Airlines Forced To Put Travelers In Charter Buses Due To Pilot Shortage

Pilot shortages have been a persistent issue in the United States since the Covid-19 pandemic. Staffing shortages have been created by airlines struggling to keep up with the increase in demand as travel restrictions continue to lift.

Airlines also terminated thousands of employees for failing to get the Covid-19 vaccine, with United Airlines firing almost 600 employees alone.

Pilot shortages have become such a major issue that airlines are now chartering buses for customers traveling short distances. Major airlines have predicted that pilot shortages could not be resolved for a matter of years, and mid-sized airlines may struggle to recover for up to six years.

The New York Post Reports–

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https://100percentfedup.com/airports-forced-to-put-travelers-in-charter-buses-due-to-pilot-shortage/

I don't know how folks can enjoy flying on a regular basis.

HawkTheSlayer wrote:I don't know how folks can enjoy flying on a regular basis.

I'm not sure I'll EVER fly again. The last time was October 2007. As long as there are mandates I definitely won't.

Are these bus drivers Jabbed?

Those passengers won't be much better off with a driver falling over dead, than they will be with a pilot going into cardiac arrest as he's landing.

HawkTheSlayer wrote:I don't know how folks can enjoy flying on a regular basis.

It has changed a lot. It USED to be An Event.

People planned for it and dressed for it; and behaved. As they might in church or at a (classical-music) concert. The pilots were dashing, theatrical; the stewardesses very fetching; and it was all a big show.

That went on until the early 1970s. Airlines would let stewardesses go when they got married. Those that didn't...they had to comply with height and weight standards, the kind that only under-35 women could comply with. IIRC (I was a kid then, and not flying) the airlines would try to offer jobs elsewhere - office jobs or ticket-counter jobs.

This was in the rise of NOW. They sued. Social-engineers in government and courts, sided with NOW and the aging stews. It became unlawful. So now, the fireplugs could remain as flight attendants.

THEN came Deregulation. This had a second-order effect on flights - prices fell. Texas International introduced what they called "Peanut Fares." Southwest Airlines, then just a startup, kept finding ways to drop ticket prices - to about $28 from Texas to LA, or from any two points Southwest served.

That brought air travel to the reach of, students...military troops on leave...

...ghetto trash...white trash...people who were barely functional in society. And those people brought their behavior standards onto the planes.

The second time I flew (first time I was five years old, 1963) was when I was shipped out to Boot Camp. It was on a 767...we reported at MEPS; we were bused to the airport and boarded as a group. Fifteen of us. It was not a chartered flight.

There was some gangly black kid, about 18, on the plane...not one of our group. Carrying a fer-chrissake BASKETBALL with him. He put it in the overhead, and the lid wouldn't close properly. He would NOT find another place to put it or check it. Finally (I'm guessing against FRA regs) the head steward taped the overhead door shut with postal strapping tape.

Nobody wanted to be called Ray Cyst, even then.

The flight attendants were a 50/50 mix of male and female...none of the females were particularly comely, although in fairness, they were all properly groomed. The males seemed younger than the females, and had my Gaydar going off. Yeah.

And this was a small plane, a short flight to Chicago I can IMAGINE the holiday rush in a two-aisle 747...with a dozen would-be basketball players, all with basketballs and attitudes.

I will not fly again. Not as a sentient creature...may be, my urn gets flown back to Gnu Yark (I'm wrestling with that; maybe Missoula will be my Happy Hunting Ground) but I'm not going up there.

I've always said I'd rather take the train or drive. Well, now, Amtrak is succumbing to the same ills - and their engineers are all Jabbed, too. And driving is just too costly. And I'm done with motorcycle touring. So I guess, short of a move, I'm not going anywhere.

Que sera.