ph-ndr

Over the last two years I've had more air travel than any year before. The only slight change is that none of it includes the US.

-A

Schutzee

I agree that most of the TSA nonsense is useless, but I have NOT changed any travel plans due to the occasional TSA moron who thinks he/she is now Dirty Harry. I consider it like traffic on the LIE; somethnig I can just accept as a fact of life or get high blood pressure over.

voop

Nono, the "terrorists" that you are thinking of are not the reason why I've changed my travel patterns. The TSA and friends and employers are - exclusively.

I travel MORE than before, but to different destinations -- so it ain't a case of "fear of terrorism" here.

And the "terrorists" that you are thinking of haven't won. I've won in that I'm cultivating relations in and learning about a different area of the world (where the food is better )

The US has lost, though, in that I don't spend my Eur's there any more.

Superguy

Short term, that may help. However, in the long term those actions may change. Maybe there's hope out there ... DL's Y product has actually gotten better since bankruptcy, so maybe they'll bring others up if they can still be profitable. One can only hope anyway.

Super

sbrower

It isn't just about how you feel about the product (although that does matter, in my opinion).

The post 9/11 changes make it virtually impossible for anyone to fly as much as I used to fly (which was several years before 9/11). At that time I was doing 500k/year, all domestic. I had a job so I didn't have time to get to the airport early and to leave meetings early and to wait for checked luggage. I normally arrived at LAX (driving, not out of my car) 30 minutes before the flight. I had *2* items of carry-on (hanging suitcase and briefcase full of papers) plus a computer. I never missed a flight. I would leave my meeting in Wall Street at 4:30pm to catch the 6pm flight from JFK.

thegeneral

What harrassment? I've flown 50k+ miles this year and haven't had a problem. I find people who whine about putting their suit jacket into a bin far more annoying than any TSA agent. It's sort of funny that they're going to sit there pants down where a few thousand backsides have sat before for hours at a time but don't complain about it.

I commonly leave 1:20 before my flight. It takes 20 minutes to get there, 5 minutes to walk to the elite line and 5 minutes total to go through. I than have another 5-10 minutes to get to the gate. They're usually doing elite boarding by then. Perhaps I'm missing something.

peachfront

The planes are packed to capacity when I fly, so I don't think most people are really making their decision to fly, or not, based on the actions of TSA. No one is getting any younger, nor is the dollar getting more valuable. People who postpone their travels may never get to make them.

JDiver

We were scheduled to fly Tuesday, Sep 1 2001, LAX-BNE-TSV, and of course, we didn't; we waited it out in Long Beach and flew out Saturday. We made our dive boat out of TSV by two hours - and most of the Americans hadn't showed up (many cancelled their plans.)

Flying, in the US particularly, dropped off; we continued flying, and I made it a point of flying somewhere on Sep 21 for at least 3 years.

Flying has become much more inconvenient, that's for sure; some of it is about security, some of it is about, IMO, bovine excreta. We'll continue to fly.

The applicable motto for this seems to be "Non illegitimi carborundum."
(Kinda Latin for "Don't let the ba$7aI?d$ wear you down." Any of them.

Bobster

Imagine if the pioneers stayed home because they didn't want to get germs on their suit jackets.

You poor babies. Such a hardship you suffer. Here, have a lollypop.

Superguy

Pioneers also died of nasty diseases. Many of them didn't make it.

If you don't mind putting your suit coat in a bin where someone just had their shoes that have dog crap in them, be my guest. I'd rather not.

Superguy

Yawn.

There's a thing called seat covers and toilet paper.

[/quote]I commonly leave 1:20 before my flight. It takes 20 minutes to get there, 5 minutes to walk to the elite line and 5 minutes total to go through. I than have another 5-10 minutes to get to the gate. They're usually doing elite boarding by then. Perhaps I'm missing something.[/QUOTE]

Must be nice to live near a small airport.

n5667

1. Do you have anything you can put your suit jacket into? If not, you could keep your suit jacket on, and be patted down.

2. If you have a medical condition that makes removing your shoes painful, you can opt for additional screening in lieu of shoe removal - just say so when they ask, tell them you have a medical condition.

3. Well... just remember, if someone's high point of the day is a power trip at the TSA checkpoint, than take solace in just how sad their life is.

*If you need an evening to recover from the security checkpoint at the airport - then please - also take solace in just how wonderful and stress free your life must be!

n5667

You put toilet paper on your airplane cushion?!

breny

I avoid flying if possible. Unless I have a really good reason to fly (REALLY good trip to New York or LA) then I stick closer to home. The pure aggravation of the whole experience--TSOs, shoe carnival, war on liquids, packed planes, dirty planes, delays--make me hate air travel when I used to love to be spontaneous and hop on a plane at the last minute and go somewhere for a fun weekend.

The terrorists didn't stop me from flying. I was on a plane the first day they were allowed back up after 9/11. Incidentally, that was a trip for pleasure, not business. I traveled for pleasure pretty consistently until the war on liquids started. Since then, not so much.

fast_ed75

I find the TSA pretty reasonable at the major airports and they move reasonably quickly. Often I leave a liquid/gel in my carry on and its not even noticed. Unfortunately its the small and medium sized airports that have the most harassing and scrupulous agents..I can name several airports within the Midwest.

Yesterday I was flying SDF to ORD and it took me 30 minutes to get through security on a Tuesday afternoon. An older lady in front of me must have misunderstood the instruction and left her liquids/gel bag in the carry on. The TSA agent told her she would have to go to the end of the line and back through security or he would confiscate any liquid or gel he found once he opened the bag. Her flight was departing 20 minutes when this happened.
For some reason alot of these TSA agents take their job way too seriously and think they are doing their duty to help fight the "War on Terror."

Another thing...Why does it take 5 TSA agents to man one gate? And why do these small airports require me to show a boarding pass to one agent..and then show it 5 minutes or less later to another agent at the metal detector? Makes no sense especially when ORD/MDW does not have that requirement..and I would assume they are more at risk for terrorism than Des Moines Iowa