So I went to check in online, and it asked me to check some boxes for what luggage I wanted to bring on board. I did, and it told me that to carry on both a backpack and a roller bag it’ll be $45, or $65 if I try to play games and they have to check stuff at the gate.
I said fuck that, and unchecked some boxes. It said I couldn’t check in without putting a credit card on file, that they would charge if there were any issues and they wound up needing to charge me for my luggage. It wouldn’t let me continue without putting a credit card on file and checking a box that said they could charge me for my luggage, if they felt it was excessive.
I said fuck that and decided to check in at the airport. I threw all my stuff in a backpack to remove any wiggle room, and the kiosk said the same thing. I talked to one of the people, and she said it’s a new policy. I pointed out that I paid for my ticket, she could see I had only a backpack, and I wanted to get in the airplane. She told me to go talk to the guy at the end.
I talked to the guy at the end, politely, and eventually he printed a boarding pass for me. But you should know they’re up to some bullshit.
I refuse to fly domestically anymore just because the TSA is all security theater, I refuse to go through their backscatter x-ray, and I’m not interested in their enhanced groping. I will ride my motorcycle 1000 miles in a single day rather than take a plane anywhere.
Same. Flying has become such a terrible experience that I refuse to take part in it anymore. With the overbooking resulting in people getting kicked off planes, price-gouging customers, constantly late flights, stranding people without compensation, people packed in so tight that no one is comfortable, lack of cleanliness, constitutional rights violations, stealing luggage and items in luggage, violations of people’s bodies…I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to call it cruelty to the passengers.
They phased out back scatter x-ray like a decade ago. They only use millimeter wave, which doesn’t have ionizing radiation.
Same.
I will road trip or take a train instead of flying. I’d rather be on the road twelve hours than in a plane for one.
I will ALWAYS get the grope if I avoid the cancer box.
I have a deep-seated fear of the cancer box. I was okay with it - I get x-rays a bit for ongoing Achilles issues - until I learned that when Boston TSA asked the FAA what the risks are of standing nearby it for hours at a time, the response was
That’s when I decided I’d like to avoid it.
What I’ve learned:
So there.
I used to work in a job that involved handling radioactive materials. We had dosimeter badges to track long term exposure to radiation. One pass through the full body scanner at a TSA checkpoint would make the dosimeter badge come back from the lab at greater than monthly allowable exposure. I’ll take the grope.
“why are cancer rates increasing?”