It’s been a minute but I’m back from a high stakes weekend of travel to celebrate a daughter who got engaged. That was fantastic but the travel left a lot to be desired. I flew Spirit and I don’t have to tell you that as a low-budget airline, you get what you pay for.

Our flight out included a stop over in Las Vegas at the Harry Reid International Airport. I learned it was called that on this trip and almost had a coronary. Harry Reid was one of the worst, most corrupt and disgraceful senators in our nation’s history. He’s the one that invoked the “nuclear option,” reducing the number of votes needed to overcome a filibuster from 60 to a simple majority for executive appointments and most judicial nominations.

That move, of course, has benefitted Republicans as much as it did Democrats. But it degraded the Senate.

Back to Spirit Airlines. Here’s what we encountered using their “service.” Cancelled flight. Rebooked for the next day on another flight but not the one requested and agreed to. First leg of the flight delayed by an hour. When we landed in Las Vegas, we had to wait on the tarmac while our gate was cleared from an earlier flight.

While waiting for the second leg of our flight, our gate was changed from one terminal to another. Then, second leg of the flight delayed — by two hours, which meant we landed at O’Hare at 2:00 AM.

Throughout the ordeal, Spirit sent us several emails and texts that ended the same way: “We’re sorry for this delay.”

Changes to travel plans aren’t ideal? When I make the change, it’s because it’s beneficial. When someone I’m paying to facilitate my travel makes the change, it’s a major inconvenience. Two different things and don’t conflate the two.

They hate running late as much as I do? Could’ve fooled me. I’ve traveled with them enough to know (and know others who travel with them) that running late and giving “guests” the run around is how they operate. If they hated it, you’d expect they’d “get going” on fixing their logistics as soon as possible.

Have you ever noticed that when YOU want to change a flight, you get charged for the inconvenience to the airline? Ever noticed that when YOU are delayed, the plane doesn’t wait for you, but if the plane is running late, you’re expected to wait for them?

When their incompetence as a business inconveniences YOU, you get a “sorry” and have to spend your hard-earned money on overpriced airport food and drink.

I remembered hearing about an airline passenger bill of rights, so I looked it up. Did you know that Congress, that inept body of immoral grifters, has tried a number of times to “protect” airline passengers? It started in 1989 with the first Passenger Bill of Rights, followed by the Airline Passenger Defense Act of 1990. Neither of them passed.

Then came the the Airline Passenger Bill of Rights of 1999, the Passenger Entitlement and Competition Enhancement Act, and the Senate’s version of the Airline Passenger Bill of Rights, the Airline Passenger Fairness Act. This was all followed by the Customer’s First plan proposed by the Air Transport Association and its member airlines in June 1999 as an effort to avoid congressional intervention.

Needless to say, none of that worked.

Then there was an event in Detroit in 2001 that kicked off another round of what were referred to as “airline passenger bill of rights” legislation.

Four of the bills, S. 200, the Air Travelers Fair Treatment Act (Senator Reid), H.R. 332, the Aviation Consumer Right to Know Act (Representatives DeFazio and Slaughter), H.R. 384, the Airline Passenger Fair Treatment Act (Representatives Sweeny), and H.R. 907, the Airline Competition and Passenger Rights Act (Representative Dingell) all revived numerous provisions from legislation first introduced in the 106th Congress. Following release of the IG report on the airlines’ customer service performance, two new bills, S. 319, the Airline Customer Service Improvement Act (Senators McCain, Hollings, Hutchison) and S. 483, the Fair Treatment of Airline Passengers Act (Senator Wyden), were introduced.

Of course, “none of these free-standing passenger rights bills were enacted.”

And now, in an unbelievable coincidence of timing with my adventures this past weekend,

I second that requirement. My knees were pressed against the seat back in front of me. Fortunately, and unfortunately, the seats on Spirit don’t recline. You’re strapped with a seat belt to a barely disguised ironing board that’s folded in half.

Needless to say, we’re done with Spirit Airlines.

This new legislation is because of the Southwest Airlines meltdown in December that saw some 16,000 flights cancelled. Barn door, meet horse.

Do we really think that after almost 35 years of “trying” this effort will yield any results?

Here’s what I think. I think our legislators are a bunch of make-work scammers who claim to be working for the American people, but who are a hive-mind of ineffective posers who collect their checks and go to all the right parties.