I haven't flown since before 9/11, and I didn't like the airport experience too much then. I'm sure I'd like it less now. But I keep in mind that the airplane +

I haven't flown since before 9/11, and I didn't like the airport experience too much then. I'm sure I'd like it less now. But I keep in mind that the airplane + TSA still saves a lot of time compared to trains, boats, buses, and cars for travel over a certain distance. The question I have for people is why they bother traveling so much nowadays. Maybe the experience of le rive gauche cannot be replicated over the internet -- but a lot of travel (especially business) seems to be a bit of showmanship itself. You know, show up and impress the client with a little face-to-face. Or let the striking factory workers know who's boss. Whatever. What makes me laugh even harder than the deaths of old habits such as flying hither and yon are people who distinguish between security and the illusion of security. Isn't security itself a feeling? And what makes jittery fliers feel safer than a bunch of goons rifling through one's possessions? Isn't that the essence of "stepping up security"?