Imagine the inside of a charter bus. Make it more narrow, or add seats per row. Lower cielings (much lower). Loud engines/air vents (headphones knocks this out, or you get used to it within 2 minutes) 95% of the time, nice people with repetetive jobs (attendants) A free can of soda/juice with a cup of ice Depending on airline, small pack of peanuts As for airports, just think of a giant bus station with restuarants and intense security. Depending on what day/time you travel, long lines.
Also, imagine a loud droning noise... possibly babies crying, nasty microwavable food, long lines to the bathroom, sometimes stomach aches.. and random tv shows, some which you've never heard of. And you can only fall asleep if you're especially tired... for me, I'll get a maximum of 5 hours of sleep. Then again, I'm biased to loooooong 15+ hour flights. Yes, those suck, but usually you get a personal tv screen.. and you learn to bring extra food, drink lots of water, bring tums, wear nice headphones, etc. etc. I've probably spent at least 120 hours of my life on planes.. some people form my old school have spent 1000+ hours.
I've never been on one longer than 6. Never heard a baby crying, never eaten an on-board meal, never had to wait for the bathroom, and I think American recently made a deal with NBC to air the office, community, etc.
I've definitely heard babies cry. The S80's between SJC and DFW don't have TVs but do have wifi, which is overpriced. I usually just rent a movie on iTunes to watch.
I get earaches almost every time I fly. On a flight to chicago I had the second worst earache of my life, to the point where I almost started crying (and I don't ever cry from pain). Absolute worst earache was when I went to arizona, woke up multiple times to the pain, and it was dark so I thought I was bleeding when I felt warm liquid dripping out of my ears. Went to the doctor. He said it was so bad that if I flew I would probably lose my hearing, so they had to drive me back.
I had (well I still have) a cold when I flew Sunday. It felt like my head was going to split open with the pressure. I'm exaggerating, I don't think it was as bad as yours. It still really sucked though.
I used to get really bad ear aches when i was younger. I had to buy special ear ear plugs it got so bad. Now I chew lotsa gum during ascent and descent and found a way to move my jaw/swallow to loosen up the pressure. I look hella weird when I do it, but it works ha
I want to post in the PPC, but I've never flown in a plane and thats all you've all been talking about for days. So i'm posting anyway.
Your airlines are so... safe. Oh wait. I almost never fly outside of Air Canada, but I will be flying United in 2 weeks.