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Home » Travel » A Cringeworthy Rant From A Callow Airline Passenger
Travel

A Cringeworthy Rant From A Callow Airline Passenger

Matthew Klint Posted onDecember 3, 2019November 14, 2023 27 Comments

a man sitting on a chair with his feet on his back

A freelance writer for the Washington Post penned an essay entitled “Air travel shows what happens when we give companies ruinous power over us”, sharing of an “ordeal spanning 53 hours, six gates, three airports and two airlines.”

His essay is a mash of emotions and stream of consciousness that tries to blame everyone but himself for what turned into an unnecessarily long flight delay. Here’s my condensed version:

  • United sends him an email warning of potential flight delays and cancellations due to a storm
  • He shows up to the airport anyway
  • His Newark to San Francisco flight is cancelled
  • He calls United and reaches an agent after a long hold
  • United rebooks him out of JFK on American Airlines so he can make his friend’s wedding
  • Agent also tells him he is not eligible for a hotel voucher because weather is outside United’s control
  • He still decided to wait in line 12 HOURS for a hotel voucher
  • When he reaches the front of the line, he is denied a voucher
  • He heads over to JFK and falls asleep in the gate area
  • He misses his flight, having failed to set an alarm
  • Placed on standby, he misses the next flight but is accommodated on a late-morning flight to San Francisco
  • He makes the wedding

Are You For Real?

So let me get this straight. United warns you that your flight may be canceled, rebooks you on another airline when your flight is cancelled, you oversleep and miss your flight, you are accommodated on standby, and you still have the gall to complain?

More than a century after conquering the onetime impossibility of flight, we have yet to master the long-time impossibility of fairness.

Unfairness? Sounds like he was treated more than fairly. In fact, it sounds like he was treated very well.

You really have to read his commentary to appreciate his whininess.

He laments he has no savings and lives paycheck to paycheck:

“For those of us living hand-to-mouth — which is to say, most of us — it takes years of nothing going wrong to earn your way out of poverty. I had gone wrong: I had slept, awaking back at square one.

Yes, man up and take responsiblity for not setting an alarm. The “I had thought the commotion of boarding would wake me up” is really a stupid defense, whether you are an expert traveler or a non traveler.

He muses:

“Overbooking is addictive, nonlethal overdosing on greed.”

And yet he is accommodated via a standby on a flight that was oversold by 10…precisely validating why airlines overbook in the first place.

I’m doing all I can to avoid ripping into this statement and taking this post in an overtly political direction…

CONCLUSION

My point in sharing this story was not to rip the poor man, who no doubt encountered a lot of stress over his 53-hour journey from New York to San Francisco. But quite honestly, I see nothing United or American did wrong. I guess United should have provided snacks and drinks to those in the customer service line, but they often do that…maybe our author just missed it.

I know not everyone is a travel expert. But when there are storms, expect delays and cancellations. When you are told there are no hotel vouchers offered for weather delays, don’t wait in line for 12 hours expecting a different answer. If you are going to camp out an airport before your flight, set an alarm.

Is this really special expertise? Isn’t it just common sense?

He wonders:

“Maybe a few of us were in dire straits because we were confused or uninformed or lazy or irresponsible.”

And to that I say, yes.

I’m disappointed that the Washington Post would publish garbage like this.

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About Author

Matthew Klint

Matthew is an avid traveler who calls Los Angeles home. Each year he travels more than 200,000 miles by air and has visited more than 135 countries. Working both in the aviation industry and as a travel consultant, Matthew has been featured in major media outlets around the world and uses his Live and Let's Fly blog to share the latest news in the airline industry, commentary on frequent flyer programs, and detailed reports of his worldwide travel.

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27 Comments

  1. Willy Reply
    December 3, 2019 at 11:45 am

    I see absolutely nothing to fault United or American for in this article. United warned him upfront about weather delays outside their control and they even put him on American to get him to his destination. Both of these actions are above and beyond the call — and nice gestures that were never done a decade ago.

    It’s just that the writer is a spectacular cry-baby-whiner. He makes stupid, self-indulgent choices and then blames the rest of the world when things aren’t cozy and comfortable for him. To wit:

    * He chooses to be a freelance writer (a fun occupation that many would like to have, but one that is a notoriously unreliable income source) and then complains about living paycheck-to-paycheck. He is presumably educated (though his writing barely reflects it). An able-bodied, educated, white male has absolutely no excuses for failing to thrive in this economy. He has a degree of opportunity and privilege that 99% of the rest of the world doesn’t have. So that’s on him and his self-indulgent career choice.

    * He chooses to travel on the busiest travel day of the year, when bad weather has been predicted across the country, yet expects everything to go perfectly for him. And of course, he blames the airlines and everybody but himself when it fails to.

    * He chooses to ignore United’s warnings about delays, but then blames United because he failed to adjust his plans accordingly

    * He fatuously decides to wait in line for 12 hours, without first determining whether was a point in doing so. But then he asserts that this is all the fault of United, the United States, and capitalism in general.

    • PolishKnight Reply
      December 3, 2019 at 12:13 pm

      “An able-bodied, educated, white male has absolutely no excuses for failing to thrive in this economy.”

      And this is why millions of white guys showed up to vote for Trump. Because of nasty little remarks like that.

      Good going. Thanks bunches.

      Enjoy the next _5_ years!

      • Aaron Reply
        December 3, 2019 at 12:46 pm

        Because it’s easier to whine and expect the world to revolve you and not put in any extra effort?

      • M Reply
        December 3, 2019 at 1:55 pm

        Yup, millions of uneducated nimrods blaming ‘brown people’ for taking those ‘good paying’ slaughterhouse, fast food, landscaping, home cleaning jobs. Get a grip. They voted for the Orange Turd because playing the racial/religious card is a sure-fire way to tap into deep resentment of those who blame everyone but themselves for their own silly choices.

        • PolishKnight Reply
          December 4, 2019 at 7:21 pm

          Er, M, you don’t get it.

          It’s not the immigrants. It’s the progressives who blame white folks for everything.

          If you could just stop bashing these folks and mocking them for 10 whole seconds, perhaps, just perhaps, they might agree with you on a lot of things.

          Oh well. 5 more years…

  2. Terrence Reply
    December 3, 2019 at 11:50 am

    This whitey is a perfect example of priveilge and has no excuse for living check to check beccuase he is too lazy to work. If he was black like me, he would be in prison or shot dead by the police for raising his voice to an airline employee. What a cracker.

    • WR2 Reply
      December 3, 2019 at 3:05 pm

      If you were going for moral high ground, you failed.

      • Berisha Reply
        December 3, 2019 at 7:32 pm

        How so? A bit of hyperbole perhaps.

  3. magice Reply
    December 3, 2019 at 12:09 pm

    It should also be noted that this person probably had picked the cheapest fare available. Oh, and would pay minimum taxes available while whining about how decrepit the airport is. And given that they couldn’t even change travel plan, that means minimal margin for error. But of course, if *anything* happens, it’s the airlines’ job to put magically whisk them to the destination comfortably.

  4. RC Reply
    December 3, 2019 at 12:34 pm

    I call BS on this article. He’s a “freelance writer in New York” who somehow “no longer had a place to stay in New York”. His flight was canceled in the afternoon, yet he “joined the line at 10:57 p.m. and reached a customer service desk almost 12 hours later, at 10:46 a.m.” What was he doing between the afternoon and 10:57pm? “Over that span, stranded people consoled and entertained each other. Few of us slept.” People slept while waiting on line? Really? He “took a $34 shuttle” to get from EWR to JFK instead of taking airtrain from EWR to NYC, subway, then JFK airtrain for half the cost. That. however would have taken more time and even though he left EWR on Thursday for his 7am flight Friday at JFK, apparently he needed to get to JFK very quickly. Again, he says he’s a “freelance writer in New York” so he knows the public transport options and where to get a cheap meal in NYC while going between EWR and JFK. I could go on. I think he’s making up this nonsense so he can claim victimhood status – which seems to be the most important status these days.

  5. Steve Reply
    December 3, 2019 at 12:48 pm

    This guy is what anyone sounds like to me who goes on social media and says “NEVER flying *Airline xyz* AGAIN!”

    • Mattt Reply
      December 3, 2019 at 5:44 pm

      ^this… If I had a dollar for everyone I saw this weekend lol.

      And what do they do the next time? Buy the lowest fare available, even if it’s the same airline.
      And somehow think their $225 cross country roundtrip matters to the airline

  6. Jerry Reply
    December 3, 2019 at 1:40 pm

    Aside from no WX cancellations, what exactly did the writer want? It seems to me that he got all that anybody could have asked for.

  7. rjb Reply
    December 3, 2019 at 2:13 pm

    typical Washington Post journalism

    • Stogieguy7 Reply
      December 3, 2019 at 2:52 pm

      +1! ^

      The WaPo isn’t fit to line a bird cage.

  8. patrick Reply
    December 3, 2019 at 3:05 pm

    I didn’t read the article but did he say he was white?

  9. Felix Reply
    December 3, 2019 at 3:09 pm

    His picture is there. He looks like very white to me.

  10. Reggie Reply
    December 3, 2019 at 3:39 pm

    > A freelance writer for the Washington Post…

    Sounds to me like a blogger. Be careful casting that stone.

    • Matthew Reply
      December 3, 2019 at 5:48 pm

      Please stop me if I ever sound this stupid. Perhaps I’ve been guilty of it in the past, but it doesn’t excuse him.

  11. John Thompson Reply
    December 3, 2019 at 5:21 pm

    Matthew, how have you not noticed the drivel the Washington Post posts on a repeated basis the last few years. This is not an aberration or anything out of the ordinary for them.

  12. debit Reply
    December 3, 2019 at 6:35 pm

    The problem is holidays are in the winter. Lets have staggered holidays. Some people get in may, some in July sone on December.

    Just cutting down the number of people traveling in the winter will cut down on all these issues.

    Down with stupid traditions like Thanksgiving and Christmas. Take a holiday wherever you want.

  13. 121Pilot Reply
    December 3, 2019 at 6:36 pm

    There are elements of his story that set off alarm bells for me. Like the tween boys in tears over the flight delay. It’s not impossible but it’s very very atypical for boys that age. Then the women who falls asleep only to find the line hasn’t moved hours later. Then the fact that he some to be from NY but has no 0lace to stay? Or he complains about being poor but chooses a more expensive option to get to JFK.

    All in all I’m very much questioning truth of the story.

  14. Max Reply
    December 3, 2019 at 6:42 pm

    Just a friendly reminder that there is no need to italicize “Washington Post” as it is a publication, not the title of a major literary work (e.g. a novel).

  15. Kerry Reply
    December 3, 2019 at 7:58 pm

    This essay was the pathetic whining of someone who is extremely self-entitled, and like some other commenters here I suspect whole sections are made up or embellished as it just doesn’t hold together.

    Having said that, it’s important to know that this is from a very specific section of the Washington Post called “outlook” that I studiously avoid, as it specialises in whiny personal rants from amateurs otherwise unaffiliated with the Post. The whole section needs to go – it’s unrelated to the often very good professional journalism in the rest of the paper.

    • Christian Reply
      December 3, 2019 at 9:34 pm

      Well said.

      The whole thing is politically irrelevant anyway, since no group has the market cornered on being whiny and self-entitled. @Matthew, while I’ve deduced your political perspective (and don’t care much since it doesn’t seem to affect your blog posts), most readers have not discerned your leanings. This actually does you great credit. Don’t blow it over some idiot.

      • Matthew Reply
        December 3, 2019 at 9:37 pm

        Noted.

  16. James Reply
    December 4, 2019 at 1:20 pm

    In the age of snowflake, non-binary gender, anti vaxx movement, flat-earth believers, and so on, the crazier you are, the more people interested in your story.

    As stupid as it sounds, if it sells well, then we keep on selling.

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