Four of the major airlines have cut their routes by 20%. Amtrack ticket sales are up 50%.

What does this mean for travel in the United States?

-- Anonymous, September 16, 2001

Answers

Slow and pricey.

I love train travel as much as the next girl, very romantic. But, if you only have a 4 day weekend and you want to visit 1,000 miles away, rail is not the most expedient method. Plus, every time I've tried to make arrangements to travel by Amtrak, it has been a huge hassle.

Honestly, I think things will pick back up very shortly. I hope.

-- Anonymous, September 16, 2001

Amtrak isn't very feasible if you want to travel cross country. You can go up and down each coast okay. To get from Arkansas to Washington, DC, you would have to go to Chicago to New York back down to DC. It's quicker to rent a car and drive.

-- Anonymous, September 16, 2001

I heard on the news that the airlines are going to ask for Federal funding as otherwise they'll go bankrupt. The airline industry is losing an estimated $300 million a day.

As someone who loves travel, who needs to travel, this is unnerving.

-- Anonymous, September 17, 2001

Seeing as how currently, the airlines combine their own funds to pay for airport security, I imagine they'll be more than happy to let the government take that over.

A friend flew in to Atlanta from IAH (Houston Intercontinental) this Friday night - he said that there was no difference in the level of security from lawt week. He flew anyway - this guy is fearless to the point that he was in Pakistan a month ago - but he said that he was shocked that they didn't even run the wand over anyone, or check anyone's baggage.

I'm planning on flying this weekend, but I'm a little wary - a colleague's mother works in the aviation diivison of the State Department. Her advice about flying is "Don't."

-- Anonymous, September 17, 2001

Was it here in Dallas that the American Airlines flight attendants just said, "absolutely NOT, I don't CARE if air travel has been approved"?

Not that I blame them, after seeing footage of the "heightened" security measures, where airport employees were scanning their badges to get through the doors - and then letting whoever was also standing at the door follow them in. Yikes.

I travel so much with my job (in the insurance industry), and we're already starting to get calls about NY. I have to admit that the first plane ride after all this is going to be a doozy for me, especially since my destination will most likely be NY or LA. I'd be relieved to see military personnel in the airports, personally.

-- Anonymous, September 17, 2001

Those flight attendants probably knew their colleagues in Boston who'd been killed . . . I am scheduled to fly this week (AirTran out of Newark, no less) and I want to fly, just like I spent the six weeks after my car wreck last year really, really wanting to drive again.

The Smoker, brave soul, flew to Dallas and back (for the Most Redneck Wedding Evah -- the kind where you had to doff your black cowboy hat at the church door, and the 19-year-old bride had already been married and divorced once) and said security has not been substantially increased at Hartsfield. Which doesn't surprise me much.

I mean, when you get right down to it, there is very little in terms of airline security measures that could have prevented the attacks on Tuesday; certainly not letting me carry my 2-inch Swiss army knife on wouldn't do it. And Tuesday's events doesn't change the fact, as The Smoker has pointed out numerous times, that he's more likely to be hurt driving to Hartsfield to pick me up than I am on the plane.

I'd just rather live in willful ignorance, I guess. Besides, I want to give AirTran my business so they don't cut back too.

-- Anonymous, September 17, 2001

I know. It's the looking back on it, like my GOD, I can't believe I flew for so long and nothing ever happened.

The thought of getting on a plane right now though makes me want to throw up.

But I have to have faith. We all do. This country would be crippled without the ability to fly. We've become so dependent on it, personally and professionally.

I know plenty of people here who fly to NYC for the day. What if we have to start driving?!

-- Anonymous, September 17, 2001

The Smoker, brave soul, flew to Dallas and back (for the Most Redneck Wedding Evah -- the kind where you had to doff your black cowboy hat at the church door, and the 19-year-old bride had already been married and divorced once)

Now, see... this is a story I'd like to hear. If anything cheers me up, it's stories of tacky weddings.

-- Anonymous, September 17, 2001

I really ought to get him on here and let him tell the story. He spent about half the time telling me about the wedding and half telling me about the bragging he was doing in front of his brother and his brother's friends. They didn't actually drop trou and resort to visual comparisons, if you know what I mean, but they were doing the verbal equivalent thereof.

Over the weekend I left him a, ahem, personal voicemail, and as soon as I had I knew his friends were going to hear it. And sure enough, he just happened to have the volume turned all the way up when he was listening. "What the hell?" "Oh, girls leave me these voicemails all the time."

See, our Mike would never, ever be that tacky.

I should have posted this as anon@hannahbeth.com, shouldn't I? Ah, well. Let the air travel discussions resume.

-- Anonymous, September 17, 2001

In all seriousness: are any of y'all being asked by your companies not to travel by air? Has your company instituted new rules in the wake of Tuesday's attacks? Have you been asked to work more closely with a corporate security firm?

(I finally got an assignment.)

-- Anonymous, September 17, 2001

WG, my main client put the kibosh on air travel in their name...

-- Anonymous, September 17, 2001

My company has said nothing although there isn't a lot of travel, mainly auditors and big wigs.

I know that another theater chain pulled out of the week of marketing presentations in LA at the first of October. My boss and I are still going if we can. Officially our flights are still booked but the same flight today was cancelled.

-- Anonymous, September 17, 2001

The official word here is that only people who WANT to travel should. If you don't want to, you don't have to.

-- Anonymous, September 17, 2001

My dad flew home to Houston from Phoenix safely Friday night- and reports he had no problem sneaking his four inch switchblade on the plane. Not to freak y'all out or anything.

-- Anonymous, September 17, 2001

Nice that your dad potentially delayed that flight, sending of its passengers into horror.

-- Anonymous, September 17, 2001

Look, everyone -- our first troll!

-- Anonymous, September 17, 2001

Gosh, I expected something a little better, more annoying, more presumptious, more indignant from our first troll!

Maybe our second troll will do better.

-- Anonymous, September 17, 2001

Yeah, I know. I wish we'd gotten a Frank McCourt troll -- "the sending of the passengers into the horror."

-- Anonymous, September 17, 2001

Better yet, a Frank McCourt's Dad troll:

"The bloody sending of the bloody blessed passengers into the... Dammit! Ye damn chirrennn! Yer every blessed where! Where'd ye hide me Jamisons??"

-- Anonymous, September 18, 2001

But back on topic, Continental just laid off 12,000 employees as did United. That's scary, folks. Good thing I have all those miles.

Although a coworker did get to Hawaii on Saturday. That says something.

-- Anonymous, September 18, 2001

I don't fly commercially much, but I don't think I'd be afraid to get on a plane at this point. I know there's still risk, but there always was.

I really wish they'd open the skies to general aviation already. Private pilots are still grounded, which means I don't get to go skydiving. And if there's one thing I need right now, it's a good adrenaline rush and the resultant smile on my face.

-- Anonymous, September 19, 2001

My dad's a private pilot and I know he's itching to fly again. He went out the aiport where he keeps his plane last Wed. and he said it was the eeriest thing. Total quiet.

-- Anonymous, September 19, 2001

My dad's a private pilot and I know he's itching to fly again.

Mmm... free altitude.

-- Anonymous, September 19, 2001

For what it's worth, I am flying tomorrow as planned, just out of LGA instead of Newark. Which hopefully means no seven-hour delays.

-- Anonymous, September 19, 2001

I'm flying to Austin tomorrow, as planned, and to Baton Rouge on Monday. C's trip to Philadelphia was cancelled, and I was surprised at how relieved I was.

-- Anonymous, September 19, 2001

I was at the airport twice this weekend.

On Friday morning the MPs (their first day at Port Columbus) and Airport police officers walked around - looking calm, but present.

On Sunday afternoon, National Guardsmen were running the security checks (along with airport employees) and every bag was being meticulously scanned and almost everyone was being either wanded or patted down. It took over an hour to get through security.

A dramatic change.

-- Anonymous, October 08, 2001

Well, y'all know about the crash in Rockaway Beach by now, right? I had the worst scare when I couldn't remember if my great-aunt lived right next to JFK or right next to LaGuardia. (It was LaGuardia, and she's in Florida for the winter, anyway.)

As my mother said -- do you hope it's an accident?

-- Anonymous, November 12, 2001

H, do you think that's just a difference between the airports you were in?

I flew out of Atlanta on Wednesday, out of Little Rock on Thursday, and out of New Orleans on Sunday - I'm flying into Reagan National in a few hours - and I flew out of Baton Rouge a week or so ago - and I think that security is different everywhere. I imagine that in California, what with the bridge threats, security would be a lot tighter than in Columbus.

Security has been consistent in Atlanta, the world's busiest airport once more, since a few weeks after the attacks. But, when I flew out of Atlanta a week and a half after the attacks, security was a joke. It was tighter at the airport in Austin. And the reason for that is because the airlines pay for the security. The major airlines, like Delta, United, American, are so briz-noke right now that the Argenbright felons are the bast they can do. At smaller airports like Austin and Birmingham, where Southwest - who hasn't been affected in the least, they've even added a route since the attacks - is a major carrier, they can afford the tighter security.

(In other travel news, I'm flying TWA to Missouri on Thursday. I've never flown TWA. Are they nice or do they suck? I'm rather partial to Delta. Skymiles, and all.)

-- Anonymous, November 12, 2001

I imagine that in California, what with the bridge threats, security would be a lot tighter than in Columbus.

Well, you'd think so, wouldn't you? But when I flew out on Friday it took me an hour to check my bag adn get through security and my i.d. was checked three times.

When I left LAX this morning I got through in 15 minutes and the only time my i.d. was checked was when I got my boarding pass.

-- Anonymous, November 13, 2001

Y'all. They've shut down Hartsfield here in Atlanta. When asked for comment, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that, "...Beth Forbes, of Alpharetta, was on her way to Boston with her 4-year-old daughter. 'I didn't have a premonition but I'm not surprised,' she said."

She didn't have a "premonition"? What, her usually reliable ESP failed her on this crucial day?

-- Anonymous, November 16, 2001

This may be a bit morbid, but I just booked a dirt cheap flight from Columbus to Chicago on American for a weekend in early December. Wonder why... Anyway, Orbitz had a $63 round trip deal (including taxes!!) on American that I snapped up. It's on a itty bitty prop plane/Express jet type plane. Somehow, in my confused brain this makes me feel safer? I mean, what terrorist wants to waste their time on a prop plane, hour long flight type thing? They don't, hopefully. So there you go, profiting off of tragedy...geesh.

-- Anonymous, November 16, 2001

Don't think of it as profiting off tragedy. Think of it as helping out the very nice people who work for American.

-- Anonymous, November 16, 2001

Catherine, I've been using the same logic: "It's not as if the terrorists are going to hit AirTran!"

-- Anonymous, November 16, 2001

AAA predicts that road traffic will be up 87 % this weekend from Thanksgiving 2000.

Who's traveling this weekend? Who's flying?

-- Anonymous, November 20, 2001

We're driving, but that's because we're cheap, not because we're anxious.

On NPR this morning, they interviewed three different people about their holiday travel anxieties. One older woman said that she usually travels to North Carolina to visit her daughter, but that this year, she was just too afraid to fly. She said that she would miss seeing her daughter and that she would miss an entire family reunion, but she was just too uncomfortable in the air.

THEN, she added that her daughter - the one she was too afraid to visit - was in her fourth stage of cancer. Essentially, her daughter is about to die. The woman said that she would miss seeing her daughter, and if anything happens to her before she can make it to North Carolina, she'll never forgive herself, but she's just too afraid.

I wanted to rip my hair out. I was shouting at the radio, "GO VISIT YOUR DAUGHTER!" I can understand a little anxiety about flying, but people. If your daughter is dying, can you summon maybe an itsy bit of courage and faith that your flight from Topeka, or wherever, to North Carolina will be safe from terrorist agression?

(And why didn't NPR talk to a single person who isn't afraid to fly this holiday season? Someone who could say, "Yes, I'm a little anxious - who isn't? - but I think that my seeing family is a little more important than a miniscule risk." You're letting me down, Susan Stamburg.)

So yes, we're driving to New Orleans for Thanksgiving, but we are flying to Washington, DC, for Christmas. When I told a coworker that, she asked me if C and I were going to take seperate flights into DC. NO. We are not, and with us having no kids, the very thought of that is absurd.

-- Anonymous, November 20, 2001

Flying down tomorrow (AirTran #349) and back on Sunday. I'm more worried about the crowds than anything else. Oh, and then The Smoker is coming to visit me (on Delta) and then we're both going to Dallas for Christmas (on AirTran).

I ought to be getting Christmas cards this year from AirTran shareholders.

-- Anonymous, November 20, 2001

Oh, see, this is very cool if you're flying Delta.

-- Anonymous, November 20, 2001

I'm not flying, 'cos the house where I head for T-day is about ten minutes from my own. But, I wouldn't be afraid to fly if needed. I agree with T that some people are just being ridiculous.

I have a travel agent friend that never altered his behavior of jetting off to wherever, whenever (he went to Paris last week, just because), and we were discussing how we actually felt guilty that we have not experienced any of the traveling fear or pangs that the rest of the nation seems to be. Is it de rigueur? Are we just soulless bastards?

-- Anonymous, November 20, 2001

Well, that's the thing about phobias - they're irrational.

-- Anonymous, November 20, 2001

My aunt and uncle are driving from NYC to ATL. Not because they're afraid of flying, but because they didn't want to pin themselves down to a flight time.

A co-worker -- RCW's science editor, to be specific -- said the other day that worldwide, counting commercial and private flights, there's an average of one plane crash a week -- which sounds horrible, but you have to factor in the dangers of flying on airlines not held to US/European standards. And even then there was a major crash at the Milan airport the week of Sept. 17. These things do happen.

So I do get nervous when I fly, and believe me I won't relax tomorrow until we're safely in the air. But I think it's still true that whoever's coming to pick me up is in more danger (Atlanta drivers, y'know) than I am flying.

-- Anonymous, November 20, 2001

www.amigoingdown.com will calculate your flight risk, based on where you're flying, crash statistics for that specific route, and the air travel safety standards for the airline/country.

-- Anonymous, November 20, 2001

See, that's just unnecessary. Why would anyone want to know that?

-- Anonymous, November 20, 2001

So it'll tell me if that ticket to Dulles that I gave my SO for Christmas to visit his sister in January was a poor choice of gifts?

How shitty would I feel if the plane crashed and it was my gift to him?

-- Anonymous, November 20, 2001

No, I calculated flights to Dulles and it's a very safe route. Safer now more than ever, I'd imagine.

I got sucked into airdisaster.com earler today, also. I don't know why - maybe because I fly a lot?

-- Anonymous, November 20, 2001

CNN is reporting that Air Tran airlines is suing the man responsible for the shutdown of Hartsfield airport two weeks ago.

While I'm not thinking it will go anywhere, I do have to applaud Air Tran for taking a symbolic stand against stupidity.

-- Anonymous, November 27, 2001