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I am so often boggled at how crappy air travel is now. Used to be, decades ago, just show up and go to the plane like it was a bus. Some dude would take your
by b112 2y ago
I am so often boggled at how crappy air travel is now.
Used to be, decades ago, just show up and go to the plane like it was a bus. Some dude would take your luggage and throw it into the cargo hold.
You'd be boarded and gone in 15.
When landed, they'd open then cargo hold and hand out luggage.
I had this experience in a transfer to a prop plane in Mexico. Fast, easy, quick.
- jkolio 2y agoUnfortunately, the monetary and political interests in security theater became entrenched after 9/11. I'm afraid something similar might happen to trains eventually, if they're ever used in a sufficiently theatrical instance of violence. I'm enjoying the ease of access while it lasts.
- alamortsubite 2y agoSee Spain since 2004. Though it's still only a minor inconvenience compared to air travel.
- seabass-labrax 2y agoThis is sadly too true for the Channel Tunnel railway linking Britain with France. The post-Brexit border security easily takes in excess of half an hour as several hundred passengers shuffle single-file through the scanners. Although it is still marginally faster than flying for me due to my distance from an airport (as well as Britain's underdeveloped domestic aviation sector in general) the time spent at the station usually exceeds my actual journey now. What's most stupid about security for rail passengers is that the original fear from 9/11 doesn't even apply - you can't hijack a train and crash it into a skyscraper!
- Symbiote 2y agoThe security scanners were always there for the Channel Tunnel, though the check is much less intensive than for air travel. They are looking for bombs, gas canisters, guns and maybe large knives. London had terrorist attacks from the IRA long before 9/11, including attacks on the transport network. There were 13 in 1991, of which 4 were on trains or at stations. The new delays are for the passport checks. What used to be ~10 seconds for each EU citizen — is the passport/ID card valid and does the face match? — is now 60+ seconds for British people entering the EU, as the official must check they haven't stayed more than 90 days in the last 180 etc.
- Gibbon1 2y agoI read with some horror a article on the California High Speed Rail where they were talking about of course using the TSA for 'security' Hint when they ran a BART feeder to SFO the first thing the TSA did was start patrolling BART with drug dogs and arresting people for having pot.
- PaulDavisThe1st 2y agoThat prop plane isn't doing SEA->CHI in 4 hours. It probably isn't doing it all in a single hop.
- b112 2y agoSo? If you look at older movies, you can see people boarding large jets the same way.
- ghaff 2y agoYes. I flew 707s etc. before jet bridges. And even after they became common in the US except for smaller very regional planes, it took quite a while longer for them to become common at some, even larger, international airports.
- chefandy 2y agoIt is impressive... though I must admit the prices are impressive, too. I'm going to be driving a relative to Florida next week from New England, and then flying back. Anyone that knows the seasonal migratory patterns of the new england elderbird knows that the market is heavily in my favor, but even still, the airfare, fees, taxes and everything come out to about $60 to fly over 1200 miles. That's like a nickel-a-mile. One round-trip ticket to the furthest spot in Boston's commuter rail system (terminating in Rhode Island) is nearly half that price.