Why I wish I could travel more for Work, but why it's gotten harder

For me, part of worklife means to travel. My customers aren't near me, neither reachable by car nor train. The obvious choice is to use the plane, which is my preferred choice.

I've flown for well over a decade and in that time, many things have changed. When I started to fly, to be a be able to reach a certain airline status, for me it was Lufthansa Senator, it truly meant something in the travel world. It wasn't a free ticket to just food, but the stewardesses on the flights would greet you at your seat, small little perks and gestures made flying in economy a treat with possible uprades.

Today it is merely seen a right of each traveler, no matter what level of card they have. Lounges are filled to the brink, on most days without possible seating, staff overworked and cleanliness not always up to par.
Many, I can't say how many, passengers are just rude towards the stewardesses and service personal in both lounges and on board. It saddens me to see, that such an amazing way to travel has become just a trivial thing.

Let's take a look at booking classes and prices for flights. Recently I was browsing flights to South America on the usual comparison websites. Obviously, you sort by price, second maybe about amount of stops or like me, also check which airlines or alliances apply. What has become tricky is that most airlines now have different kind of tickets, without luggage, with luggage, flexible tickets, of course business class (with and without miles) plus first class of course. Not to mention some airlines offer with or without catering, just to make things confusing (or cheaper?!).
For the 20 something hour flight to South America, the flights offered were only with hand luggage (8kg) and I am not certain who would travel that far without proper luggage. Luckily I spotted this essential detail! Clicking the options, made the flight more expensive and out of curiosity I choose a randome (cheap) flight to see what it would actually Cost. Costs for use of credit card, essential (but optional) insurance was mentioned on every page and further cost drivers annoyed me enough to just book via the website in this case, but in most cases using my agent.

Many stop-over airports are so large now, that in some instances at least an hour should be planned in to find your way from arrival gate to the following flight's gate. In some instances bags are being checked not just once, but sometimes twice in the same airport, even without leaving the secure sector of airports. At other times you are rerouted out of the airport and need to check in again, which I personally find utterly annoying.

That's not all about flying or airports, but even getting to the airports has become a nuisance. Let's take Düsseldorf airport as an example. If a family member or driver, other than a taxi bring you there, there is a high chance that you'll get either a ticket of speeding or for parking. The speed limit is 20km/h (!!!!) and there are gates to each terminal (!!!), so traffic is always a certainty and when you come there the first time, you are very likely to have to drive in circles. Even worse when you are being picked up, because you can't park at the arrivals, but need to find a parking place or garage and find your way. For me, we usually meet at the Porsche dealership nearby :)

I won't even get into using a train to reach an airport, at least in Germany, because it's more expensive than the flight in some cases!
Let's just take Berlin Munich, as there is a new "much faster" train available.
Train 7 days from now, 2 day stay: 240€ and 4:36 travel time.


Flight 7 days from now, 2 day stay: 128€ and 1:20 travel time.







Apart from CO2, no one in his right mind would want to use the train! How does that even make sense?


Although the world is so much more connected today, we are also so much more disconnected on a personal level to each other and services, because many things have become trivial. I for one try to look acceptable and clean when traveling. I try to smile at the stewardess and thank her/him for the service. Try and see how far we've come and appreciate what you are entitled to use and act accordingly.