Salon :: Tech & Business

Ask the pilot: As delays hit record levels, a closer look at how airline scheduling practices are killing travel

I know, you were hoping I'd have something to say about last Sunday's rollout of the Boeing 787. According to Boeing, the plane will reintroduce passengers to the glamour and excitement of air travel. As if bigger windows and improved cabin lighting will win the public's heart. I'm sure it's a swell plane, even if they insist on calling it "Dreamliner," but it strikes me that the marketers at Boeing aren't fully in tune with the things people hate about flying. More on that in a moment. <P>To be honest, I find rollout ceremonies boring. Not that I've ever been to one, but they sure look boring on television. Or maybe I'm just jealous, since I never get invited. Doubtless the big-name writers were in Seattle for the curtain pull: Joe Sharkey from the New York Times, Scott McCartney from the Wall Street Journal, Alan Levin from USA Today. Why not me? First the A380 rollout, and now this. No respect. <P>But there are bigger things going on, frankly. Speaking of Alan Levin, maybe you caught his <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/2007-07-09-jfk-cover_N.htm">front-page story</a> earlier this week on the nightly tarmac gridlock at Kennedy <a href="http://dir.salon.com/topics/airports/">airport.</a> The situation at JFK has reached a breaking point, and is symptomatic of a nationwide crisis. Maybe Levin was distracted by 787 fever, but like almost everyone who has written about the worsening problem of congestion and delays, he neglects to acknowledge the elephant in the room: the hundreds of small regional planes -- those "Express" and "Connection" code-share flights -- that are jockeying for space, both on the ground and aloft, with larger planes.<p>...</p><img src="http://feeds.salon.com/~r/salon/tech/~4/133194813" height="1" width="1"/>

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