Unless you’re crazy like me, most people don’t just get on a plane because they like to fly. They get on a plane because they have a reason to travel. I can’t stress this enough: Before you buy a plane ticket, you absolutely must understand what is putting your butt on that plane.

Airlines have tons of moving parts. Flights get cancelled. Airports get closed. Airports get evacuated. Taxiways back up. Snow falls. Runways freeze over. Planes break down. Computer systems go down. Unions go on strike.

Any one of these things can impact your flight. What is your risk tolerance for any of these things happening? This is a really important question to ask yourself before buying a ticket.

Lets say you’re taking your special someone to Walt Disney World for a long weekend in January, and you’re leaving from Providence’s TF Green Airport. It’s January. In Rhode Island. It’s going to snow. You probably stand the chance of getting hit by a nor’easter and being delayed. In this case, your risk isn’t that great because Disney will probably refund your money if you’re delayed or cancelled due to weather.

Lets change that around, though. What if you’re in your cousin’s wedding in Miami that same January weekend. You’d better believe I wouldn’t attempt to book a Saturday morning flight that arrives the day of the wedding. In the case of snow or some other weather event, you’re pretty much screwed.

To some people, they don’t have time restrictions and just want to get there as inexpensively as possible. To those people, I would ask how much they’re willing to tolerate paying in other fees like checked luggage or choosing a seat in advance. These sound like little things, but they are important.

To me, collecting frequent flyer miles is important, so I don’t mind taking a circuitous route. Yet a good friend of mine will gladly pay more money for a non-stop flight.

Two weeks ago, Iwent to the west coast for a conference. I wasn’t going to spend almost seven hours in a cramped little seat, so flying first class was important to me. I found that leaving a day earlier than I needed would get me a much better deal.

Do you care about price, time, comfort, avoiding the risk of a cancellation, the ability to be reacommodated immediately in case of a disruption, or some other combination of these things. It may sound silly but asking yourself all of these questions in advance can help you make a better decision. And you might not miss your cousin’s wedding.

What most Americans don’t realize is that next to your power company, airlines are some of the most heavily regulated and taxed companies in the nation. Between the FAA, TSA, NTSB, and God knows how many other federal agencies, airlines deal with mountains of regulations and paperwork every day. And the funny thing is that they sometimes make money. The aviation business is incredibly cyclical. They’ll make money for a few years and then bleed cash for a few years. When they make money, they make it hand over fist. And when they lose money, the face extinction right in the face.

If you’re watching ABC’s Pan Am, they’re trying to take us back to the days when travel was glamorous and less… well… sucky. There used to be a day when Tourist Class seats (what we today call Economy) used to have more legroom than today’s first class seats. And the inflight crew used to cook meals right on the aircraft. Those days are long gone.

The Boeing 747 was designed so that airlines could put a piano and lounge on the upper deck of the aircraft. Despite Boeing’s good intentions, airlines just tried to cram as many seats as possible into the space they have.

When you complain about how shitty air travel is, I have to ask you to get over it. Those days are long gone. Airlines are a business, trying to make money. They make money by moving people from point A to point B. It used to be a great score to get an exit row seat. Guess what. You’re going to pay for that little luxury now. The same thing is true for getting an aisle seat near the front of the plane. And checking your bag? You’re probably going to pay for that, too.

Airlines are trying to make money. It’s what all good businesses do. They’ve had to change their business models over the year, and their customers don’t necessarily like that. If you don’t like it, you have other options, such as walking, driving, or even swimming. In the long run, air travel is still a pretty good deal.

What a lot of people don’t realize is that you pay a great deal of taxes on your airline tickets. My friend Drew would argue that you don’t pay enough taxes. Airlines and their customers are large consumers of government services. Most airports are run and maintained by some local government agency. The FAA maintains the airspace, air traffic control, and such. And the TSA gives us the perception that we’re safer while flying.

Not all airlines survive forever. Pan Am, National Airlines, USAir, and TWA are all chapters in aviation history. They all had great runs but are now history. And for the record, US Airways was days away from bankruptcy when they were bought by America West, who chose to keep the US Airways name.

One of these days, I’ll go on my rant about TWA being barely able to make their payroll when they decided to buy a new aircraft every ten days in order to drive down their maintenance costs.

Still, it’s a business. And it’s a really screwed up business model. What other industry charges their best customers more money than their occasional customers? If you have an answer, please let me know because I can’t figure that one out.