The real reason is that travel is stressful.

Source: mazHur But/flickr

Airlines don’t even seem to try to hide their disdain for their passengers. Looks like they’re going to tell us they hate us in the introduction soon.

The airport is an “opposite world”. Otherwise, barely moving people can be seen running anywhere. High fashion is Ugg boots and yoga pants. Happy hour starts at 0700 and never ends. It is expected to pass adults lying in the fetal position. All purchases are made in a 1,000 percent inflation market. Do you really need that $10 People magazine? And it is the last acceptable place to eat cinnamon.

Boarding Process: Humans have left the building.

In few other cases is the state of your life more publicly visible than during the airline boarding process. This is by design: the airlines rate you publicly through the airport megaphone, rewarding or demoting you and other customers based on your spending with them. Airline credo? “If you want to travel in a body, you pay.”

All airlines must move people from one place to another through the troposphere. However, the way they start their process can be very different and is very clear in the board process. As soon as the gate attendant blows into a hot mic, people leap to their feet into pole position, blocking all the jetways ready to flash the ticket scanner.

There are significant reasons why we act like billy goats during the onboarding process, including:

• Mob mentality. It has been suggested that five people can influence 100 people to take the same action. Think #BlackFriday.
• Competition. We want to be the first and the first off the plane. It’s often every passenger for themselves, just as airports and airplanes are netherworlds where common sense and decency don’t apply.
• Impatience. People throng the gate hoping to get to their destination faster. A better use of time is to find a nearby spot and do some squats and leg stretches to avoid the onset of DVT.

• Baggage charges. Airplanes almost always have enough overhead bins for every passenger. In fact, new planes have increased the bin space.¹ But they don’t want you to use it for free..

The airlines have mastered the art of planting the seeds of anxiety so you can pay a little extra to check your bag or choose to board early. They depend on such payments to remain profitable. In the year By 2021, US airlines’ baggage fees alone are estimated to be $4.3 billion, with major US airlines taking in a total of $12.7 billion from these fees as of 2019.² Why can’t the airlines lose our emotional baggage instead?

To maximize profits, airlines continue to divide boarding groups into thin lanes, creating the illusion of highly limited bin space. For the airline you board according to your price, you board the last group and are willing to go down in price.

Think of the 10 steps of the Delta Air Lines boarding process as a demonstration of the psychological game you put in:

1. Pre-board.
2. Delta One® (flight groups light)
3. First class
4. Choose Delta Premium
5. Delta Comfort+®
6. Heaven priority
7. Main cabin 1 (last semi-elite semi-elite folio filler-top bin pecker fruit)
8. Main cabin 2
9. Main cabin 3
10. Basic Economy (We roll into the jet bridge like the end credits of a sad movie. Airline staff avoid eye contact with us, knowing we’re gassed.)

To increase your anxiety and subtly pressure you to pay in advance, the airlines implement these classes as they trade longer boarding times for extra revenue. United boards in 6 groups, American 9 and Delta 10.

It is useful for airlines to know that research indicates that flight crew competence and service quality are significantly related to flight stress and passenger satisfaction.³ But they still don’t care. Only one thing is certain: they will remain profitable, and we will remain uncomfortable.

6 tips for a stress-free trip:

1. Anticipate your stress and anxiety. There is nothing like travel to create or exacerbate stress and anxiety. Build this into your itinerary. As a child you guard spirits. Now you can anticipate air rage and peanut allergies.
2. Practice makes progress. Build your risk tolerance before the day of the trip to develop resilience to the unknown. Consider an overnight or weekend trip without buying an RV and hitting Branson. The goal is not to make your upcoming flight your first major new experience post-Covid-19.
3. Know your triggers. When we are hungry, angry, stressed, or tired, we make poor decisions. Being able to identify your triggers can help you quickly use coping strategies without opening the slide of elimination on a screaming toddler.
4. Plan ahead. Don’t do it At 6:00 AM, go to the airport for the 1:00 AM flight. do Bring all the travel documents you need for your mental and physical safety. These can include books, electronics, snacks, medicine, that stupid neck pillow, and the contacts of people in your support circle.
5. Consider avoiding caffeine and alcohol. Both can feel faint in a drying fuselage. Moreover, both can increase anxiety. Anxiety begins to pile up on caffeine, booze, and air-conditioned toilets.
6. Don’t fall asleep before the snack cart gets to your row.

Note: If anyone is shopping me for Christmas, I am a “window seat” size.