"Raw-dogging" flying -- this is a thing?

Um...that name actually means something else. Or it used to.

You’re a trend setter and didn’t even know it. So tell us, what else should we not be doing on our flights.

You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

Guys, there is no scandal here:

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/17/style/rawdog-flights-term.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Ck4.K1dQ.1eoSj4Gb5SUU&smid=url-share

There's a long tradition of trying to shock the Elders by appropriating a former obscenity into common use. And always a new generation coming along.

I do wonder how many people do this. On anything beyond an hour or so I would be bored out of my mind. 10 hours to Europe and I’d never make it. ;)

I can’t remember the airline (maybe Air Canada?) on a Europe trip about six years ago. Toronto to Vienna had monitors with movies, games, etc. - great. Returning back from Budapest for 10 hour flight. Board the plane and immediately notice no monitors. My heart sunk. I only had iPhone and want to say the Wi-Fi either didn’t work or they didn’t have any. No magazines or books either. Most boring 10 hours of my life. It was middle of day so I wasn’t even tired. Couldn’t even follow a map either so had no idea how much longer the flight was.

There's a long tradition of trying to shock the Elders by appropriating a former obscenity into common use.

Tim, I'm neither shocked, nor an elder. :-)

I will say, I don't sleep, or maybe just close my eyes for a bit, for the most part decline meals. I will watch a movie, maybe, try to read, but most of the time just sit back and chill. On top of that, at most I get up once for the bathroom, but have made it across the Atlantic without getting up.

"Rawdogging" is a slang term that has multiple meanings:
Unprotected sex
Diving in without preparation
Flying without distractions

As usual, context matters.

there was the 'ice bucket challenge', the 'tide pod challenge', and now this. there will be others. as the good doctor in the article says, 'They’re idiots'.

Hurrah for Dr Gill Jenkins - “They’re idiots” - the voice of sanity.

I note Erling Haaland ‘raw dogged’ it in First/Business Class from the pic within the article. That strikes me as akin to walking the Appalachian Trail by sedan chair. Try it in the cheap seats if you really want to impress us, mate! As a person medicated lifelong against DVT because of a familial predisposition, I can advise that a) those suckers hurt and b) it will do nothing for your football career in Erling’s case.

Drink the water. Enjoy the freebies, especially in First Class. Watch the movie, even if it is for the fifth time…..

OP can you listen to music? Or an audio book?

I have an old but functioning iPod Shuffle that has music play lists, jazz, classical that I uploaded to it. I’ve also uploaded an audio book murder mystery. Hangs around my neck.

In a past life would wear it on the gym treadmill as I ran ( yes ran ) to Michael Jackson’s Thriller. Anyway, Has old ear phones that are stellar. And on Virgin Airlines I can plug into their on flight entertainment options. Also keeps hair out of my eyes. Gotta say sometimes old school options are the best.

Thank you, Allison. Any day with a Princess Bride reference is a happy day.

And doesn’t Haaland look as he’s made of wax in the photo? Maybe that helps.

I routinely have the map up while I do other things, like read this forum, on my iPad.

I do like to spend at least a portion of the flight with my eyes closed or generally staring at nothing in particular, but I wouldn't be able to go an entire 7-9 hour flight doing that. Kudos to those that have the mental discipline to do so though.

The best comment in the article was from Dr Gill Jenkins.

OP can you listen to music? Or an audio book?

Claudia,

I've tried that before, but there's some disconnect in my brain between what I'm hearing and what I'm feeling as the plane does plane things in the sky. It somehow exaggerates the subtle motions or little bumps. I guess I'm just weird the way -- erps, I mean wired!

-- Mike Beebe

Maybe the airlines will take note of this and offer "rawdog seats". No padding, no seatback pocket, no food, no drink, no audiovisual.
Oh wait, isn't that Frontier?