Lily

ok real talk

I travel constantly and at some point flying just became dreadful? Like airlines will tell you a flight is $180 and then by the time you add a bag, pick a seat that isn't a middle seat in the back next to the bathroom, and god forbid try to bring your dog, you're at $300+ and you haven't even gotten to the airport yet

and then you GET to the airport. two hours early. Shoes off. water confiscated. elbow war with a stranger for three hours. even first class can't save you from that part. You're still in the same chaotic terminal as everyone else just with slightly better snacks

Anyway, I stumbled onto semi private flying a while back and I genuinely could not believe it was real. You pull up, park for free literally outside the door, walk in, board in 15 minutes, and suddenly you're on a small beautiful plane getting served champagne with your dog sitting next to you

Flying used to be an event.

People dressed up for it. The seats were wide. The food was real. You walked across the tarmac and up the stairs and felt like you were doing something kind of glamorous. Even if you were just going to Cleveland.

Now? Now you pay $400 to sit in a seat designed by someone who hates the human body. You board by group number like cattle. There's a fee for your bag. A fee for picking your seat. They'd charge you to breathe the cabin air if they could figure out how to meter it. The whole experience has been engineered to extract the maximum amount of money while delivering the minimum amount of dignity.

I got tired of it. So I started looking into alternatives and discovered something that genuinely shocked me: semi-private flights exist, they fly 40+ routes across the US, and some of them cost $200.