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Liveblogging Air Travel Misery: My Night at Chicago Midway

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Please indulge me for a moment to share an anecdote that embodies everything that’s wrong with domestic air travel in America today and the powerlessness that can overcome even the most seasoned traveler when things go wrong.

Tonight I was scheduled to fly from Reagan National (DCA) to Chicago Midway (MDW) on ATA Airlines (as a Southwest Airlines codeshare), connecting to a Southwest flight to Los Angeles International (LAX) for the Thanksgiving holiday.  I arrived at DCA two-and-a-half hours in advance of my flight, and was told even at that time that my 7:05 PM flight would be at least 40 minutes late due to fog and rain in Chicago.  The late inbound flight ultimately made us an hour-and-a-half late.

I was supposed to have an hourlong connection at MDW (arriving 8 PM for a 9 PM flight).  ATA gate agents claimed to have been coordinating with Southwest here in Chicago, and the lead flight attendant insisted that the cascade effect of delays would make my flight late as well and that Southwest would take care of us.

Such assurances do not mean much in the current airline regulatory environment.  By the time we got to MDW at 9:39 PM, the flight for LAX had already pushed back at 9:16 PM.  A helpful Southwest gate agent rebooked me on the first flight tomorrow morning, at 6:55 AM, but let me know that I would not be due hotel or meal vouchers or any other form of compensation.  That’s because the official reason for my flight’s delay was weather, and, according to US Department of Transportation regulations, passengers affected by weather delays are entitled only to onward passage but nothing else.

So I’ll be spending the night on a cot, provided to weather-delayed passengers courtesy of the City of Chicago.  (I even get a pillow and a blanket!)

Due to the incompatability of the reservations systems of ATA and Southwest, the Southwest agent here could not print my boarding pass for the morning, but said I could go to the ticket counter to attempt to do so.  All I had was a card summarizing my reservation and the events of my misconnect.  The ticket agent also could not check me in, meaning I will still have to obtain my boarding pass in the morning.

But the agent also could not guarantee I would be allowed back through the security checkpoint to get to the cots, since I was not in possession of a boarding pass nor an authorizing security document (which she was unable to print as well).  She personally escorted me to the checkpoint, where the screener checking boarding passes and IDs called for a supervisor.  Several minutes later, I was cleared to go back into the sterile area.  But for training purposes, the screeners nearby wanted to study my Southwest-issued “misconnect rap sheet!”  Of course I obliged in the name of national security.

I must extend major kudos to the Southwest and Transportation Security Administration employees who did everything in their capacity to make me a little more comfortable tonight.

Now I sit, alone in the din of piped-in holiday carols singing to no one in particular, cleaning crews meticulously erasing the detritus from a busy travel day, and other stranded passengers staking out places to camp.

If anything, this episode makes me extremely grateful for the shelter that awaits at home.

It also illustrates the dysfunction that can plague any transportation system during irregular operations, especially when the standard contingency plan is Fend for Yourself.  This situation would be an even worse burden for a family than for a single passenger.  All I know is that I won’t have to go through this particular episode again: ATA is pulling out of DCA altogether, abandoning the Washington, DC market the very day I fly back next week.

I also know I’d much rather endure a long delay from the comfort of an Amtrak train or in accommodations that Amtrak reliably provides in the event a guaranteed connection is missed.  Wouldn’t you?

Goodnight from Midway, and a happy Thanksgiving to everyone.  Stay safe out there.

—Matthew Melzer
NARP Communications Associate

Posted by NARP

Thanksgiving Travel Postmortem: Amtrak Sets the Bar

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Many of you have been wondering how my air travel fiasco last week resolved.  Last Tuesday night, I slept for two uncomfortable hours on the cot at Midway, and awoke to the sights and sounds of early Wednesday morning travelers gawking at those of us who were living something out of The Terminal.  (I also developed the first symptoms of a cold that night, and am just now getting over the bug.)

The Southwest Airlines flight I ultimately caught to LAX was smooth; I enjoyed an empty middle seat next to me, another hour of sleep, and a view of the morning light hitting the Grand Canyon.  We arrived into LAX on-time, which is to say our 9:25 AM arrival made me 10 hours late—10 hours tardy on a trip that should have taken seven hours total.  To my knowledge, no Amtrak delay is ever that severe and rarely that unpleasant.

Indeed, fortunately, Amtrak was the highlight of my Thanksgiving weekend.  On Saturday, I took northbound Coast Starlight train 14 from LA to San Jose.  The on-board service crew was a pure delight, and the turkey special dinner in the diner was one of my most memorable Amtrak meals in recent memory.  We also arrived San Jose a very tolerable six minutes late.

Last night, I used the Amtrak Capitol Corridor to get from San Jose to Oakland Airport, to catch my return flight on ATA Airlines (OAK-MDW-DCA).  The OAK-MDW flight departed slightly late, but schedule padding ensured that I comfortably made my 35-minute connection in Midway.  The senior flight attendant on the MDW-DCA flight was the same as on my ill-fated flight the other direction last week.  He immediately recognized me and asked how the connection to LA turned out!  I gave him the bad news and he profusely apologized.

In any case, the captain announced that today is ATA’s final day of operations at Reagan National.  As the New York Times noted over the weekend, margins on domestic economy tickets are razor-thin, and “financial challenges” at ATA have apparently doomed this service.

It is probably safe to say that much larger shifts are in store for the domestic airline industry as unrealistic public expectations for low fares further the degradation of service quality and threaten the viability of certain carriers.  A more extensive passenger rail system would undoubtedly provide an attractive alternative in many markets.  But horror stories like mine—situations that pillows and peanuts could not remedy—are bound to repeat as working folks traveling cross-country to visit family for the weekend continue to put up with the weather, ground congestion, and other issues plaguing an ailing system that make air travel unreliable and even downright nasty.  A robust, well-maintained transportation system will still fail from time to time due to external factors.

There’s no doubt that the time to repair our nation’s transportation infrastructure was yesterday.  It is our job as advocates to advance the expansion of passenger rail as a high-value investment and an attractive adjunct to any Band-Aid approaches that might not necessarily save our roads and air facilities from reaching the breaking point in the long run.

—Matthew Melzer

Posted by NARP

Holland Sentinel Readers Confident in Amtrak

Thursday, December 20, 2007

In an unscientific readers’ poll, the Holland Sentinel (MI) asked, “How has the Amtrak [Pere Marquette] train crash in Chicago November 30 impacted the likelihood of you riding the train in the future?”

Check out these astonishing results:

Not only are the majority of readers confident that the train is safe, there are more folks who would ride Amtrak after the crash than those who would avoid it!  As they say, all publicity is good publicity.  And for the safe mode of train travel, good publicity is well-deserved, even if the rare incident is regrettable.

While commercial aviation is also, for the most part, a safe mode of travel, I submit that a scary, non-fatal situation in the air is much more likely to draw strongly negative reactions.  On Sunday, my return trip from Miami was on American Airlines.  As we descended towards Reagan National Airport, strong winds in the area contributed to severe turbulence, the kind that makes the wings visibly flap and causes even iron stomachs to drop.  Perhaps a hundred yards from touchdown, the captain engaged full throttle and we aborted the landing.  At this point, several people were crying, a few were vomiting, and a woman behind me was in the grips of an uncontrolled panic attack.  We circled around for another landing attempt; the captain threw in the towel at about 1,000 feet and announced that dangerous 40-knot crosswinds were not worth the risk for our Boeing 737-800.

We were diverted to Dulles International Airport, where we landed nearly an hour late.  However, we parked on the tarmac and awaited paramedics to board to treat the sufferer of the panic attack.  Passengers were eventually allowed to exit onto the unique IAD people movers (“moon buggies”), which incidentally will soon be replaced in normal service by an intra-airport automated train system.  American chartered coaches to get everyone back to DCA, and by that point we were two-and-a-half hours late.

The incident with our flight apparently made the local news, along with an earlier MIA-DCA flight that day which was also diverted to IAD, due to mechanical reasons.

Even if air travel is safe, the perceived perils are rightfully greater than that of train travel.  Let’s also not forget that over 45,000 people die each year on the road; 15.5 deaths per 100,000 population is greater than the murder rate in many major cities.

It bears repeating:  However you may be traveling this holiday season, stay safe out there!

—Matthew Melzer

Posted by NARP

Malaise in the Airline Industry: Safety, Fuel, and the Economy

Thursday, April 10, 2008

This lead in today’s Financial Times says it all:

Chaos gripped US airports for a third straight day on Thursday as the government’s top transportation watchdog called for changes to airline safety oversight, citing an “overly collaborative” relationship between airlines and their regulator, the Federal Aviation Administration.

Calvin Scovel III, the US transportation department’s inspector general, made his comments before Congress as American Airlines cancelled 900 flights to perform safety checks, stranding thousands of air passengers.

American has canceled over 2,400 flights and counting this week due to potentially faulty wiring in its MD-80s, which comprise one-third of its fleet and form the backbone of its medium-haul domestic fleet.  At least 250,000 passengers have been affected, far more than when Southwest Airlines grounded dozens of 737s last week.  Disruptions are afflicting other airlines as well, and further groundings are likely as the FAA responds to the harsh light being shone on its inspection standards.

On Tuesday, Jon Stewart of The Daily Show responded aptly:

Stewart’s money quote:

It’s all sort of ironic, when you think about it.  When you fly, you are inspected quite thoroughly, whereas the plane itself is, perhaps, occasionally vacuumed.  See, with this administration, if a passenger blows up a plane, it’s a failure in the War on Terror.  But if the plane just blows up on its own, eh, that’s the market self-regulating!

Yes, that’s hyperbole (Jon Stewart is a comedian).  But if the aviation system is generally safe, why on earth would federal regulators start down the dangerous slippery slope of cutting corners, glossing over potential problems, and creating the appearance of impropriety in dealing with the airlines they’re supposed to regulate?

Meanwhile, external economic factors have eviscerated the viability of several airlines, while many survivors are trimming their capacity (for more coverage, see last week’s Hotline).  Yesterday oil prices (Nymex West Texas Intermediate) surged to a record $112.15 a barrel before settling at $110.87, even though US demand over the past four weeks was 0.4% below the same period a year ago.  Oil was $52 a barrel in January 2007.  Here is a quick list of airlines that are now history, a list that is bound to grow:

December 26, 2007 – Maxjet Airways (offering London-USA business class service) files for bankruptcy protection
March 31, 2008 – Aloha Airlines ends passenger services after more than 60 years
March 31, 2008 – Champion Air (Minneapolis-based charter operator) announces flights will end from May 31
April 3, 2008 – ATA Airlines ends service, files for bankruptcy protection
April 5, 2008 – Skybus, start-up low-cost carrier which had 65 new Airbus A319 jets on order, ends service
April 9, 2008 – Oasis Hong Kong, budget carrier, ends service after 17 months

So far, Amtrak revenues do not appear to have been hurt by the economic downturn (or recession), and fuel prices probably are driving some business to Amtrak.  This will likely hasten as airlines are forced to raise fares and further reduce capacity to stay in the black.

Intrepid blogger Aaron Donovan has noted that passengers trapped in the current nightmare at American’s hub at O’Hare have the option of Amtrak’s hub at Chicago Union Station, an easy ride away on the CTA Blue Line.  Even taking a leisurely-paced long-distance train would be a faster option for many people than waiting for the next available flight, whenever that might be.  And some passengers are indeed taking advantage of the train option.

Exhibit A:

[Amtrak spokeswoman Tracy] Connell says ridership has gone through the roof out of the Chicago area because of all the cancellations at O’Hare Airport. Some of its trains have seen up to a 60 percent boost in riders.

Exhibit B:

Amtrak has seen a spike in passengers since the flight cancellations began earlier in the week, especially in the Northeast, spokesman Cliff Cole said.

“Our ridership was heavy yesterday, is heavy today and is likely to be heavy tomorrow, based on our reservations,” Cole said Thursday.

Once again, Amtrak is proving its value and relevance by providing redundancy in a fragile transportation system.

—Matthew Melzer

Posted by NARP

Case for Trains and Public Transport Grows Stronger

Friday, May 30, 2008

This week saw three particularly good media boosts to the case for sensible transportation or Americans’ readiness for such. First, the Outlook section of Sunday’s (May 25) The Washington Post carried a column by author James Howard Kunstler, “Wake Up, America. We’re Driving Toward Disaster.”

The paragraph of most direct interest is this:

Fixing the U.S. passenger railroad system is probably the one project we could undertake right away that would have the greatest impact on the country’s oil consumption…If we don’t get the passenger trains running again, Americans will be going nowhere five years from now.

Kunstler has been saying similar things for some time, but it is good to see his views get aired in The Post.

If anyone doubts his comment about airlines, consider that AP’s David Koenig reported May 22 that “even though most of the big airline companies have large cash stockpiles, analysts suggest they could burn through their cash and go bankrupt by early next year.”

The Washington Post had a May 27 front-page story about the explosion in transit ridership around the nation’s capital, including car-dependent outer suburbs. The top-of-page-A1 headline was “Stung at the Pumps, More Hop on a Bus; D.C.’s Outlying Transit Systems Rush to Add Capacity; Metro Worried.”  (The worry is about trains being “overwhelmed” if gasoline hits $5 a gallon.)

Finally, also May 27, the radio program To the Point had an excellent discussion of the energy situation in which most of the panelists (including the Wall Street Journal’s reporter) said Americans need to drive less and use public transit more. Listen to “The Future of Energy: Is the U.S. Prepared?” here.

The panelists were:

• Neil King: Diplomatic Correspondent, Wall Street Journal
• Juli Niemann: Oil Analyst, Smith, Moore & Company
• David Sirota: author, ‘The Uprising’
• Robert Manning: Professor of Finance, Rochester Institute of Technology

Panelists agreed it was outrageous that the U.S. with less than 5% of world population is responsible for about a quarter of world oil consumption. Interestingly, Ms. Niemann, the principle advocate for expanding oil exploration and drilling within the U.S., said this should only be allowed under strict government regulations which would significantly increase costs. Mr. King said the U.S. consumes roughly 20 million barrels a day and produces only five. He said it is widely believed in the industry that, if the U.S. started taking advantage of all domestic oil opportunities, by 2020, we would still be producing only about five MBD because new production would simply offset declines in existing fields.

—Ross Capon

Posted by NARP

Flag Stops: Taking Small, Quick Steps

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

This week’s roundup of news and views in the world of passenger rail and American travel focuses on the need to act quickly, yet deliberately, to do what needs to be done to keep the country moving sustainably.

—Malcolm Kenton

Posted by NARP

Flag Stops: Awareness-Raising Edition

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Vermonters organize to lure riders, an express bus service goes under, airlines are still in trouble, gas prices race upwards, and other dispatches from across our infrastructurally-challenged country.

—Malcolm Kenton

Posted by NARP

Tags: air pollution, airlines, express bus, gasoline prices, grassroots advocacy, greenhouse gases, high-speed rail, pennsylvania, revenue, ridership, trains, vermont,

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Flag Stops: Dreams and Schemes

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

NARP hits YouTube, hopes for the Sunset, omissions of a high-speed rail critic, transit cuts cripple Berlin, why more should be spent on transportation in a recession, and more.

NARP continues to expand its online presence. We have just released our first YouTube video. It is designed for those who are less familiar with NARP’s work, so please share it widely with friends, family, co-workers and other acquaintances. You can also use our convenient web form to share with us why you are invested in our cause and why others should be concerned about high-quality transportation choices.

Our friends at Trains for America echo the feeling among much of the rail advocacy community that Amtrak’s report on restoring service between New Orleans and Orlando leaves much to be desired. Of course, the final decision rests with Congress because Amtrak doesn’t have enough money to run the train. That’s why it’s important that Amtrak receives its full requested appropriation for Fiscal Year 2010, and then some.

Not only does the transportation and housing spending bill that passed the US House of Representatives on Thursday contain a boost for high-speed rail programs—more than the President sought—it also funds six rail transit projects, from Miami to Chicago to Fort Worth, Los Angeles and Honolulu. (Source: Congressional Quarterly)

A New York Times blog entry casts doubt on the greenhouse gas-reduction benefits of California’s high-speed rail project. The writer says that the heavy carbon-intensity of the line’s construction should be taken into account, but he doesn’t factor the construction of existing highways or airports into their carbon footprints and fails to consider the low-carbon lifestyles that rail would foster. Luckily, several astute readers have addressed these omissions in the comments.

A Michigan business blogger says her state’s share of Amtrak’s operating budget should be cut because of the sour economy. In reality, the recession argues for doing the exact opposite. The recession is a convenient excuse for curtailing all sorts of public investments. Transportation investments, particularly those that provide better, greener mobility options, create jobs and keep the economy moving. For the sake of consistency, the author should also call for diminished highway spending.

The airline industry continues to slide deeper into a financial hole, as revenues per passenger mile are declining by greater percentages each month. While the recession has contributed to a drop in demand for all longer-distance travel, rising fuel and labor prices are already forcing cost cuts and will continue to create trouble for airlines. Once the economy recovers, travelers will face greater headaches when flying, and the demand for better alternatives will intensify.

A spate of technical problems has forced dramatic service cuts on Berlin’s S-Bahn system of rapid surface-level trains. The consequences have been disastrous, but perhaps not as catastrophic as a similar mishap for a major US rail transit system, thanks to the redundancies inherent in the other rail transit offerings available to Berliners. If a city like New York were to cut 70% of subway service, the choking of roadways with cars, taxis and buses would be unimaginable.

LCL: Another free marketeer decries a rail expansion plan simply because, like virtually all transportation systems in the world, it will require government investment for both construction and operation; Secretary LaHood reiterates his foward-looking commitments, touts the recent high-speed rail pre-apps, and hones in on reducing vehicle miles driven as key to trimming transportation’s carbon footprint; A good rant on the many advantages of rail transit over rapid buses; A look inside Chairman Oberstar’s surface transportation plans; and How many reminders do we need that overdependence on cars is bad for us?

—Malcolm Kenton

Posted by Malcolm Kenton

Tags: airlines, amtrak, berlin, california, carbon, florida, gulf coast, high-speed rail, passenger trains, recession, s-bahn, sunset limited, video, youtube,

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Flag Stops: Refilling the Coffers

Monday, August 24, 2009

The grassroots is continuing to get organized : in Florida to win Recovery Act funds for Tampa-to-Orlando high-speed rail (whose alignment and connectivity as currently planned leaves much to be desired), and in Michigan to save the state’s three Amtrak trains from state budget cuts.

Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE) offers an accurate assessment of the predicament of transportation strategies for reducing pollution. It’s clear that the current gas tax-based funding model is ill-suited to the need, but very few lawmakers seem willing to consider anything different. Remember, though, that political will is a renewable resources, and it comes from all of us as active citizens. One sign that such political pressure can be brought to bear: the rapid growth of the Transportation for America coalition, in which NARP is a partner.

Excitement mounts in Idaho over the potential return of the Pioneer. Among those pressing for its revival: US Senator Mike Crapo (R-ID). Grassroots support for the train has always been strong in Idaho, a state not normally thought of as being home to public transportation riders.

Continuing signs of the unsustainable nature of short-haul air service in markets that could be served by high-speed rail. Relatedly, Southwest Airlines’ CEO has dropped his opposition to federal high-speed rail investment, saying he is not worried that better trains will ground short-haul flights. This doesn’t appear to be a very far-sighted outlook for an industry that needs to better prepare for the inevitable end of cheap oil, but with Congress beginning to formulate a fresh approach to the nation’s mobility needs, less voices in opposition to rail is certainly a good thing.

The Transport Politic assesses the composition of the Senate when it comes to support for funding transportation alternatives. Based on ten votes taken since January 2008, chances look good that future legislation funding rail and transit would attract 60 votes. The biggest obstacle, though, lies in bringing such bills to a vote in the first place by putting them on the agendas of the relevant committees.

Bloomberg’s US architecture critic hopes for the best from the poorly-planned projects to bring commuter trains into a deep underground station under 34th Street in Manhattan via new Hudson River tunnels (which received stimulus funding this week), while longing for Penn Station to return to its former grandeur. Along similar lines, our friends at the Midwest High-Speed Rail Association are discussing the importance of great stations to complement fast, frequent, modern trains. While one Midwestern city is looking to restore its downtown depot to a travel hub, another may have to let its grand station go.

Washington-based writer and blogger Ryan Avent offers an excellent rebuff to economist Ed Glaeser’s misinformed critique of rail development.

LCL: Washington State transit advocates herald the opening of the new Vancouver train; our paper urging restoration of the Gulf Coast Connector generates press coverage; the nation’s premier green building certification program is beginning to better incoorporate the fact that location (especially in relation to transportation services) matters at least as much as the resource-conserving design of the building itself; a significant progressive policy shift is afoot in Houston, and a major transit-oriented redevelopment plan takes shape in NARP’s backyard; “Mister Trains” concurs with our view on the use of recent federal money for trains; E: The Environmental Magazine‘s syndicated “Earth Talk” newspaper column touts train travel’s green bona fides; and despite overall drops in ridership nationally, more travelers are—as the slogan says—catching the Texas Eagle wave.

—Malcolm Kenton

Posted by Malcolm Kenton

Tags: airlines, amtrak, arc, congress, florida, gas taxes, grassroots, high-speed rail, hudson river tunnels, idaho, michigan, organization, penn station, pioneer, railroads, short-haul flights, transportation for america, travel,

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NARP’s Capon appears on CNBC to promote investment in passenger rail

Friday, February 18, 2011

NARP’s President Ross Capon debates the Cato’s Daniel Mitchell about investment in high-speed rail.

Posted by NARP

Tags: airlines, cnbc, congestion, gas tax, highways, passenger trains, price of oil, public investment, ross capon, transportation funding,

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Tunneling under Wisconsin, and other foolish news

Friday, April 01, 2011

Local blog OnMilwaukee.com reports that, to get around Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s opposition to fedeal funding for passenger trains west of Milwaukee, the states of Minnesota and Illinois are cooperating to build a rail tunnel under Wisconsin to connect Chicago with the Twin Cities:

“It’s never been done before, that’s for sure,” said Rolf Olgassen, the project’s chief engineer in Eden Prairie. “Our inspiration is the Chunnel between England and France, but this is far more complex.”

It’s complex because unlike the Channel Tunnel, which is 32 miles long and a mere 150 feet under the seabed, this system will span approximately 363 miles and will sit 2,100 feet below the surface.

The $3 billion project will be financed entirely with the federal funds that Wisconsin and Florida returned to the government, but Minnesota will keep all the revenue from its riders. When completed, the trip will take two hours, and Olgassen says Wisconsinites will barely know the train has gone under them.

» read more...

Posted by Malcolm Kenton

Tags: airlines, amtrak, april fools, chicago, passenger trains, scott walker, wisconsin,

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Compare Amtrak and Airline Schedules, Fares Side-by-Side

Thursday, September 08, 2011

(UPDATED)

Thanks to the website Hipmunk, travelers now have an easy way to compare airline and Amtrak itineraries and prices side-by-side. Hipmunk this week became the first “fare aggregator” service (others include Travelocity, Expedia and Orbitz) to include Amtrak along with most major airlines.

Hipmunk’s mascot.

When you enter an origin, destination and date of travel at Hipmunk’s homepage (you can use a city, metro region or airport code) and click “Search!,” you are presented with a grid showing the hours of the day as colums, and each row presents a possible itinerary, showing the name of the airline (or Amtrak) and, if applicable, the code of the airport or station where a connection must be made and the length of the layover. You can arrange your choices by “agony” (the default, which considers duration, price and number and length of transfers), departure time, duration, or price.

I have tested various itineraries on Hipmunk for trips where I know that Amtrak service exists, looking to travel in late October, and it generally works well. It demonstrates that, for most short hops where there is Amtrak service, Amtrak is almost invariably cheaper than the cheapest airfare. But for many (especially longer) trips, Amtrak’s fares are comparable to the lowest airfares.

» read more...

Posted by Malcolm Kenton

Tags: airfares, airlines, amtrak, fare aggregators, hipmunk, intercity travel, travel industry,

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Jet Blue’s CEO sees benefits of high-speed rail

Friday, September 23, 2011

Image: Examiner.com

In last week’s response to Charles Lane’s “Fast track to nowhere” on the Washington Post’s politics blog, I took issue with Lane’s slapdash transportation policy analysis.  Particularly, his fuzzy thinking about the modal relationship between passenger airlines and passenger rail:

“It’s a bit odd that the president wants simultaneous investment in air transport and high-speed rail, since they are competing modes of travel.

I argued that air and rail should be complementary, with shorter-distance travel (around 500 miles and less) handled primarily by passenger trains, freeing up airport capacity for longer distance trips where airplane’s superior top speeds can provide a significant savings in total, door-to-door trip time.

Well, an article in the Boston Business Journal quotes David Barger, Jet Blue’s CEO, making much the same case:

Asked after his address whether the Obama administration’s focus on high-speed rail would hurt JetBlue, Barger said better rail service between cities like Boston and New York, both of which are important to the airline, actually would be beneficial.

The airspace around New York is full, Barger said, with too much of it “wasted” on planes carrying only a few dozen passengers. “I think high-speed rail would be very, very helpful.”

Barger also spoke about being eager to expand Jet Blue service Rhode Island’s T.F. Green airport, which has just added a rail connection. When you remove the political baggage that pundits attach to projects—based on which politician is supporting what—policy becomes a lot less binary. 

Because whatever Barger’s own political leanings, he’s also responsible for a business that moves people.  And that means looking for mobility solutions in whatever form it presents itself.

Posted by NARP

Tags: airlines, cahsra, california, central valley, high-speed rail, jet blue, king's county, palmdale,

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Amtrak’s eTicketing off to a smooth start

Monday, November 28, 2011

[Corrected: November 29, 2011]

As NARP reported back in August, Amtrak recently launched a pilot eTicketing program on the popular Boston-Portland Downeaster train.  I’m happy to write that so far, the launch of the pilot has been a big success.

A standard eTicket, as issued by a Quik-Trak machine

Anyone who has ridden an airplane in the last decade has a general understanding of what an eTicket is—a document that serves as a physical representation of a digital record, as opposed to a value-bearing document.  With eTickets, authenticity is verified via an electronic scanning device connected to a database, rather than the material characteristics of the paper ticket.

There are some significant benefits to both passengers and Amtrak to this way of storing ticket information. 

Passengers will now be able to print tickets at home.  Value bearing paper tickets require controlled printing environments to ensure a uniform ticket for conductors to verify.  But since conductors will be using mobile scanning devices on eTickets, only the unique barcode on an eTicket is important.  Passengers can provide Amtrak with their email address and simply print their eTicket from their home or work computer.  This convenience is a boon for passengers who do not live close to a staffed Amtrak station and this streamlining will eventually allow Amtrak to phase-out the mailing of non-multi-ride tickets, an unnecessarily costly and time-consuming process for the company and the passengers.

» read more...

Posted by NARP

Tags: airlines, downeaster, eticketing, safety,

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Short-haul airlines in decline, and passenger rail is the solution

Tuesday, December 06, 2011

Northeast Alabama Regional Airport

In his appearance before the House Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure today, NARP President Ross Capon made an important point about the state of the short-distance aviation market, and what industry trends mean for intercity travel.

With air carriers’ profit margins eroded by rising fuel prices, there has been a spate of stories in the past few weeks about airlines getting out of the business of short-haul flights.  In his statement, Capon identified two such pieces:

• The Associated Press reported on November 27 that “[t]he little planes that connect America’s small cities to the rest of the world are slowly being phased out.  Airlines are getting rid of these planes — their least-efficient — in response to the high cost of fuel.  Delta, United Continental, and other big airlines are expected to park, scrap or sell hundreds of jets with 50 seats or fewer in coming years.  Small propeller planes are meeting the same fate.  The loss of those planes is leaving some little cities with fewer flights or no flights at all… [Jet fuel prices are] at $3.16 per gallon today, up from 78 cents in 2000. That’s changed the economics of small planes…”
• Two days later, the AP reported that “US Airways’ round-trip fare from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia will jump nearly 500 percent early next year once Southwest Airlines drops its nonstop service between the two cities.  The nonrefundable round trip fare, not including taxes and fees, is now $118, but will jump to $698 after Southwest ends its service on Jan. 8, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported Tuesday [Nov. 29]

The private sector is confirming something NARP has long warned of: rising fuel prices are irrevocably changing the way Americans travel.  So think about this: Department of Energy statistics show that even undercapitalized Amtrak is 14% more energy efficient per passenger-mile than domestic airlines (Amtrak uses 2,435 British Thermal Units per passenger-mile, compared to airlines 2,826 BTUs).  As Capon pointed out, these trends mean “unless passenger rail development is strangled by inadequate funding, demand for trains will continue to rise.”

Kevin Brubaker, Deputy Director at the Environmental Law & Policy Center, came to the same insight in a briefing he circulated.  By piecing together a number of disconnected reports, Brubaker was able to provide an analysis of the vulnerability of small and mid-sized cities reliant upon a single airline’s bottom line:

Regional jets and turbo props are no longer economical, reported the Washington Post [on November 25].  “Airlines are getting rid of these planes—their least-efficient—in response to the high cost of fuel. Delta, United Continental, and other big airlines are expected to park, scrap or sell hundreds of jets with 50 seats or fewer in coming years. Small propeller planes are meeting the same fate.  The loss of those planes is leaving some little cities with fewer flights or no flights at all.”  [C]ities with strong passenger rail connections are far better equipped to deal with this trend.
• Travelers on the Northeast Corridor can take Amtrak from cities like Providence, RI, Trenton, NJ, and Wilmington, DE to Baltimore-Washington or Newark International Airports for international and long distance flights.
• Places like Springfield, IL, Bloomington/Normal, IL;  and Kalamazoo, MI are less vulnerable, since they will soon have 110 mph higher speed service to major hub airports like Detroit, Chicago, and St. Louis.

Capon and Brubaker are both identifying the same fact: overreliance upon a single mode creates inherent instability in a transportation network.  There is a hard fact that critics of government investment in infrastructure fail to recognize: if transportation networks are left entirely to the free market, thousands of rural and suburban communities—lacking the population density to allow for profitable operation—will be stranded.  That outcome would be a disaster for the Americans who make those towns their home, especially seniors and people with disabilities, who rely on intercity public transportation to a higher degree.

Posted by NARP

Tags: airlines, chicago, detroit, kevin brubaker, philadelphia, pittsburgh, ross capon, rural, short-distance, travel,

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