Should Alcohol Be Banned On Flights, Are We Ruining Travel For Our Kids & Elon Musk’s Vegas Tunnels Explained

I enjoyed your discussion about bad behavior. Our behavior has deteriorated as a culture both in terms of the public and in terms of corporations. It is appalling what sorts of behavior and policies we accept from corporations as “customer service.” I can think of more examples than one has time to list starting with maze like phone trees, 4 hour waits for an agent, fees for getting help rather than doing the work online ourselves for the airline, seats so small they should be federally banned, filthy planes before Covid, lack of pillows and blankets or dirty pillows and blankets, broken seats, broken tray tables, broken AV systems, rules and restrictions it would take a tax attorney or IRS agent to navigate, inadequate meal options requiring passengers to try to pack a picnic in their carry on, etc. The domestic first class experience is marginally better with basically a larger seat. And Covid has been used (abused) to continue to cost cut and limit services even well past any sort of public health need.

The public has likewise behaved appallingly with rampant abuse of “emotional support” animals, drunkenness, fighting, wearing inappropriate clothing that violates social norms of modesty and/or has flagrant profanity on it and then going to social media to throw a hissy fit when they get called on it, parents not supervising their children (I can recall a flight where the child behind me repeatedly kicked my seat and also pulled on my hair), violations of rules regarding number and size of carry-on luggage, inadequate grooming, etc etc.

I find the overall airplane travel experience, at least domestically, to not be miserable but to definitely be uncomfortable, unpleasant, and stressful unless you are the size of a 10 year old with similar naivete due to limited life experience, which would perhaps make the flight interesting. I avoid it as much as possible and when required, attempt to ameliorate it by paying for a higher class of service, which softens the edges of the discomfort but is more often than not shockingly lacking considering the price.

I think this discussion relates to the discussion you had on a previous podcast about bad behavior on social media when people have differing opinions and engage in nasty online name calling, snarkiness, and just general meanness rather than engaging in productive discussion. This is a generalized societal deterioration reflective of our permissiveness of bad behavior as a culture. I think it was great that one of you on the podcast said they were not going to tolerate it anymore in terms of nasty postings, etc. Thank you. I was heartened to hear that.

Yes, we do not need drunks in the air.

Personally, I don’t think serving liquor onboard is the issue. No alcohol has been served in coach for more than a year yet these “incidents” mostly are happening with coach passengers. Maybe coach pax are just frustrated with the entire flying experience, including non-helpful/ unfriendly flight attendants & TSA agents, no service, no food, tiny seats, etc.

If you can’t go a few hours without drinking you probably shouldn’t be in a confined space…