Why I try to avoid flying

Over the years, air travel has become increasingly unpleasant, bureaucratic, and uncomfortable. I'm inclined to blame duplicitous corporate behavior, especially the massively overcompensated upper management. 

My response is not to fly unless I absolutely have to. On the rare occasions I travel internationally, I try and fly some European airlines since the service tends to be better. I pay extra for premium economy and business class when it's affordable. I completely ignore frequent flyer programs and I never use the airport lounges unless I get a business class freebie. Using economics speak- the marginal utility of another trip is <= 0.

The impact of my behavior is that instead of flying 6-12 times a year, I now fly once a year. I never fly around the holidays except perhaps the day after Thanksgiving when flights tend to be less full (at least in my experience). This is a win win policy- good for climate change and good for my stress levels. My favorite airlines are Swiss andAir France. Lufthansa, KLM, and Icelandair (no frills but not bad at all barring Reykjavik airport, which is disorganized) come in next. I had a nice flight on Aer Lingus between Boston and Shannon. I will never fly Ryanair and the like. 

My worst flight experience in the US ever was Frontier Airlines. Completely chaotic and horrible unconfortable seats. Occasionally unpleasant is United and Southwest. Best flight experience ever was Delta. American is somewhere in between Delta and United. The puddle-hopper flight between Champaign and Chicago is sometimes comical in its unreliability. Other times it's quite pleasant amd Willard is a really nice airport.