People who Fly On Airplanes

I used to really enjoy air travel.  I didn’t have my first ride on an airplane until I was an adult. Having spent many long hours in the back seat of a ’52 Oldsmobile as a young kid going places with my family, my first flight was a revelation. Every sensation was new and very exhilarating to me. The sensation of take-off, and the never seen before sights of the earth below from thousands of feet up were all just great. Of course one of the best things about air travel was that you get places in a fraction of the time the Olds took to get anywhere. My first experiences of flying came courtesy of my job. Like many air travelers, I discovered that most of my fellow travelers on the planes were there on business. I was no exception. I worked for State government where the State Capital was on the opposite side of the State from me. Most of the bureaucrats in our state had no concept of geography or courtesy- so just about every meeting I went to was on their side of the state. That meant either taking a whole day to drive 300 miles across the state or hopping on an airplane and being there in an hour. I liked being there in an hour.

In the years since that first exciting flight or two, I’ve had a fair amount of air travel experience. Aside from the business travel I used to do and one amazing trip to Italy,  my wife and I had daughters who went to college in far off places- particularly our youngest who went to school in California for a couple of years, then decided that wasn’t far enough away so she transferred to the University of Georgia. Air travel was an absolute necessity for us then. But even then air travel just felt like a luxury. The waiting areas in the airports were spacious and filled with amenities. Family or friends could see you off, or greet you upon return the moment you emerged from the plane. Once in the air flight attendants were quick to provide food, drink and hospitality, seeing to practically any comfort you would like. Like I said, it was a luxury.

That all changed for us on a cross-country flight to Georgia in October 2001. You may recall there was a rather significant event about a month earlier. That event changed everything about air travel. It was quite literally shocking to see every corner of the airports guarded by active-duty military personnel with combat weapons, and to watch the searches that people were subjected to. It seems after that the fun went out of flying. Of course now the soldiers have been replaced white shirted, latex gloved TSA agents. Beyond that, it seems that the airline industry fundamentally changed too. Aside from the crazy security measures that accompany flying, the people who fly on airplanes have changed as well.  

I haven’t flown on an airplane in several years now- just haven’t had the need. But my wife still flies for business occasionally. So I will be at the airport to pick her up, giving me the chance to see those going through security and walking out of sight up to lonely boarding gates. You can’t get past the lobby without a boarding pass and government issued ID now. I also see the folks arriving. Most are solitary travelers with tidy looking carry-ons and the obligatory lap-top computer case hanging from the left shoulder. For the most part the traveling public is not the general public at all. People who fly on airplanes now are just about entirely the business travelers. The cost of air travel has also increased so much that business travelers are about the only ones who can afford to fly. The airlines never advertise special rates anymore. They used to be all over TV with enticements to travel. No more. They airlines have added so many additional charges and taken away so many services one could almost believe they don’t want anyone except the business traveler on their damn planes. So be it. I guess the air travel business has just changed and air travel now is just for the “business class”. They even invented a new class of traveler: ”Business Class”!   

The event that got me thinking about the people who fly on airplanes (and how that’s changed) was the unusually decisive and bold action of Congress to appropriate money to keep more Air Traffic Controllers on the job.  Courageous stuff! We don’t see this kind of bi-partisan law-making and patriotic legislating very often- so let’s hear it for Congress! They finally DID something. Oh, but wait. Maybe a little history on this event would be helpful.

It all started about a year and a half ago when Congress was so paralyzed by extreme partisanship and Obama hatred that they had to appoint a “super-committee” to attempt a budget fix. Congress and the President agreed that if they couldn’t come up with a fix they would institute automatic budget cuts that would be so painful they would just come to their senses and actually fix the problem. They referred to these horrible cuts as “sequestered budget cuts” and they were ugly enough that no reasonable person would want them to actually happen.  You guessed it. The Super Committee failed- didn’t even come close to an agreement. The Sequestered cuts were looming in the distance and everyone thought the Congress would do something at the last minute. Deadlines came and they did nothing. The sequestered cuts went into effect. The results of the cuts took a while to have an impact, but slowly the cuts nobody wanted, started to look real. On transportation, the sequestered cuts would require reductions in the number of Federal Air Traffic Controllers, and the closure of small airport traffic control towers (among many, many other across-the-board reductions in government programs). Fewer Air Traffic Controllers meant more flight delays or sacrificing air safety.

On the week the layoffs and furloughs were going to affect people who fly on airplanes, Congress looked up and said, “Hey wait a minute, that could mean OUR flights might be delayed or cancelled. That is unacceptable”. So they quickly passed legislation to reinstate funds for Air Traffic Controllers and fund the towers at small airports that were on the closure list. President Obama then caved and signed the bill. It was then I really started thinking about the people who fly on airplanes. I’m not talking about the once-a-year air traveler headed home for the holidays- I’m talking about the folks who fly all the time, the frequent fliers.

So who are these people on airplanes? Knowing who they are helps explain what Congress did. I tried researching the passenger profile of the typical frequent flier but there wasn’t much published. Just a guess here- but I bet the airlines have a pretty good idea who their best customers are, and it isn’t the college freshman trying to get home for a turkey dinner at Thanksgiving. The people who fly on airplanes are men and women who work for corporate America. They are the execs and the minor execs who spend their days enriching their companies. The major execs fly in private planes or are rich enough to own airplanes.  They are also the government employees in mid-management and above who fly from place to place having meetings, “collaborative partnerships”, and engaging in “task forces”, convinced that they are doing it all for you and me. They are the lawyers, the accountants, and the consultants that provide the expert advice and technical know-how to keep all the other folks on that plane in the power positions they occupy. And they are Senators and Congressmen/women who get their once-a-week free air travel back to the home district to “listen to the people”. I’m not entirely cynical about all this air travel and the people who fly on airplanes. I know that most of them work hard and they’re just doing their jobs. I know they contribute to the economy, and we need them. I am, however, very cynical about the hypocrisy of those who make the rules, saying that when the suffering starts because of their failure: namely Sequestration; the first thing they do is relieve their own suffering and the suffering of those wealthy enough to own airplanes or fly business class any day of the week. If there was ever a clear example of how this Congress bends over backwards for the money interests who own them, and their own personal interests- this is it!!

The effect of restoring tax dollars to support people who fly on airplanes, while doing nothing for other programs that are being cut, is that the average taxpayer is literally subsidizing the wealthy business types and those who own airplanes. God forbid, they should be inconvenienced. All the while Head Start programs all over the country are cutting back- and meals for seniors have been drastically reduced- military veterans are waiting unbelievably long periods to get benefits we own them- Medicaid dollars to states will be reduced-and vital infra-structure projects are sitting idle- jobs not filled. And that’s only a few examples of the effects of Sequestration so far. It is clear that our Congress will only act when the wealthiest among us need help, while forsaking all others who they see as parasites on the "business class". It has never been more apparent that the real parasites are the privileged class, while the middle class and poor pay for it all. Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts is an expert on the way government bends to the will of the financial institutions and the wealthy while ignoring the needs of others in our country. Her analysis of the situation is simple, “the game is rigged”. Our democracy isn’t so threatened by deficits and debt, as much as it is threatened by the growing disparity of wealth that threatens the middle class and the ultimate strength of the economy. Unless the Congress and the President can change that direction the game will continue to be rigged in favor of people who fly on airplanes.

Thanks for looking in.