I lost track of how many flights I've taken a looooooong time ago. On average, I have probably flown 3-5 times a year for every year of my life (26). This year was a doozy, with 7 flights to and from Seattle from Philly alone, not to mention flying to Zambia (through London and Johannesburg, nearly 20 hours each way) and Iceland. And I will end the year flying from Philly to Seattle and then to Lebanon (through Europe).
Mind you, I'm not a business traveler! Just a student, and an anthropologist at that.
That said, I have never really had problems flying, other than ones I created for myself (have missed two flights in my life and come VERY close to missing 3-4 others). Never lost luggage, though I did get charged $985 for excess (a major misunderstanding) when returning from Africa.
Three incidents in my life of flying do come to mind, however, but they weren't enough to make me question whether or not I should continue flying (esp. since 95% of all extended family members live over the Pacific or Atlantic, and cargo ships are not appealing!
).
1) Snow delay leaving Seattle for San Francisco. Airline put us up for the "night" (3 hours, basically).
2) Mechanical problem leaving Seattle for Philly. Annoying, but they canceled it before we got on the plane. Airline rescheduled me for a later flight that day.
3) LUFTHANSA, those assholes, made the biggest boo-boo on my record. They canceled not one, but BOTH flights going to/from Lebanon (my itinerary next week) and then pushed my entire schedule forward by 24 hours. A WHOLE DAY, including a 15-hour layover in Frankfurt (which was previously 3 hours). Unbelievable. And they did not compensate me for the $200 service charge incurred. Granted, I had two legs booked separately, so apparently they wouldn't cover the "other" contract, but jesus. I have been so loyal to the Star Alliance, gathering up every mile possible with them, and they couldn't reimburse me for a change fee caused directly by them?... their only consolation was to give 5,000 "goodwill" frequent flyer miles. Please.
(Obviously I am only really bitter about the last one, and I can tell you I will mostly likely NEVER fly on Lufthansa again as a result!)