Pax Quitting Flying Due to TSA: Will the Majors' Lobbyists Have Any Influence?

[Voice Of Reason]

Just wondering what (if anything) can actually be done.

Many people are avoiding flying due to all the press & humiliation, and as you can see from the Atlantic article & comments (just ONE) it is going viral.
Can anything be done?
Why don't they have the Israeli's come here & train & HIRE?

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http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2010/11/dear-airline-im-leaving-you/66750/ hundreds of comments at link

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"Dear Airline, I'm Leaving You

By Megan McArdle


But don't feel too bad. It's not you, it's me. Or rather, it's the TSA.

I'm not going to lie. It's come between us. If I have to let someone else see me naked in order to be with you--well, I'm just not that kinky. And deep down, I don't think you are either. I think it's the TSA making you act like this. Frankly, you haven't been the same since you started running around together.


But I can't put all the blame on them. I think you went along because you thought I had to have you--that I couldn't live without you. That no matter what you did, I'd stay. And it's true, you had a pretty strong hold on me. Took away the food, and I still loved you--who wanted to eat a terrible, fattening meal anyway? Narrowed the distance between the seats, and still I stayed, using my airline miles to upgrade to first class. Charge me for baggage? I'm an economics writer--I love unbundled products. So I can see where you got the idea that I'd stick by you no matter what.


But the kinky stuff is just a bridge too far. I'm not saying I'll never see you again: we can still meet up for a drink, or even a quick weekend trip to California. But our days are a regular item are through. I'm writing this letter because one of my commenters pointed out that it was only fair to let you know what was going on:

Especially if you've got frequent flyer status, don't forget to mail the airline and tell then you're flying amtrak...optouting is fine, but it's really only the airlines that have the clout to push back.
​

It wouldn't be fair to just drop out of sight and not return your calls without letting you know why I was leaving. As it happens, I'm a frequent flier on American, and a pretty reliable customer of Delta and United. Or rather I was. Because like I said, I'm leaving you.


In fact, I've already left. My cousin's wedding in Buffalo in October? Drove eight hours each way. Going to visit Dad in Boston over Christmas? We're taking a slow train from DC rather than subject ourselves to the increasing indignity of flying. If it's under 500 miles, I'll do anything rather than hop on a plane. And if it's over 500 miles, it had better be way over . . . or I'd better be carrying a cooler with a still-beating heart in it.


I suspect there are a lot of people out there who feel the same way, and may not have blogs, so I'm urging them to put their Dear John letters right in the comments. I'll forward any Dear Airline letters that are left in the comments to the relevant airlines.


Uncle Sam may not care about the minority of voters who fly often. But I'm kinda hoping that you guys do. Maybe the flame of our old romance isn't entirely out. I don't want to raise false expectations--but you might win us back. If you play your cards right.


If not--well, here's looking at you, kid. From the window of the BoltBus as it cruises past Newark airport.


Love,


Megan







This article available online at:
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2010/11/dear-airline-im-leaving-you/66750/

Copyright © 2010 by The Atlantic Monthly Group. All Rights Reserved. "
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[generaltso]

this writer will be on that bus wishing she was on the plane.

 

[CFIT]

Talk to the average passenger, this issue is going to have a significant effect on the airlines.

 

[gutshotdraw]

Dear TSA,

Thank you for starting this stupidity at airport security checkpoints. I may have to suffer the wretchedly excessive and wholly ineffective indignity of your current policy while airlining to and from work and it's especially laughable when I'm in full uniform. But on behalf of myself and thousands of my fellow fractional, charter, and corporate flight department employees, you couldn't have done more to drive the last few holdouts back into our waiting airplanes. Anyone that can remotely afford it will check off another box in the cost-benefit analysis and once again embrace the safety, security, privacy, and radiation and humiliation-free benefits of private aviation.

Thanks again, Janet Incompetano. Keep it coming.

 

[formerdal]

Dear TSA,

Thank you for starting this stupidity at airport security checkpoints. I may have to suffer the wretchedly excessive and wholly ineffective indignity of your current policy while airlining to and from work and it's especially laughable when I'm in full uniform. But on behalf of myself and thousands of my fellow fractional, charter, and corporate flight department employees, you couldn't have done more to drive the last few holdouts back into our waiting airplanes. Anyone that can remotely afford it will check off another box in the cost-benefit analysis and once again embrace the safety, security, privacy, and radiation and humiliation-free benefits of private aviation.

Thanks again, Janet Incompetano. Keep it coming.

Radiation free??

I beg to differ Danielsan....Any of your gstrings, hawkers or citations will fly higher than most airliners where the radiation is. I was a corporate guy for over a decade and im sure I got more in those 10 years than I will get in the rest of my 25 at the airlines...might want to rethink that next clearance to 450 and above.

 

[gutshotdraw]

Radiation free??

I beg to differ Danielsan....Any of your gstrings, hawkers or citations will fly higher than most airliners where the radiation is. I was a corporate guy for over a decade and im sure I got more in those 10 years than I will get in the rest of my 25 at the airlines...might want to rethink that next clearance to 450 and above.

Um, yeah. I fly 300 hours a year versus your 900. I'll take those odds. And I was referring to the radiation exposure during screening, not flying.

 

[paulsalem]

Ron Paul introduces: American Traveler Dignity Act

“It establishes that airport security screeners are not immune from any US law regarding physical contact with another person, making images of another person, or causing physical harm through the use of radiation-emitting machinery on another person. It means they are subject to the same laws as the rest of us.

Write your representative HERE.
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