Revisiting Air at a Time of Crisis

Preparing for our recent trip to Egypt, we had our usual concerns about air arrangements booked through a tour group or cruise line without transparent air programs.

Would the flights have bad connections?

Would we be seated together?

Would my wife get the aisle seats she insists on?

Incrementally, our concerns were removed.  Our flights from New York would be non-stop.

Great!

Our seats were all together.

Great!

It doesn't always work out that easily.

Sometimes the flight itinerary seems terrible, though if we really look at universal flight itineraries, we usually see logic in the choices.  It sometimes turns out that there simply are no direct flights from our home airport to where we want to go.  Sometimes, there aren't flights with reasonable connections, and other times those good flights cost twice as much on the days we need to fly, whereas that included air was priced to attract the maximum number of potential passengers.

While we may fret about waiting around for checked luggage with our group's checked bags when we're ready to hit the ground running with carry-on bags, the inconveniences are often minor compared to the true angst should something truly unexpected happen, requiring us to change our air.