Thursday, January 8, 2009

Flying is... for lack of a better term.... confusing!


Hello again guys!  Sorry I have not written in a while!  Been sorta busy around here.

I am taking a vacation shortly to my grandparents in Kentucky.  I haven't flown since I was a senior in high school and being the hard studious person that I am (hehe...) I decided to check out the offical airline and TSA rules for flying.  

The first thing that I noticed is that I now have to pay to check in luggage.  Are you joking me!?  15 bucks each way to put my suitcase on the plane (and if I had another one it would be another 25 bucks each way).  Just imagine if you had a big family going somewhere... 15 bucks a pop each way, plus more if someone has more than the one 50 pound alloted bag!  I am praying my bag doesn't turn out to weigh that much.

Next, I decided to check out the available food on the plane, since my flight leaves rather early and I have quite a long flight which will span over 2 meal times.  My airline has really confusing rules about who gets what, when.  See evidence below(courtesy www.continental.com):

Standard Mealtimes

Breakfast / Snack: 7:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. Lunch / Snack: 11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. Dinner / Snack: 5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.


Flight Duration
Economy Class
Less than 1 hour
beverage
1 to 1 ½ hours
beverage, peanuts or pretzels on flights after 10:00 a.m.
Over 1 ½ to 2 hours


beverage, peanuts or pretzels on flights after 10:00 a.m.
2 to 3 ½ hours

breakfast – beverage, snack

lunch/dinner – beverage, snack (meal for flights over three hours)

Over 3 ½ hours

breakfast – beverage, snack

lunch/dinner – meal

Note: Snacks will be offered on flights departing after 7:00 p.m.


According to this chart, and based on my flight times/lengths, I will be getting a beverage/snack for breakfast (over a 5 hour flight) and beverage/peanuts/pretzels (for a 10 min shy of 2 hr flight).  So, for flying all day I am gonna live on snacks and beverages lol.  I have a short amount of time in a layover, and hopefully can get food there.  As for the return flights, I will get a beverage/snack for my 2.5 hour flight and possibly a meal (tho it isn't in the meal time and I don't know if there is an exeption if your flight is over 3 hours) but more likely just another snack.  I rocked at scheduling my flights lol.

Thirdly, I looked up the TSA rules for what you can carry on now-a-days.  The list is very extensive and can be found here.  What I find funny is that disposable razors, scissors with less than a 4 inch pointed tip, eyelash repair kits (including screwdrivers), cigar cutters, and umbrellas are allowed in your carry on bags. Compare this to some prohibited items such as any beverages, baby teethers with gel, gel candles, gel shoe inserts, jello, pudding, yogurt, or any liquid/gel that is over 3oz and not in a clear bag.  Does this seem a little odd to you????  It does for me.  I am debating whether it is ok to bring my glass nail file.  It says nail files are ok but I assume it is talking about the cardboard/sandpaper ones so idk.  I will probably just stick it in my check in bag to be safe.

Wowzers...I had no idea that traveling by plane would be so stressful or confusing!  I have never flown by myself and am hoping I do everything right, including transferring planes at my layover.  Tell me what you think of these rules?  Fair?  Unfair?  For the safety of the passengers?  Too strict for everyday travelers?  Any funny experiences at the airport you would like to share?  Let me know!

~Heather