Air travelers are fed up and beaten down

We pray to escape the middle row. We pay extra for a cranny of bonus leg room. And we pine for an upgrade to the highest of all Promised Lands — first class.

But nearly eight years into this shoe-shedding, Ziploc-toting, knee-hugging, $6 snack box-munching culture we call air travel, the seat that U.S. passengers may need most is a shrink’s couch.

What in the name of Chuck Lindbergh have we become? Chronic flyers, in large part, have devolved into kowtowed teeth-clenchers who are often too scared or too tired to squawk about poor treatment, who dutifully remove their belts, watches, jewelry, keys, coats and laptops while flashing a big old grin, and who are — come touch down — just happy to get there.

Psychologists call it “conditioning.” The emotional makeup of many airline passengers seems to lie somewhere between battle worn and mentally spent, according to dozens of travel experts and mega-mile flyers contacted for this article. One flight attendant compared the psyche of flyers to hostages with Stockholm syndrome — which causes abducted people to become loyal to their kidnappers.

“When it comes to service, it has gotten so bad (across the industry) that when people receive the tiniest morsel of courtesy, they feel grateful,” said Gailen David, an American Airlines purser. Through his own company, the Jetiquette Academy, he helps airlines and other clients bolster customer service. “(Travelers) have been conditioned to not ask for much and to just go with the flow.”

Slide show   Awful airlines An editorial cartoon roundup by Daryl Cagle depicting the trials and tribulations of air travel. more photos

That, at least, may explain the surprising headline from the latest scrutiny of airline quality: Complaints dipped in 2008. According to the study — compiled by private researchers using government stats, and released last week — the number of traveler grievances tapered from 1.42 per 100,000 passengers in 2007 to 1.15. At the same time, more flights arrived on time in 2008 and fewer bags were lost as compared to the previous year.

(Delta Air Lines and United Airlines, the two lowest-ranked legacy carriers in the 2008 quality survey, have not responded to msnbc.com's inquiries.)

Now, let’s prepare for cross check — and some context. The highest year ever for flyer complaints? That was 2007. In 2008, the airlines also transported fewer folks and bag fees caused many customers to carry on. So the true psychology at 35,000 feet seems far more intriguing than the cold numbers.

The truth comes out
Given a chance to engage in some cyber analysis and a bit of old-fashioned venting, these perpetual passengers spoke of a darker reality:

• “When no one is listening after a while, why bother to complain?” asked Barry Maher, a professional speaker from Helendale, Calif., who teaches, among other topics, stress management. He has never filed a formal gripe with an airline. “(Sure,) complaints are down, so are complaints about the stock market. The bar is very, very, very low.”
• “We’ve been beaten into submission,” said Janet Hopkins, who has performed as a soprano with the New York Metropolitan Opera. As a frequent cross-country flyer, she has filed two airline complaints. Within the past three months, a drunken passenger harassed her and a flight attendant refused to intervene, she says. In another episode, an airline employee shut a Jetway door in the face of Hopkins and 15 other passengers as they ran to catch a connection following a late arrival. When she subsequently asked a ticket agent to book another flight, “she just looked at me like I was annoying her, and gave me an 800 number to call.”
• “Flying today is like getting wet in a rain storm — after a while you just accept you are going to get wet and deal with it,” added Bob Dixon, who walks corporate clients through issues like customer relationship management. He flew 210,000 miles in 2008. “I dread it.”

Since the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, airports have offered a demeaning, demanding gauntlet of curling lines, identity verification, bodily inspection and a now-tired dance in which travelers reassemble their attire while simultaneously walking and showing the world their shampoo. The flights are still another kind of heaven. The result: flyers have grown more compliant, professional shrinks say. As consumers, we’ve lost some swagger; we’ve stowed our customer confidence in the full, upright and locked position.

“We’ve come to expect the airport experience as a rite of passage, i.e. as a process that we must go through in order to achieve the goal: arriving safely and on time,” said Michael Brein, who holds a doctorate in social psychology and pens travel guides as “The Travel Psychologist.” “It has gone from ridiculous to ludicrous.”

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