As I continue to emotionally process the events of the last seven days, I've started thinking about the future of travel. Last year, I flew over 40,000 air miles. This year, I've flown more than 15,000 so far with at least 10,000 miles scheduled in the next three months.
I'm a conscientious traveller who arrives an hour early, has all his paperwork in hand, and pays attention to security information. I have long thought that airport security in the U.S. was half-hearted, and am deeply saddened that a lack of preparedness in that area may have contributed in any way to the tragedies in New York and at the Pentagon.
Those of us who continue to travel extensively will find ourselves spending substantially more time in airports with time on our hands. I hope that the commercial firms that are deploying 802.11b (see links at left) and similar technologies leap at the opportunity to help us remain productive.
With human lives lost and still at stake, I don't want to suggest that productivity should outweigh any other considerations. But the airlines inform us that we are now requested to arrive two hours before domestic flights, and three hours before international flights. Airlines have also warned that hub cities will see greater gaps in connecting flights to consolidate air traffic. This will turn the airport terminal into a greater extension of a business office than ever before.
The cost to U.S. businesses is necessary but substantial, resulting in tens of millions of additional person-hours spent at some stage of transit. The sad side effect is that with fewer flights and less congestion, the actual time in the air will almost certainly conform to published schedules. What a way to arrive at this result.
Calvin Coolidge said, "The chief business of the American people is business." This last week has proven that there is much, much more depth to us than that. We'll get back to business soon enough.