10 reasons not to fly

Last week, an Air India flight bound for Mumbai allegedly overshot its destination and headed straight to Goa because the pilots were fast asleep in the cockpit. Add drunk pilots to the sleeping ones, the obscene price hike, the madness at the Delhi airport, untimely rain and really, maybe you’re better off just taking a train.

HT City offers you 10 reasons why not to fly. DRUNK PILOTS: You may think it’s a one off, but you’re wrong.

Almost 50 incidents of pilots reporting drunk to work are caught every year. There have been 20 already in 2008.

The increase has been so alarming that the Directorate General of Civil Aviation now plans to issue ’stricter’ guidelines. Obviously, the fact that they are responsible for over 100 other lives doesn’t do it.

FEWER PILOTS: Reports say that airlines have retrenched staff by almost 30 per cent. So those who are employed, if they are not drunk, are overworked.

SLEEPING PILOTS: If they aren’t drunk, they’re so overworked because of all the cost cutting that catching a nap here and there may soon become the norm. SKY-ROCKETING AIRFARE: OPEC will not cut prices, and flights can’t afford cheap passengers any more.

The founder of Deccan, Captain Gopinath, said airlines need anywhere between Rs 1,000 to 2,500 more (per seat) to break even. Things are apparently so bleak that the Business Travel Coalition (America) predicts massive job loss, reduced tourism and declining business.

WI-FI WHY? In 2006, Boeing introduced in-flight internet. American Airlines is experimenting with air-to-ground satellite connection for laptops on board.

Hollywood, are we looking at a plot for a terrorist thriller? NO FREEBIES: Kingfisher won’t be giving out those pouches and most airlines don’t even serve candy. If you want to eat, you pay, if you want to plug your ears you get your own ear plugs.

DELHI AIRPORT: It’s temporary, it’s for the better, but it’s still a labyrinth of chaos. Why put yourself through the torture? LAST MINUTE CANCELLATIONS: Untimely rain has played havoc with schedules in all sectors.

If you can’t rely on the weather or the pilot, why pay a bomb for the tickets? SAVE THE ENVIRONMENT: According to a report, an air traveller generates approximately 2,500 lb of CO2 emissions on a round trip from New York to London. A car produces an average of 10,000 lb of carbon dioxide in an entire year! Need we say more? DON’T FUND GLOBAL WARMING: Soon airlines will have to pay for the damage they do to the environment.

Sceptics believe this will be used as an excuse to raise air fares but not spend it on emission trading. So you pay to fly, the environment suffers and the aviation industry gets richer.