I hate air travel since 9/11. I’ve been pulled over for extra inspection almost every time I’ve tried to board an airplane. On top of that, changes in airline business practices make flying odious. I never wrote about our Christmas trip, but leaving San Jose was nearly impossible due to massive airline screw-ups and delays (due to a recent merger of one airline with another). We arrived two hours early to the airport; we stood in line for two hours just to check our bags and get boarding passes. We barely made the plane, but then it sat for another 45 minutes. This late start on the first leg of our flight made us miss our Las Vegas connection, which caused us to have to re-book our second connection through Pittsburgh while our luggage went to the original connection point of Atlanta. We did arrive in Syracuse, finally, but it took our luggage another day. Due to the time-zone shift, flying east is hard on the body. So it was, in all, an unpleasant flight experience. At least the trip home was smooth.

So in addition to the fact that air travel is expensive and our budget is tight right now, there are more reasons to stay on the ground. Here’s a sampling. Those of you who have the patience and fortitude to fly, more power to ya.

Over all, this could be a dreadful summer to fly. In the first five months of 2007, more than a quarter of all flights within the United States arrived at least 15 minutes late. And more of those flights were delayed for long stretches, an average of 39 percent longer than a year earlier. … If a flight taxies out, sits for hours, and then taxies back in and is canceled, the delay is not recorded. Likewise, flights diverted to cities other than their destination are not figured into delay statistics.

—Ugly Airline Math: Planes Late, Fliers Even Later

Right now, it’s far cheaper for airlines to screw over their passengers and say “Sorry, your flight is canceled, please come back tomorrow” than it is to maintain enough staff and equipment to run their operations. After years of cost-cutting, they are running so close to the bone that they can’t deal with problems when they occur.

If airline executives want to run lean, that’s their business decision, but passengers should be adequately compensated when that system fails. This is something that simply switching carriers won’t fix — the problem pervades the entire industry, and in many cities, one or two carriers control most of the flights anyway.

If you cancel your reservation or don’t show up for a flight, the airline charges you a penalty all the way to the full price of your ticket. It’s only fair that when the airline fails to deliver on its side of the bargain, it should pay you.

—As summer air travel horror begins, Congress should give passengers more rights

Debbie Chaklos of the South Side booked a four-day Father’s Day trip to Paris with her father and 17-year-old brother for June 13. Due to bad weather elsewhere, they were still on the tarmac in Pittsburgh when their flight from Philadelphia to Paris took off. No other flights were leaving that night. After failing to get their bags back, Ms. Chaklos said, she called some 25 Philadelphia-area hotels before finding a vacancy.

A US Airways attendant re-booked them on an Air France flight the next day, but, on getting to Paris, they found their three bags were missing. They spent days haggling on the phone with Air France and washing their clothes in the sink before two of the bags finally arrived — 10 hours before the trio was set to fly back to the States. Once back, they realized the bags were lost again.

—It’s Summertime, and the Flying’s Anything But Easy

After three hours of sitting on a runway at LaGuardia International Airport the night of June 19, and the single glass of water and the mini granola bar issued to her long gone, Alice Norris got off her US Airways flight to look for another plane back to Pittsburgh. None was available. She returned to her seat and sat for another two hours before the pilots announced the federal limit on their flight time had run out and the flight had been canceled.

It was now around midnight. The Butler County woman waited through the crowded customer service line, saying she was an inexperienced flier and didn’t know what to do. The customer representative shrugged.

“I’m tired,” Mrs. Norris said.

“I am too,” the rep replied.

“I’m 70,” Mrs. Norris said.

Such experiences are becoming more and more common this summer, with passengers facing mounting cancellations, delays, lost bags, ruined vacations and emotional scenes at the ticket counter. A product of dangerous summer weather and systemic industry problems, the situation is poised to get even worse as the traveling season gets into full swing this week.

Passengers are finding the trade-offs offered for canceled flights — such as hotel rooms — are not as readily offered anymore, and when they are, rooms are sold out. Free ticket offers aren’t as desirable either — why come back to the airport and face a delayed flight again?

That night, while walking around the darkened terminal, Mrs. Norris joined another increasingly common sight at American airports: a group of strangers huddled together for the night. Finding she couldn’t sleep, she returned to another crowded ticket line after 5 a.m., was erased from a 9 a.m. flight before finally finding another close to 11 a.m., all the while thinking of her treatment.

—It’s Summertime, and the Flying’s Anything But Easy

And now, for your viewing pleasure (?) (If the embedded video doesn’t work, click here):Thanks to Jen for pointing out the video.