Darkumbra

Greetings - new member here.

Just curious as to how much people are reducing their air travel when possible.
I'm a professional speaker living in Toronto. I used to take flights to the following cities: Ottawa, Montreal, Boston, NYC, Washington DC, Philly, Dayton, Chicago.

Over the past five years I now drive to these cities when I have the time and I'm not on a multi leg trip. Certainly a large part of the reason is security theatre, but also the increased time it takes to fly and the delays/cancelations , and the incredibly poor customer service practiced by all NA airlines.

In terms of time? It's almost a wash. Cab to airport 30 mins, 3 hours in advance of flight, 1-1.5 hr flight if no delays, 30-60 min to claim luggage, cab ride to venue 30-45 minutes... Total time? 5-7 hours... Not counting delays and cancellations --- Drive to NYC? 8-9 hours.

I hate being at someone else's mercy, I hate being nickeled and dimed at every turn, I hate them losing my luggage etc. Etc.

When I drive? I'm in control, carry as much stuff as I want, never lose my luggage, can eat when and what I want for less etc.etc

I've replaced at least 6-12 flights a year in this manner - sometimes as many as two dozen..

Anyone else? How many flights, if any, have you replaced with other transportation?

jordanmills

Yep. I'm usually on four to eight flights a week. I haven't taken a single on this month. I'm looking to telecommute next month too. There's usually a lot of last minute booking in there too. Count the thousands it's costing.

JoeBas

Sho Nuff. Flying days are done until they step off the junk.

Hawk87

If it's under 500 miles I'm going to start driving. My new compnay car should be in by December 1 and the two of us are going to be much more familiar with each other than I am with my current one!

packet

I have a couple more flights to requalify for EXP this year. Once that's done though, I'm looking to move as much of my client work as possible to remote engagements. It's not going to be possible 100% of the time, but I'm going to try.

El Cochinito

I have 6 to 10 in-state business trips between northern and southern California per year. Used to fly WN.

Not any more. Plan on driving (personal car w/mileage reimbursement OR a rental) I-5 instead. Except during the fog season in which case I'll use Amtrak.

Driving will add about 3 hours to my travel day compared to flying (door to door). Train is longer, but I can get work done on the train.

linsj

I could have qualified for UA 1K again for next year, but I decided not to take the extra flights needed. I doubt I'll keep 1P after next year unless this madness stops.

KansasMike

Have reduced my flying big time. Used to be 1K and A+ Elite -- down to Premier and GM.

I am now driving if it is 9 hours or less.

Randy Petersen

if you'd like, the Moderators could assist you in putting up a poll which might make it easier for members to post results of whether they will cut back travel with these changes, etc. We're here to help, just let us know.

And welcome to FlyerTalk, we've very glad you are here.

LessO2

I will re-qualify for 1K on UA next week, but I have only one more trip after Thanksgiving weekend, and that's it for the year.

I have canceled two trips by air in December. One I'm just not going, the other, if we still go, will be a 1,000 mile drive each way.

callie-girl

Major drop in travel already this year and am finding a way to further reduce for next year.

If I can't lower my travel, I will change it. TATL is not easy to fix, but for now, the plan for next year is to fly into Canada and take a train to my US destination.
I realize that may not help if the TSA gets their way and installs plenty of machinery at land borders or if they decide to do searches on the train - but for now, that's the plan.

Right now, my worry is this weekend's travel. And I'll be coming back in early December. Transit is FRA and with Germany on a new alert, I'm already rolling my eyes at what I'll face on my outbound. *sigh*

Darkumbra

That would be useful info... Just some ranges for how many flights replaced by other transportation over the past twelve months. 0-30, 30+... ranges of, 0, 1-5, 6-10, etc

Thanks

NotaCriminal

Hello - new poster here as well (although I'd lurked a lot prior to registering).

I tended to fly at least once per month, and up to 3 times per month, including two international trips per year.

Since my spouse was sent to the scanner in September (long story, but suffice to say, we were quite unhappy that no one advised him it was the backscatter, that he had other options, no signs, no one told me they'd taken him way to the other side of the screening area and I had absolutely no idea where he was when he was right behind me seconds earlier, and no one was watching his possessions - anyone could have walked off with everything!) and with my "pat down" or grape the following month, I cancelled all remaining travel for 2010.

I drove to/from Ocracoke, NC, and simply will not be at my sister's 40th birthday party in Portland. We are driving from CMH to TPA for Christmas. I guess we've decided that driving up to 600 miles is no big deal to drive considering how much time I waste at the airport nowadays.

My spouse refuses to step foot into an airport until the TSA stops infringing on everyone's Fourth Amendment rights. Yes, we know he might never fly again and as such, he may be cancelling his trip to Buenos Aires in December 2011 and he'll drive to any necessary conferences.

I have one ticket remaining in place in January to SNA. I tried to find friends to drive from CMH to SAN with me, but no one wants to be in a car for a minimum of 2 days, and I can't take that many days off to drive in a more reasonable manner to and from CMH. I'm not at all happy about subjecting myself to the whims of the TSA, but in this instance, it is more important to see my ner-do-well nephew graduate from USMC boot camp than my dignity, I guess. I am waiting to see what happens before I cancel my 9/2011 trip to Europe.

I hate being forced into this position. But outside of letter writing, cancelling trips is about all I can do to express my disdain for the Hobson's Choice. And I feel like crap that I will take a plane to SNA, but I can't get there and back quickly enough to accommodate work.

T-the-B

I've reduced my commercial air travel by about 1/3 so far. I the past I would fly if driving would take >5 hours. Now I often drive up to 10 hours to avoid TSA. I'm also working on my private pilot's license. Part of the reason for that is to be able to fly myself to places that are currently still too far to drive. Once I have my license I'll probably be down to only 4-5 air trips per year.

One thing I should already be doing and will definitely do once I start flying myself is send the customer relations people at WN a copy of my trip report telling them that in the past I would have flown with them but the hassle of dealing with TSA has caused me to withdraw my business from them. The airlines need to quantify the financial impact that TSA has on them.

makfan

I have some trips I have to take this month and next...I have a rental property that is being vacated and I need to do some sprucing up and get it back on the market.

However, I was looking at my personal travel plans for Q1 to attempt to start renewing my EXP status, and I just gave up and stopped. I can't possibly imagine traveling every other weekend if I have to get my junk checked out by a stranger.

I also decided not to do a couple of runs on Alaska to retain MVP Gold status. I also think I am going to let my Boardroom membership go after 8 or 9 years. There are contributing factors to that decision, in that Alaska has pulled out of markets that matter to me, but the TSA hassle is the final straw.

I plan on writing a letter to the CEOs of AMR and Alaska Air Group to let them know about this, once I can do so in a calm manner. I swear every time I think about this subject I get close to the raging point.

I think what galls me is how so many people who rage about any sort of gun control law as being a violation of the second amendment can't muster up any anger about the fourth amendment being shredded by the TSA. As far as I'm concerned, ALL the amendments matter. The irony is that people who want to pass gun control laws cite safety as their reason, and people who want to have us strip searched also cite safety. None will acknowledge that complete safety is an impossible goal. I'm willing to accept the tiny risk of being on a plane with a terrorist in return for the "security of my person from unreasonable searches".