Although the subject has come up before, author
Virginia Postrel best articulates the main reason that passengers are staying away in droves, which is the security show that delays us but does nothing to make us safer.
Neither Liberty nor Safety
On his recent trip to San Francisco, Steve had his bag searched at the security checkpoint and his penknife confiscated. On my trip to L.A., my bags were searched before boarding (after already passing security). Nothing was taken away, though the spatially challenged security wom nearly dumped the contents of my makeup bag on the floor. (When I intervened to prevent the mess, she practically slapped my hand, telling me that the FAA did not let passengers touch things during searches.) It was also my first trip without a purse, since you can no longer carry one if you also want to bring a computer bag and a carry-on suitcase. Even that doesn't satisfy the flight attendants' union, which wants to limit everyone to a single carry-on, including briefcases, purses, and computer bags. That's a quick way to cut business travel in half.
"Planes are going to be filled with people sitting in transparent underwear soon," says Mary Toledo, Reason's amazing office manager and social director. (I was disappointed to miss her Halloween bash—the highlight of the year's festivities—because of the new requirement to arrive at the airport two hours in advance.) The routine hassles are starting to deter air travel. On my trips to L.A. and Harrisburg, I heard several frequent flyers say they're starting to avoid business trips, especially short flights, which are now at least an hour longer on each end.
These people aren't afraid of terrorists. They just don't want to waste their time and energy.
The worst part of all these searches and delays is that THEY DON'T DO ANY GOOD. As the WSJ's Claudia Rosett notes, "What's mainly making us safer in the air right now is not the furor at the boarding gates. It's that American air travelers, knowing what they now do, would most likely respond to any threat on board by tearing the
hijackers apart." (Claudia was searched three times on her most recent trip and had her manicure scissors confiscated.) More important, a suicide terrorist can simply check a bomb. The airlines do not routinely x-ray checked luggage, as this USA Today editorial notes.
The searches and tweezer seizures are costly publicity stunts. They do not make airplanes safer. They just make travel tougher on everyone except the flight attendants who never liked carry-on luggage to begin with. After my trip to New York to speak at this conference, I'm staying home for a while. No more planes for me.