OutKick Readers Sound Off On Their Biggest Airport And Flying Gripes

Well, would you look at that? I do believe it's Tuesday, which means it's time for another edition of the Internet's home for bitchin' and moanin', The Gripe Report.

Last week, I laid out a bunch of my biggest complaints when it comes to airports and air travel, and I got a bunch of messages from readers like yourself sharing some of their gripes.

Have a gripe? Send it in!: matthew.reigle@outkick.com

So, let's add a few things to that near-perfect list I came up with last week, shall we?

Whoops, she was supposed to be on that one.. (Getty Images)

Airport Unreliability

If the idea to talk airport gripes was "ripped from headlines," then this gripe fits that bill even more so.

Some airports — and believe it or not, we're not just talking about Newark — are notorious for their unreliablity and Jon is checking in with an example.

My former hometown airport (Shreveport) had a horrible habit of canceling flights, especially the first one of the day. This always led to the domino effect of screwing up the rest of your schedule. Long story short, one time, instead of landing at my beach vacation destination at 12 noon and having toes in the sand by 1, it was a 12 midnight arrival.

Things got so predictably bad that we started driving to either Dallas or Houston at 3+ hours away, just to take the place out of the equation.

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This is enraging, but you've got to at least appreciate it a little bit when an airport is so bad on this front that everyone just kind of expects some nonsense and plans accordingly.

That said, I don't know that there's a worse drive out there than the multi-hour drive from the airport back home after a trip.

I remember doing this once after a trip to Mexico, upon landing in Philadelphia, about two hours or so from where I lived, and I can't remember ever being more miserable on the Pennsylvania Turnpike than that, which is saying a lot.

But I get it, because if you know the airport is prone to cancellations, steer clear. Nothing is worse than getting up at the crack of dawn, getting to the airport, and going through the whole check in and TSA process, only to have the flight canceled.

I've seen enough… put her on the "No-Fly" list. (Getty Images)

People Who Take Their Shoes Off

Mike pointed out something that I omitted on my original list that I think is worth addressing:

I hate to say that you missed the worst part about flying:

People who wear Crocs, sandals, loafers, etc., without socks.

I don’t want to see your disgustingly gross feet!!!!!

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Now, I'm on record being a big Crocs guy, but if you see someone who looks like me in an airport but is wearing Crocs, I've got news for you, hombre, that's not me.

I'm Captain Sneakers in an airport (pro-tip: slip-on sneakers), and at the very least you need to be wearing socks.

I mean, I don't know what kind of wacky shack escapee looks at the carpet in the TSA area and goes, "Yeah, I think I'm gonna pop off these Birkenstocks and go raw dog that carpet that everyone walks on."

That's just pure, unleaded insanity, but you see even more people letting their dogs out at the gate and on the plane. 

We need to class it up on planes a bit more, folks. I'm not saying you need to show up with spats on, but some kind of shoes and unstained sweatpants would be fine.

Isn't it crazy how flight is only 120 years old. Commercial flight is only like 100, and in that span, we've got from people getting on planes dressed like they were going to the Kentucky Derby to people dressing like they're running to a gas station at 2 in the morning to buy smoke detector batteries.

A woman walks towards a set of airport restrooms as she prepares to play a round of everyone's favorite game, "Filthy, Out-Of-Order, Or Both!" (Getty Images)

Airport Restrooms (And A Standing At The Gate Rebuttal)

Last, but certainly not least, we've got Joe, who brought up something I can't believe I omitted from my original list, and also offers a rebuttal to something that was on my list:

Matt,

Nice summary about flying. I'd add "Reliance on Airport Restrooms" as my #9... a real roll of the dice depending on the time of day.

I disagree about standing after parking at the gate. I do it so that I can immediately retrieve my bag from the overhead, pair it with my backpack, and load my water bottle, magazines, etc. Doing all that in a rush helps me avoid leaving something behind. Plus, there's almost always someone in the rows immediately in front of me (often a short female) who needs help with their bag from the overhead. So I actually help the process of deplaning move along.

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Alright, so let's talk standing up the second the fasten seatbelt light goes off first. 

I'm not a big fan, but I appreciate that Joe has a game plan, because I don't think most people do. They're just like dogs who have been let off the leash and just can't wait to get up and run around.

Now, the airport bathroom situation? I legitimately do not know how I forgot to talk about that, because Joe is right, it's an absolute crapshoot.

First of all, the bathrooms at most big airports always have one of two things (not those two things) hampering their performance: they're either filthy or something is broken. It's always one of the two, sometimes both.

I'm always amazed by how fast and loose people play it in airports when it comes to food that might get their bowels rumbling a 747 barreling down the runway to take off.

I was once told that I needed to try the chili at an airport restaurant. I kept hearing how great this chili was, but airport chili is just a bridge too far for me. 

I love chili. I'd love being a firefighter because, from what I've seen on TV, when they're not fighting fires, they're making chili. That said, it's not an airport food, because it's going to sentence you to the porcelain chair either in the terminal or up in the sky.

The only other option is to abstain in the name of the gastrointestinal. 

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Many thanks to those of you who sent in gripes. Be sure to keep them coming, and perhaps you'll see them in a future edition of The Gripe Report: matthew.reigle@outkick.com