Jan 3, 2008
We are a nation wedded to the airplane, and thus unable to cope when the weather prevents airplanes from flying
The holidays are over, and if you're like me, you've heard dozens of stories from relatives and friends about the nightmares they encountered in trying to fly home for those holidays.
Flights canceled by the hundreds. Flight delays causing missed connections. New York airports busing passengers to less crowded airports in Philadelphia. Chicago airports desperately seeking to accommodate stranded passengers in nearby hotels. Infants squealing, toddlers screaming. Snowstorms causing hundreds of cancelled flights in Chicago, and thus backing up traffic all over the nation. Similar crises at a dozen other major cities in the Midwest.
Note that most of these problems were weather-related and therefore won't ever be fixed by adjusting flight schedules, improving air traffic controls, using larger airplanes, or adopting all the other measures that earnest pundits are proposing. They are problems that arise from our decision to move people almost entirely by air -- thus putting all our eggs in one basket. And they are problems that other, wiser, nations avoid by maintaining an adequate rail system.
Unless and until Amtrak is expanded and turned into a high-speed system, we will continue to experience periodic nightmares at our airports.
Write and read comments about this post.
Flights canceled by the hundreds. Flight delays causing missed connections. New York airports busing passengers to less crowded airports in Philadelphia. Chicago airports desperately seeking to accommodate stranded passengers in nearby hotels. Infants squealing, toddlers screaming. Snowstorms causing hundreds of cancelled flights in Chicago, and thus backing up traffic all over the nation. Similar crises at a dozen other major cities in the Midwest.
Note that most of these problems were weather-related and therefore won't ever be fixed by adjusting flight schedules, improving air traffic controls, using larger airplanes, or adopting all the other measures that earnest pundits are proposing. They are problems that arise from our decision to move people almost entirely by air -- thus putting all our eggs in one basket. And they are problems that other, wiser, nations avoid by maintaining an adequate rail system.
Unless and until Amtrak is expanded and turned into a high-speed system, we will continue to experience periodic nightmares at our airports.
Write and read comments about this post.
Fifty years ago, 
Arthur Frommer is generally acknowledged to be the nation's foremost travel authority. He is the founder of the
