of the current price and where it goes into the future. If the price changes dramatically one way or another, the company should adjust accordingly. Good companies hire people to do this FULLTIME.

What does lead us to conclude? The guys running most of these companies are clueless. I don't really have much more to say than that other than flying shouldn't be a loathsome experience but it is. From the moment I purchase the ticket to the second I walk off the jetway, rarely do I feel good about my experience.

I will be flying on Sunday (JFK to LAX no less) and will hopefully have some, either shockingly good news, or typical bad news to share.

I'll share a joke today:

Two muffins are sitting in the oven. One muffin says, "man, is it hot in here?"

The second muffin says, "holy shit! A talking muffin!"