Although cheap airplane tickets, discount hotel rooms and cheap vacation packages often do not make up for all the fees being slapped on passengers for everything from checking bags to requesting blankets on planes, in many ways flying is easier these days:
Airports are not as crowded as in the past and airline prices have remained low because demand is down due to the recession.
Airlines have loosened some of their restrictions on redeeming frequent flier awards. American Airlines has started offering one way award tickets and United has stopped charging additional fees for award tickets reserved less than three weeks prior to departure.
Often it is possible to go from your home to the plane without standing in any lines other than at security.
Some airlines already offer passengers the ability to store their boarding passes on mobile phones that display a bar code that can be scanned at the gate.
Lufthansa is expanding its use of self boarding turnstiles at airport gates, which are similar to those used at subway stations, where passengers can scan their own boarding passes and then advance onto the plane. It is believed that this tactic can greatly speed up the boarding process. You can be certain that if this proves to be the case that other airlines will follow quickly.
Online check in allows customers without baggage to avoid checking in at an airline desk prior to proceeding to a security check point.
Etickets have made online check in possible as well as done away with the grief and expense that used to arise when a customer lost a paper ticket.