Checkpoints and Borders Policy Debate - Domestic Travel Flat for the Last 10 Years

Catching up on reading the paper and caught this article in Friday's Financial Times:

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/0a55daca-a4fa-11e1-b421-00144feabdc0.html

It's about Southwest's planned international expansion, but in the article Bob Jordan (AirTran president/Southwest Chief Commercial Officer) is quoted as saying domestic air travel has been "stagnant" for the last ten years.

This jives with my read of the BTS statistics, but it is interesting to hear confirmation from one of the majors, especially given a certain agency is celebrating ten years in existence.

Catching up on reading the paper and caught this article in Friday's Financial Times:

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/0a55daca-a4fa-11e1-b421-00144feabdc0.html



This jives with my read of the BTS statistics, but it is interesting to hear confirmation from one of the majors, especially given a certain agency is celebrating ten years in existence.

Wonder why:rolleyes::rolleyes:

Wonder why:rolleyes::rolleyes:

Anecdotally, I know people who ten years ago wouldn't have even considered a driving holiday. As airline hassles (nickel-and-diming pricing schemes) and the entire airport experience went downhill, some of them did the unthinkable, with great reluctance - they took a driving holiday.

Unexpectedly, everyone that has done so has loved it.

It doesn't always work - if the family 4th of July reunion is on the West Coast and you live on the East Coast, you're probably going to fly. But more and more, the folks I work with are taking road trips. They claim the net budget is the same or less as flying, and because gas for a vehicle full of people is still less than a bunch of plane tickets, they're splitting the difference and staying at more upscale places and spending more freely on food and entertainment.

More importantly, the ones with children are bringing up another generation that sees the pleasure (when feasible) of a road trip - and associates air travel with nothing but hassles and inconvenience. The younger ones are starting to look at air travel the way I once looked at Greyhound - yuck.