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I find that people's aversion to missing flights _feels_ like it reflects a financial calculation, but in reality reflects their level of deep-seated anxiety ab
by ajkjk 5y ago
I find that people's aversion to missing flights _feels_ like it reflects a financial calculation, but in reality reflects their level of deep-seated anxiety about screwing up and having to deal with uncertainty.
Like -- some people will say, why risk it, it will potentially cost XX$ to fix this, I'll have to waste hours in an airport which I value at YY$, I might lose my bags, I'll be late for my important thing.
And then some other people will say: oh, I might have to take a later flight, which is cheap if I'm willing to abide some discomfort, and I'll be late but it'll be in adventure, and I'll be stuck in an airport and have to find something to do and maybe make some friends.
I'm biased because I'm in the second group. But I tend to think that a lot of things that feel like rationality really are starting from emotional beliefs and 'working backwards' to the arguments that support them. If you're scared of uncertainty or messing up, you see lots of reasons why missing flights is a disaster. If you're relaxed about it, you see lots of ways that it's fine. And somehow a missed flight ends up costing you a lot less, too -- maybe you don't check as many bags (travel light! more leeway for adjustments); you're more willing to abide discomfort and tardiness so you can take less optimal flights or fly standby; you don't mind napping in the airport instead of feeling forced to pay for a hotel; you make sport of finding the cheapest airport food instead of complaining about how the food you were forced to eat was so expensive.
Just saying. I think it's a better way to live. I've missed a few flights over the years, and it always worked out fine. It cost a bit of money, but not much, and curiously all three times it happened I ended up having amazing conversations with strangers either in the airport or on my replacement flight.
- camtarn 5y agoI find this point of view utterly mystifying. Making sure you don't miss your flight only costs a couple of hours, and the effort of being organised enough to leave on time. Missing the flight has a cost of lots of money, many more hours, and a whole bunch more organisation and talking to people. It seems like a dead simple trade-off. Sure, if you end up missing the flight because of unforeseen circumstances, and you can afford to burn a few hundred bucks without it affecting your budget, there's no sense in feeling particularly bad about it. But I see no sense in deliberately putting oneself at risk of that situation, unless your time really is that valuable or you have a massive aversion to being organised that outweighs the rest. (I don't count 'having ADHD or otherwise being a very disorganized person' as 'deliberate', for what it's worth: if that's the case then maybe adopting the viewpoint above really is a good idea?) [edit] Ah, noticed further down that you were taking domestic flights where rebooking cost you around $100, where presumably that's in the range that it doesn't hurt you too much to spend. You should probably note that everybody you're responding to has had to pay way more for their rebookings, so really you're looking at a completely different trade-off from them.
- ajkjk 5y agoWell, to be clear, I would have had a casual attitude about it even if rebooking cost a lot more than that. I don't know how much of a fee rebooking flights costs most people because I've only done it a few times, but I also don't care -- having to spend money because of a mistake or unforeseen complication is unfortunate, but not, like, the calamity people are making it out to be. It's just an annoying waste of money, like getting a speeding ticket or having to pay for an unexpected home repair. Nothing that should affect one's happiness.