Changes to American flight rules.

[Tidewater]

Some changes, mostly good ones.

1. No bare feet on the flight.
2. Tighter controls on "emotional support animals." A dude from Florida had a boa constrictor in his bag.
3. Crackdown on boarding before your boarding group.
4. For domestic flights you must have a Real ID compliant drivers license. In Virginia, you had to pay an extra $10 to get the "real ID compliant" drivers license. Not sure about elsewhere.
5. If you flight gets cancelled or significantly delayed, the airlines have to refund (via the means you used to pay for the ticket), including any other fees like seat upgrades.

Also being considered, banning plastic straws, nuts (for those with nut allergies), and limiting how much booze you can drink on the flight.

 

[Toddrn]

Some changes, mostly good ones.

1. No bare feet on the flight.
2. Tighter controls on "emotional support animals." A dude from Florida had a boa constrictor in his bag.
3. Crackdown on boarding before your boarding group.
4. For domestic flights you must have a Real ID compliant drivers license. In Virginia, you had to pay an extra $10 to get the "real ID compliant" drivers license. Not sure about elsewhere.
5. If you flight gets cancelled or significantly delayed, the airlines have to refund (via the means you used to pay for the ticket), including any other fees like seat upgrades.

Also being considered, banning plastic straws, nuts (for those with nut allergies), and limiting how much booze you can drink on the flight.

These are some good changes. I got my real ID in 2018. For me no one should fly with an emotional support animal, just a service animal.

 

[DzynKingRTR]

can we put a ban on everyone that tries to switch seats? Almost every flight I have ever been on someone requests to switch my seat with their spouse. The seat is never better. It is always worse. Now I politely refuse and just ignore the person the rest of the flight. It is just annoying to even be asked.

 

[BhamToTexas]

People should have to take a class on how to properly board and deplane. The ignorance is overwhelming.

I have also always thought that they should have a business travel window in the morning (say anything before 9 am). Any families or sports teams or cheerleader groups or whatever need to fly after that window.

 

[Tidewater]

People should have to take a class on how to properly board and deplane. The ignorance is overwhelming.

I have also always thought that they should have a business travel window in the morning (say anything before 9 am). Any families or sports teams or cheerleader groups or whatever need to fly after that window.

I have watched the United flight from Dulles to Brussels dozens of times.
It occurs to me that this process needs a First Sergeant from the Army or the Marine Corps (imagine yelling in a very loud command voice that can be heard over the din of the terminal):
"Hey, knuckleheads, listen up! Everyone, take out your passport and hold it over your heads. Do it NOW! Hey, you, knucklehead, why don't you have your passport out and over your head? Aren't you listening?"
"Okay, open the passport to the page with your photo and place your boarding pass in that page and close your passport. Put it away, but keep it handy."
"Okay, you are only allowed one carry-on bag. Who has more than one carry-on bag? Come to the counter and check all but one of them! Do it now!"
"Alright, we have five boarding groups,. If your boarding pass says 'Boarding Group 1,' come forward and line up, starting at the sign marked 'Boarding Group 1.'
If your boarding pass says 'Boarding Group 2,' come forward and line upstarting at the sign marked 'Boarding Group 2.'
If your boarding pass says 'Boarding Group 3, 4, or 5,' go sit down and wait for your Boarding Group to be called! Do it now!"

A First Sergeant is a beautiful thing, bringing order from knuckleheads for 249 years.

 

[Bodhisattva]

can we put a ban on everyone that tries to switch seats? Almost every flight I have ever been on someone requests to switch my seat with their spouse. The seat is never better. It is always worse. Now I politely refuse and just ignore the person the rest of the flight. It is just annoying to even be asked.

It is annoying, and I've noticed this happens way too much. Why didn't these people get the seats they wanted when they booked their flight? If they waited too late to get the ones they wanted, too bad. Act faster next time. I believe now airlines charge a little more to pick your seat. So, if it's important to you then pay up. If you don't want to pay a little more, then shut up and sit where you are assigned.

And if people don't want to comply with common sense rules, I'm ok with them being beaten into compliance. Negative incentivizing can work wonders.

 

[mdb-tpet]

It is annoying, and I've noticed this happens way too much. Why didn't these people get the seats they wanted when they booked their flight? If they waited too late to get the ones they wanted, too bad. Act faster next time. I believe now airlines charge a little more to pick your seat. So, if it's important to you then pay up. If you don't want to pay a little more, then shut up and sit where you are assigned.

And if people don't want to comply with common sense rules, I'm ok with them being beaten into compliance. Negative incentivizing can work wonders.

Sometimes you simply can't book together, such as traveling with a spouse who has their ticket purchased by their company, or you booked too late. Or, when your kid is moved randomly by the airline...

 

[4Q Basket Case]

These are definitely steps in the right direction. I would add one:

If you cause a disturbance such that (1) the flight is delayed, (2) the flight has to be diverted, or (3) law enforcement is called to meet the flight on arrival, you are banned from access to any airport in the country for life, with the first possibility of review 10 years from the date of your offense.

Whether the airport ban is lifted at that point is a function of how you've conducted yourself in all aspects of life in the intervening time -- any violent behavior (domestic or otherwise) and any alcohol-related offenses are automatic disqualifiers. See you in 10 years. Keep your nose clean, will you?

Depending on exactly what you did, you may also be subject to other criminal charges and/or civil liability. If so, those are separate issues and will be addressed separately.

If that affects your ability to do your job, or get to a sick family member quickly, that's too bad. All you had to do was act like a decent human being with the barest amount of consideration for your fellow passengers, and none of this would have happened.

Now, you'll need to find another line of work, or drive, or take other public transportation -- like trains or buses. We don't allow time out of a prison sentence to do your job and sob stories won't get you off the hook here.

Guaranteed, this would happen less than a half-dozen times and you'd see incidents of passengers getting seriously out of line drop to almost nothing.