I flew for 40+years for business and never again with the possible exception of one last trip to Europe (maybe). Flying has become a miserable experience and it’s not just the TSA. I learned all the tricks, and it was still awful the last decade or so made worse by the narrow hard seats with no legroom, overcrowded overheads (caused by the abysmal way airlines handle checked baggage), fees for everything, stupid boarding processes and uninformed, unruly passengers. It’s amazing they can get flight attendants to work for them. The greatest benefit to retirement is not having to fly. Just for those that still plan on doing it, here’s what I learned:

1) only direct flights - avoid connecting flights like the plague - this is where missed connections due to late arrivals kill you
2) if possible, avoid commuter (4 digit) flights. Much less experience in the cockpit.
3) never check anything!
4) Uber to the airport and avoid the parking hassle. If you must park, write down the lot, row and space #. If you do “lose” your car, many airports can tell you where it is by licenses # - the inventory the lots nightly
5) Get TSA precheck status (if you fly enough, you’ll likely get this free)
6)if you can’t fly first class (a wonderful luxury, but unless you’re a frequent flyer and get free upgrades is exorbitant and few if any companies will pay for it), choose aisle seats up front - last on, first off. Pick an exit row if available for extra leg room
7) if you fly Southwest, check in the second checkin is available so you always get an “A” boarding pass.
8) stand in the front of the mass waiting to board so when your group is called, there will be overhead bin space.
9) don’t bring oversized carry ons and learn to stow it quickly (without arranging other people’s) bags and sit down quickly.
10) ignore the cheap car rental companies (there wil be lines) the major companies are little if any more expensive. Personally I always used National Emerald Aisle. No counter, no line, just walk into the garage, pick your car and drive off
11) get to the airport early enough that you don’t need to rush and can pick up a book or magazine and maybe a snack to carry on.

I stopped flying a few years ago too. I flew on two around the world vacations in the early 1980's and had millions of air miles on frequent flyer programs. As most of you have noted, airlines are not customer friendly any longer and the check-in/security process is a nightmare. Luckily, before it turned into this mess I had been to over 50 countries so with few exceptions I've been to all the places I care to go that require air travel. Now I love driving vacations in North America and that satisfies my travel and photography needs.

One of the stories I like to tell kids that never flew before 9/11 was when I was on a business trip with a co-worker in Kankakee, Illinois and got lost late at night going to the airport in Chicago. We were late for the flight so we ran straight from the car rental return to the gate (no check-in or security) and arrived just as they were closing the door. They opened it back up and let us on with our check-in sized bags in hand. It was a red eye flight and we had first class tickets so they stowed our large bags in the cabin closet and we proceeded to go upstairs to the lounge/bar (747) where we spent the entire flight from Chicago to San Francisco as the only passengers up there. Flying was so much fun in those days and the flight attendants were all georgeous.