(it's) TSA that is out of control

[katty]

http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/978.html

-horrid

[Pacifist Patriot]

1. Horrid doesn't even begin.

[silverweb]

2. Unreal.

Meanwhile, there are no real alternatives for many people except to fly. I've investigated options for visiting my daughter, who lives more than 500 miles away:

(1) Plane: about 1.7 hours each way (flight time only).

(2) Car: about 8.5-10 hours each way (and I'd have to rent a car).

(3) Bus: about 10-12 hours each way, with at least one bus transfer, depending on time of departure.

(4) Train: about 12 hours each way, taking 2 trains with a connecting bus between trains.

I'll probably have to fly because I only have so much time off to visit. On the other hand, maybe driving is best, even if the visit has to be shortened by a day, just to avoid the goons at the airport. In terms of price, all travel options are not very substantially different.

What should be the best obvious alternative to air travel between major destinations, the train, is the least convenient and most time consuming.

Unbelievable. Is this really the 21st Century?

[Pab Sungenis]

3. Well, that 1.7 hours each way is a little disingenuous.

First off, they want you to arrive at the airport 90 minutes before departure for all the securikabuki. So that takes it up to 3 hours.

Then there's transit time to and from the airport. If I were flying my equivalent trip to your 500 miles (to see my mother in New York State 415 miles away) I would need to drive one hour to get to Philadelphia International Airport from where I am, then drive two hours from Buffalo International to her house. This would also entail renting a car unless I'm picked up. So my 1.7 hours has now changed to 6 hours total.

So for losing two hours along the way, I get to avoid getting groped or irradiated, won't risk losing my luggage, and will pay one quarter the money for gas (even at today's ridiculous prices) what I would pay for a ticket; at $3.00 a gallon a trip to my mother's is $54.00 and the cheapest airfare is $250.00 once all fees and taxes are factored in).

[silverweb]

4. Very true and well put.

In my case, it's about 1.5 hours from where I live to the airport by public transit, then the 60 to 90-minute security line, etc. You're absolutely right that flying is not the most efficient way to travel in this case.

I'm probably going to rent a car and drive next time I visit my daughter, even though I'm not at all fond of driving for hours at a time and think driving is generally a poor choice ecologically.

On the other hand, the only other time I fly is to visit my parents on the other coast -- 8-12 hours, including getting to/from the airport plus security line, versus 3-4 days plus meals/overnight accommodations by any other mode of travel.

I'm especially peeved that we're so backwards in this country with regard to train travel. Efficient train service would be such an obvious improvement in so many ways, yet reTHUGs have fought it tooth and nail for years.

Of course, by the time any bullet trains are in service here, there will probably be pornoscanners/gropers in each train station, too -- and we KNOW it's all about reTHUG profiteering, not real security. x(