Air Travel: Routine No More
The skycaps have disappeared from many of the nation's airports, along with those sophisticated electronic check-in machines that spat out a boarding pass and made it possible to breeze from the curb to the gate without talking to anyone.
Gift shops in many airports have stopped selling scissors, nail clippers, eyeglass-repair kits and anything else that might be converted into a weapon.
On board, there are no more steak knives in first class. And perhaps that's just as well, since on many flights, there is no more steak. Meal service is being curtailed or abandoned by airlines that warn they are being forced to the brink of bankruptcy by the collapse in passenger traffic.
Since Sept. 11, the rules of air travel and airport safety in the United States have been rewritten, almost certainly forever.
What tens of millions of Americans had come to take for granted — a fast, safe if sometimes infuriating mode of travel for any journey over a few hundred miles — is not being taken for granted anymore.
For many Americans, airline travel had lost all glamour years ago; with deregulation and dirt-cheap fares, it became routine, almost as common as riding a bus or subway. But since Sept. 11, what seemed routine now seems dangerous, freighted with terrifying images of hijacked airliners sent crashing into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania.
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/30/travel/SECURE.html
REMEMBER THAT WE'RE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER
The world has become a frightening place for Americans. If you travel abroad in the coming months, remember that many of the people you meet are willing to share in your sadness and your fears. And perhaps this
spirit of sharing will linger.
http://rd.SmarterLiving.com/da092701.11
THE DISASTER'S IMMEDIATE IMPACT
What's in store for travelers over the next few months? It's far too early to come up with a precise scenario, but I can make a few
reasonably good guesses. First, decide quickly if you're going to fly again within the next 12 months. Chances are, flying a year from now will be neither riskier nor safer than it is as you read this.
http://rd.SmarterLiving.com/da092701.12
[This message has been edited by doc (edited 09-30-2001).]