well the national rail service of France doesn't list prices in USD for some reason, I'll let you try and figure out why.

Well yeah, if your plane crashes, driving would have been better.

You need to look up air shuttle from LGA to BOS, it's much cheaper than you think. JetBlue is charging $67 right now

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“When I walked in this morning, and saw the flag was at half mast, I thought 'alright another bureaucrat ate it.'" - Ron Swanson

Well, it's still Amtrak's fault that the garbage truck drove in front of their engine the other day.

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the security theater is the largest issue hurting fly vs drive debate.

as ogie mentioned, air shuttle is glorious. the ORD to LGA delta shuttle is so convenient.

but when you need to get to STL or DET there is no point to flying. if security process wasn't such a question mark then flying would be preferable.

Next Monday will mark 9 years since the last fatal plane crash involving a US owned and operated airline. There have literally been about 4-5 billion passenger boardings of domestic flights in the US without a single fatality since the Colgan Air Dash 8 went down in Buffalo.

If you look at where air travel was when I was born (even 30 years ago) such a level of safety would have been seen as impossible. In the 80s and even 90s it seemed like there was a DC-9 or other 2nd generation jetliner going down every month or two.

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“When I walked in this morning, and saw the flag was at half mast, I thought 'alright another bureaucrat ate it.'" - Ron Swanson

The trannies will change that.

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America may be more obnoxious about his new life than a new vegan.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

The last 10 times I have flown in the past 2-3 years, the longest I have waited in security was 15 minutes. That was at Midway and that's because they don't know how to queue the lines. And I haven't even applied for TSA - Pre Check. I think security gripes are overblown.

I'm crabby because I'm going back for a couple weeks.

Oh I forgot my Customs experience is Miami...yeah that was a fucking nightmare. Don't even do an international arriving in Miami..ever.

it's the uncertainty. even though the longest you've waited in 15 minutes I'm sure you showed up at least an hour early because you didn't trust TSA.

Was that before or after they added the touch screens? I entered Miami about 2 years ago and it wasn't that bad.

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“When I walked in this morning, and saw the flag was at half mast, I thought 'alright another bureaucrat ate it.'" - Ron Swanson

This was July. Touch screens didn't matter. Nightmare. 2 hours to get through. Missed my connection to Chicago. American was great though, they got me home that same day even though it wasn't their fault.

Croissant America is a real treat.

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

Airport lobbies are getting nice at least.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

It will be interesting to see how this gets addressed, but they are expecting to see a doubling in air travel within the next 15 years. I'm curious how airports like O'Hare will adjust to that. I almost feel a 3rd airport will be needed. They've increased runway capacity and they are building more gates at Terminal 3. However, there is only so much they can do to increase slots. I think this is one of the reasons Boeing's likely next aircraft (the so-called 797) is a 7-8 seat abreast smaller wide-body to bridge the gap between the 737 Max 10 and the 787-8. It seems as if larger capacity aircraft may be needed on some hub to large city routes. United thinks this yet to be revealed plane will be in service as soon as 2025-2026.

Part of me thinks Boeing regrets shutting down the 757 line when they did as that would be the perfect aircraft to receive an re-engining like the 777 and 737 have received.
(I'm a bit of an aviation nerd if you can't tell)

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“When I walked in this morning, and saw the flag was at half mast, I thought 'alright another bureaucrat ate it.'" - Ron Swanson

Didn't Ohare steal a ton of land to expand?

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

They did and new runways were built and old ones were re-aligned to allow for more traffic. 10 years ago the runways were the cog limiting capacity at the airport. Now it is the number of gates at the airport which will be the next slot limiter. The problem is even the expansion to the L concourse will do little to address the next decade's projected needs. It's certainly better than nothing, but it is nothing compared to what is needed. They probably need an entire terminal at this point.

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“When I walked in this morning, and saw the flag was at half mast, I thought 'alright another bureaucrat ate it.'" - Ron Swanson

It's bad for the planet.

Get that liberal SJW trash out of here.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Eventually DuPage will become the London Stansted of Chicago. Maybe even Gary will be Luton. It's already happening with Stewart in New York.

Randroids championing air travel as an anti-government alternative is pretty funny.

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Speak English.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

as opposed to government run railroads (which are a fucking waste), yes it is a good alternative.

At least airlines like Delta are still are still private companies. It's going to be awesome when they get the Bombardier CS100s as those would be perfect for expanding their shuttle service. The funny thing is Boeing is throwing a bitch fit about it but they really don't offer anything in that category. They had the 717 (a legacy aircraft from McDonnell Douglas and really a 3rd gen DC-9) but they abandoned it and then never offered a 737 in the 100 seat category.

It should also be noted that the deregulation of the airline industry is what turned flying form something only the very wealthy could to into something just about any American can afford. Adjusted for inflation, a ticket today costs about 15% of what it did pre-1978. That's a win for the free market. Heck, even former SCOTUS justice Stephen Breyer (one of the liberals when he was on the court) agrees with this. https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4663910/ ... regulation

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“When I walked in this morning, and saw the flag was at half mast, I thought 'alright another bureaucrat ate it.'" - Ron Swanson

"airplanes are kinda cool so I'm ok with those subsidies"

Why did you kill Stephen Breyer? He's still there.

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There really is nothing better about getting up at 4 AM to catch a 6:45 departure than just catching a train in the evening, having dinner on board, then waking up at your destination at a more reasonable hour. Is there a way to make that work from a price perspective? Probably, actually. But you'd have to get people to buy into it en masse and the initial investment would be massive.

Look at it this way, lets call the aforementioned hypothetical an 11 hour journey. 8 PM to 7 AM. At a "modest" 150 mph pace, which is about the speed as the non-sprinter ICE trains on DB, that's 1500 miles. From Chicago that would be just about anything in the USA east of Salt Lake City. I mean you've gotta sleep anyways right? Why not travel while you sleep.

It'd be an unprecedented undertaking, and lets get real the pathetic USA is no longer interested in doing anything bold anymore, but there's a lot of benefits to it. It'd do a great deal of benefit to city centers and the environment.

No thanks. I'll fly.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Just for fun I checked Amtrak to Chicago from Pittsburgh. I figured lets leave Friday and return Sunday for a quick weekend. Usually I do not want to bother with the plane costs as well as the 2.5 minimum wasted hours on each airport end so I just drive.

Um, no. It has a value fare of $182 which is not horrible I guess but the timing is dumb. Leave Friday at noon arrive Saturday morning. Way home leave Sunday at 6:45pm arrive Monday morning. 9 hours 45 minutes each way not counting stops apparently.

You can almost make an argument for the train for one person not in a hurry. Make it a couples weekend or family of four trip not a chance.

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Elections have consequences.