Even Amtrak offers a more enjoyable travel experience than flying does, these days. Wide comfy seats, plenty of room between your seat and the seat in front of you, and you don’t have to go through the ridiculous and time-wasting security lines or take your shoes off and put them back on. You can bring a bottle of water aboard, no problem. And as much liquid as you can carry. Get up and stroll around whenever you want. No seatbelts. Viva la train!

There was once a time when flying was a glamorous activity. People would dress in their Sunday best to board that two hour flight from New York to Miami. It was an exciting experience, something special that most people would rarely if ever get the opportunity to do.

Today things have changed. Flying is a regular occurrence in peoples lives. The glamor has disappeared and we often feel harassed and violated by the whole security process. The desire of majority of air travelers today is simple: get me from point A to point B in as short a period as possible for as cheap as possible.

When flying the flag carriers we are often forced into long queues only to be treated badly at the security checkpoints and then to find out that our flight is delayed. Surprisingly enough I more often than not find that when I fly the budget airlines my travel experience is expedited. It is rare that when flying JetBlue that my total time from entering the terminal until the time when I get to the gate at the notoriously slow JFK International Airport is more than 20-30 minutes. This at a time when we’re often told to arrive anywhere between 90-180 minutes before our plane leaves.

Because Southwest Airlines often flies from secondary airports such as Long Island’s McArthur Airport in Islip (40 miles East of NYC) the queues are even shorter. My total time has been as low as 7 minutes with Southwest Airlines. This is the service that I want, that I expect and that I demand.

The budget airlines never offered us great drinks or food as an incentive to fly with them. Rather they offered us a basic service for a low price. They got us from point A to point B, quicker, faster and more reliably than their flag ship competitors. They are nicer at the check in desks and seem to care more about their passengers. This new breed of airline is trying to appeal to the new generation of fliers who don’t care about glamor.

For example, my husband & I flew from Kansas City to LAX round-trip non-stop last summer for $5 more per person than United wanted for a 2-stop flight that would have dropped us in Denver & Salt Lake City on the way out, and Phoenix on the way back. My husband was ill on the way back, due to a respiratory illness that almost all convention attendees had picked up while we were in Anaheim. They found some OTC cold & flu medicine on board that needed to be mixed with hot water, which they fixed for him and then checked on us several times during the flight to assure that we were comfortable. I’ve never gotten similar service from any other airline.

Another benefit, relating to your original point, is that here in Minneapolis the smaller carriers (such as Midwest) use the auxilliary Humphrey Terminal. This saves a minimum of 20 minutes each way in parking/security and provides a less harried experience than the main Lindbergh terminal.

On a flight last year from San Antonio, I called their customer service department and learned that I could add a Vegas ticket to my flght for only $15 more each ticket. By using a multi-day layover and speaking to a really nice representative, my husband and I were able to take kiddo to see grandparents then on to Vegas for both of us super cheap.

My daughter truly enjoyed the Frontier service, with the TVs in each seat (she watched Disney channel the whole time) and everyone around us who cringed at being sat near a 4year old were sure relieved at Frontier’s entertainment as my daughter barely said a word on a 2 hour flight. We will only fly Frontier (provided the bankrupcy protection doesn’t pan out to real bankruptcy) “home.”

P.S. did I mention how good they are to military folks (ourselves included)? Even on vacation, they overheard us talking about going “home” and made an announcement over air in support of all troops on board.