“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a trajectory like I’ve seen in the last year or so at the DOT,” said McGee… “I’ve never seen any sort of department or public official turn things around so quickly and so decisively.” https://t.co/LoCjWF0DPf
— Zev Karlin-Neumann (@zkarlinn) May 13, 2024
From the Washington Post, “Pete Buttigieg’s view from the middle seat” [gift link]:
… Like all road warriors, Buttigieg has strong feelings about air travel: who gets the elbow space, his preferred window shade position (up), whether it’s acceptable to recline (yes) and the best in-flight snacks (stroopwafel).
But his strongest feeling — backed by a flurry of new policies, rule proposals and pressure campaigns — is that airlines have gotten a pass from regulators and need to do better by passengers.
“On one hand, flying is a miracle, and it’s an extraordinary thing that we’re able to do,” he said, in a car that whisked him from Denver International Airport. “But it’s also true that it’s become more and more frustrating in many ways. And the airlines aren’t going to fix that on their own; they need to be pushed.”
As the nation’s top transportation official, Buttigieg has responsibilities beyond air travel: He has responded to backlogs at California ports, a train derailment in Ohio and the Key Bridge collapse in Baltimore. But between the pandemic, airline meltdowns, air-traffic-controller shortages and Boeing safety concerns, he’s overseen an unusually tumultuous stretch of aviation history. And he knows the time for his agenda is running out.
In interviews, announcements and public speeches over the past few months, Buttigieg has challenged airlines with an urgency driven by the calendar. Whatever the outcome of the presidential election, he said he plans to “sprint” to the finish line.
The prize he eyes? “I really want this to be known as the period when we did the biggest expansion in passenger rights since deregulation, and I think we can hit that mark,” he said…
Buttigieg said he typically travels once a week, heading out for a whirlwind day or one night away. With young twins at home, it’s best for him to be in his own bed as often as possible. He’s taken hundreds of flights as transportation secretary, visiting 47 states so far…
Government employees book economy, but because he flies so often, Buttigieg is frequently upgraded by the airlines. His team tries to decline, but if that’s not possible, he said he gives the better seat to the most junior or the tallest person on his team. On this flight, his group has ended up with extra legroom in an “economy plus” row — behind the lavatory.
“I’m not going to learn that much about passenger protection if I’m sitting up in first class,” he said…
He said people approach him frequently, sometimes for a photo, sometimes to share a note, sometimes to vent. He has gotten well-wishes from flight attendants scrawled on napkins, a note of encouragement written on a barf bag and lobbying from pilots on potential changes to the retirement age. People sometimes guess his email and copy him on their notes to airlines, or include him in social media complaints.
Buttigieg said it’s a good thing to hear from people when they have a problem — though the Transportation Department’s consumer complaint form is the best way…
In 2022, just in time for Labor Day, the Transportation Department launched a public-facing dashboard at FlightRights.gov to show what each airline pledged to do for customers in case of delays or cancellations. To get a green check mark on the dashboard, airlines had to make assurances about hotel accommodations, food vouchers, rebooking and other benefits in their own customer service plans. Some actually changed their plans to promise better care for passengers, Buttigieg said.
“What the dashboard taught us is that it’s not just the hard power we have to issue rules and enforce rules, it’s also the power of transparency,” he said…
Buttigieg said that airlines, “unsurprisingly,” have not been enthusiastic about efforts to hold them to a higher standard. He thinks it will be good for them in the long run.
“I think if your customers are mad at you, that’s not good for your business long-term,” Buttigieg said. “I want airlines to succeed, but I want them to succeed by providing good service.”…
Like the airlines care about the ‘long term’…
US airlines are suing the Biden administration over a new rule to make certain fees easier to spot https://t.co/sKrQausTQa
— The Associated Press (@AP) May 14, 2024
U.S. airlines are suing to block the Biden administration from requiring greater transparency over fees that the carriers charge their passengers, saying that a new rule would confuse consumers by giving them too much information during the ticket-buying process.
The U.S. Transportation Department said Monday it will vigorously defend the rule against what it called “hidden junk fees.”
American, Delta, United and three other carriers, along with their industry trade group, sued the Transportation Department in a federal appeals court on Friday, asking the court to overturn the rule…
The Transportation Department announced the new rule on April 24. It would require airlines and travel agents to disclose upfront any charges for baggage and canceling or changing a reservation. Airlines must show the fees on the first website page where they quote a price for a flight.
The agency estimated that the rule will save consumers more than $500 million a year…
Trump’s NY Criminal Trial, Day 17 (Michael Cohen)
Baud
Mayor Pete >> Secretary Pete >> President Pete???
HumboldtBlue
In my 20s and 30s I loved flying, loved the convenience of getting from one side of then country to the other in five hours, being able to go anywhere a plane could reach, and now it couldn’t be more different.
I despise the entire process, from the fucking ticket prices to the bullshit security screening to the seats that have gotten smaller and less comfortable every year for what seems like 30 years, to nasty fucking people who I am forced to sit near or with while they hack and cough and spread whatever fucking contagion they have throughout the plane. I have to fly to NYC next year and if I can help it, that is gonna be the last time I ever get on a fucking plane.
RedDirtGirl
I don’t fly a lot, but I just went on Expedia and bought a ticket and was quoted a price, and then had to pay another $10 when I chose my seat. I strongly approve of Sec. Pete’s proposed new rule to have all fees stated on the first page.
cain
@Baud: Purdue Pete?
Sandia Blanca
@Baud: Baud/Buttigieg 20xx?
Baud
@cain:
Pope Pete?
cain
@RedDirtGirl:
That’s some fucked up shit where now they are making money on seat allotment – like it’s another hidden reservation fee.
“I’m not going to learn that much about passenger protection if I’m sitting up in first class,” he said…
This guy… no truer words can be said. I love this man.
Baud
@Sandia Blanca:
Works for me. I’m great at delegating.
Trollhattan
Hard to believe Pete had anything to do at all in Transportation, after four years of Mrs. Turtle at the helm. She’s a real fix-it gal.
If he can convince me it’s even worth going to the airport I’ll declare him Miracle Man. Hate the airline experience so very much.
gene108
@Baud:
Between the EC* & homophobia, he’ll have a tough time to be President Pete.
He was also a consultant for McKinsey, so he’s also a Wall Street neoliberal corporatist shill. //s
*A national popular vote would make it much easier for a woman or gay man or a VP who wears too many earth tones, etc. to get elected.
Trollhattan
@cain: I’ll bet they’re considering surge pricing after you’ve taken off.
“We’re taking a place farther back in the landing line unless at least a hundred of you agree to pay an extra seventy-five dollars. I need a show of hands.
“Oh, and the rest of you all need to fill out this credit card application and hand it back to us, before final approach.”
Matt McIrvin
Since flying is so destructive to the environment, there’s a part of me that thinks we shouldn’t be improving the experience.
Mousebumples
More trains! Who needs those planes?
Amtrak Joe knows the way to go!
Martin
@Matt McIrvin: Yeah. I think eliminating regional flights for rail would go a long way. It’d cut a lot of the congestion at airports. It would be nice if CA HSR gets done we could ban LA/SF and LA/Oakland flights.
narya
I freely admit that he has grown on me, quite a bit. I was not a fan of his McKinsey-speak, and I didn’t think he had enough experience to be President. All of that said, I very much appreciate the way he has dug into his job, and I especially appreciate his consumer/voter-focused approach.
Matt McIrvin
@Martin: It’s hard to imagine a US polity actually doing that, but France more or less did it.
Mr. Longform
He doesn’t have a chance. He’s smart, capable, hard-working, reasonable, seems to be pretty humble, compassionate. He needs to take a different approach if he wants to develop a cult of highly stupid and selfish followers (you know, a majority.)
Harrison Wesley
@Mr. Longform: The common clay of the New West?
Barbara
The idea that more information might confuse me is so idiotic. Put me in the camp of “I’d rather be confused than feel like I have been lied to outright.”
CaseyL
Pete did an interview with Hank Green on vlogbrothers! It was a real interview, covered a lot of topics, and was really good.
One topic they discussed, which I had not heard about before, anywhere: Airports are “owned” by the cities in which they’re sited; specifically, that city’s Port Authority or Transportation Department. Those cities get revenue from the airport, and it can be substantial.
Because airports are located where people travel to and from, they’re mostly near (rarely in) large cities. Large cities, even in Red states, tend to be liberal.
Red state governors and state legislatures don’t like that.
So there is a move among Red states to take ownership of airports away from cities and transfer it to the State government. The State government – composed mostly of RW nut jobs – would then be able to set local policies, control patronage, and (most importantly) get the revenue.
They didn’t go into details about how this would be done. Presumably a State Legislature can pass a bill transferring ownership and authority from the city to the State.
Just another of the endless ways in which the Right Wing screws over whoever it can, in whatever way it can, everywhere it can.
lowtechcyclist
@Mousebumples:
This. We need a high-speed rail network in this country. If I could get from DC to Tampa in 4-5 hours on a train, I wouldn’t need the plane. For travel within the eastern half of the country, and for a lot of routes elsewhere, HSR would be competitive with air travel, and make planes obsolete for the shorter routes. (Why would anyone get on a plane to Pittsburgh if there were a bullet train from DC?)
Another Scott
Ding! Ding! Ding!
They’re a transportation utility. They move the public from point A to point B. They serve the public.
They’re not an investment bank (continuously variable seat prices), or game show (rewards credit cards). They’re not a hedge fund (arbitrage on the price of oil). They’re not some sort of inscrutable shipping and logistics carrier (figuring out how to charge people the most for bags). They’re not the Pearly Gates (who is worthy to board before all the overhead bins are full?).
They’re a bus in the sky.
Run the business like a bus in the sky. Be safe. Be on-time. Give customers enough space around their seat. Make it quiet and don’t lose their bags. And charge a fair and predictable price.
Grr…,
Scott.
dmsilev
@Barbara: it’s insulting. Like, can’t the airlines put in the effort to come up with a plausible lie to avoid saying ‘we’re hiding pricing info because fuck you’ (which, as we all know, is the real reason).
eclare
Prior to Secretary Pete, did anyone really pay attention to the DOT? When things went wrong, sure, but otherwise? It’s like Secretary Pete took what could have been just a placeholder job til he can run for Senate or whatever, and said, “You want Transportation? I’ll give you Transportation!”
This is not a knock on the admin’s thinking or any other Secretary, I think they’re all hitting it out of the park. Joe may know what he’s doing…
zhena gogolia
@eclare: I agree.
Baud
@eclare:
I’ve long been a fan of Reading Railroad.
bbleh
@Baud: as a closely sympathetic and widely despised minority (maybe I’ll end up in the same re-education camp!) I would say HAHAHAHAHAHA, but then I said the same thing about Obama, so…
Mai Naem mobile
I think Sec Pete is such a talented politician. I just don’t know if he’s young enough for the current <45 year olds to become a majority of voters to get past the homophobia. Maybe Pete will end up being the LGBT Obama.
Baud
@Another Scott:
That’s where I’m gonna go when I die (when I die)
Baud
@Mai Naem mobile:
They’re already the majority by eligibility.
cain
@Trollhattan:
Stop giving them ideas :D
Baud
@Trollhattan:
*All prices for takeoff only.
rikyrah
@CaseyL:
Yep..
terraformer
@Barbara: right? Isn’t that cute that the Airlines are thinking of us, that they don’t want to confuse us with fee details
eclare
@cain:
Hahaha…seriously. At this point I would much rather take a train or bus. Luckily a big train line does go through Memphis.
scav
“Oh, and now you wish to exit the plane?! Tut tut you little confused one, please fork over an additional 50$ for the additional wear to our door hinges and aisle carpeting.”
cain
@rikyrah:
One thing we know – they are going to fuck it up. Of course, it also means less revenue for the city that’s going to hurt but they can also refuse to pay for roads and other infrastructure stuff that a city normally does. Not their problem.
Trollhattan
In which I root for Zuck and Facebook.
rikyrah
@Mousebumples:
We need high speed rail. Do regional ones first.
Still bitter about Walker from Wisconsin and, the phucking GOP Governor of Minnesota shutting down the high speed rail from Chicago to Minneapolis/St Paul. and the ones that would have taken Chicago/St. Louis. Could have done an entire Midwest high speed rail,
Illinois
Michigan
Indiana
Ohio
Missouri
We should already have it.
cain
@eclare: I want several high speed maglift trains up and down the coast. I just hope I’m alive when it all happens.
Jackie
@Mr. Longform:
Are you describing Biden or Buttigieg?🤔
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@eclare:
I worked for a DOT mode for 27+ years so saw a lot of Transportation Secretaries.
Often, it was “given” to the opposite party of that in the WH as some demonstration of “bipartisanship”. Actually, for the longest time that actually reflected the Bipartisanship of Pork as demonstrated by multi-year transportation bills that easily passed both houses of Congress. That ground to a halt during Dubya’s 1st term and didn’t really get running again until Obama’s 2nd term.
Transportation Secs were almost always career politicians with little-to-no background in the general field, Pete’s certainly from that mold. One exception was Ray LaHood, a R who served in Obama’s 1st term and had made a career in the House on transportation issues.
What sets Pete apart is his ambition, the fact he ran for president, both of which aren’t typical things one finds in a Transportation Sec.
He’s also an extremely gifted communicator and it’s been clear to me since Biden took office that he needed somebody who could “sell” a massive transportation bill’s implementation.
different-church-lady
One way to reduce consumer confusion is… to not create a maze of junk fees in the first place.
different-church-lady
@Trollhattan: DEATH TO BOTH COMBATANTS!
eclare
@cain:
Raises hand! Let’s do NOLA to Chicago too.
Splitting Image
@HumboldtBlue:
Preach it.
My only difference is that “The last time I ever get on a fucking plane” was some time ago.
eclare
@comrade scotts agenda of rage:
Thanks for your insight, I had forgotten LaHood.
Jeffro
Speaking of transportation, sort of…
My father-in-law reached out about a trip that he, my mother-in-law, Mrs. Fro, and I will be taking in July to help FIL visit with his extremely elderly older brother. It’s basically me and Mrs. Fro assisting FIL and MIL the whole way up and back (NoVA to upstate NY and back)
FIL asks: “is it still the rule* that we should arrive at the airport two hours early?”
(*the rule? When was it a ‘rule’?? Anyway…)
Me: “nope, we’re good – it’s a domestic flight, pretty early in the day, plus you and MIL will get priority seating and this isn’t Southwest anyway. No biggie! Let’s get there 90 min ahead of departure, max!”
…radio silence since then…
I know he wants to say something…probably something extremely dumb, like “let’s get to the airport the day before the flight”…but what do you think? Just let it go and see if he says something?
sab
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: Pete and Chasten also had a lot of experience with sort of longish distance intercity non-car transportation as non-rich people in the Midwest when they were first courting
ETA Although not an expert in transportation systems, he was already at first and second hand expert on the passenger experience.
beckya57
@Baud: do you think a Dem gay can win the EC? I’d love to see it but I’m skeptical. I think if any gay person can it would be someone like him (male, armed forces background, married with kids), but I dunno…any Dem is disadvantaged in the EC, and we all saw what happened to Hillary.
beckya57
@gene108: Very true. If US democracy ultimately fails the primary causes will be SCOTUS, the EC and Senate malapportionment.
sab
OT: Alice Munro, Ontario short story writer, has died! A genius in the field. She could tell a story and she did understand people. I learned a lot about human nature reading her work.
Sure Lurkalot
Last time I flew it was around $250 for an hour and a half flight. The flight was $25, each way, the rest was the fees for one bag and taxes.
It was advertised as “flights starting from $19 each way”, which wasn’t true even if all you brought was a toothbrush.
From the getting to the airport and/or parking, the checkpoints, the waiting, the crammed in seats, it’s a miserable experience. I would train everywhere if we had a continental system.
Still a lot of places I’d love to go, renewing my passport this month but making myself plan is a big hurdle because of how I hate flying.
eclare
@Jeffro:
Why would you say something unless he brings it up?
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@sab:
By that measure, I should have been nominated given my first/second hand ‘expertise’ on the passenger experience plus I had more direct experience in transportation system management by the mere fact I worked at DOT for a loooong time. Nobody on this planet would have wanted me nominated.
His neoliberal McKinsey experience, quite frankly, better prepped him for managing an immense federal agency and all the issues that that entails.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not being critical of Pete, again, he’s obviously incredibly smart, a gifted communicator who basically knows his shit. He’s an outlier in terms of Transportation Secretaries I’ve served under dating back to Clinton’s 2nd term.
eclare
@Sure Lurkalot:
The last time I flew the price for my ticket from Memphis to Atlanta was about half the cost of my ticket from Atlanta to Zagreb. B class.
prostratedragon
@eclare: No, it’s wonderful what Sec. Pete has done with it. May it never again be an afterthought.
Almost Retired
Can we talk about seat pitch, especially on Regional carriers? I’m 6’0, which may make me the LeBron James of Munchkin land, but it’s not that tall.
Yet on many flights (I’m looking at you, Vanguard) my knees are in my face. Graciously, the airlines offered me an “upgrade” to a larger coach seat for an extortionate price.
It’s that or sit in an aisle seat with my legs out and trip the flight attendants. I don’t know how genuinely tall people do it!! I guess they spring for Business or First class.
suzanne
I am just taking off on a Southwest flight. Delayed over three hours. Already filed for my compensation. THANKS, MAYO PETE!!!
sab
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: I see your point also. But my point is Pete had McKinsey, Mayor of South Bend, and out of town dating, and he has rolled all of that into package that just doesn’t help his career, but also helps all of us.
This guy can and does learn, and in a beneficial way.
prostratedragon
@sab: I always thought the first two would be assets. Even to get into McKinsey one needs to be a quick and versatile study, and South Bend as I understand it is a significant subregionsl hub for intermodal transportation.
eclare
@suzanne:
Yay! Not on the delay, hope you are wheels up soon.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
I hate fucking Southworst with a passion. They’re no shittier than any other shitty airline but they’ve coasted for decades with good PR that for the life of me, I never understand how they got.
What compensation does one get for a 3-hour delay with them? I almost never fly with them without at least a 3-hour delay. If one looks at the DOT dashboard:
https://www.transportation.gov/airconsumer/airline-cancellation-delay-dashboard
it looks like Southworst has some policy to provide meal voucher or possibly a credit toward future Southworst flights.
Ah, found their compensation site:
https://support.southwest.com/helpcenter/s/article/delayed-or-canceled-flight
Of course Southworst will always say “it wasn’t ‘controllable'” meaning “It’s never our fault”.
Mousebumples
@rikyrah: absolutely in agreement! But I have many reasons to hate Walker and his politics.
@Almost Retired: I feel you. I’m also 6′ but my inseam is 35-36″, so when I’ve been in coach, the person in front of me literally can’t recline since my knees are in the way. I’d love to upgrade, but with 2 young kiddos, Exit Row is out, and 4 x $$ is not appealing.
hueyplong
For a year or so before 9/11 and for a couple of years after, I flew constantly, and I mean constantly. It was barely tolerable before 9/11 and became totally intolerable after. Much as I dislike doomerism from others here, I’ve got to say that if we suddenly had a train-centric travel system, we’d find a way to make it just like the flying experience, chalking up to American exceptionalism the inability to be as passenger friendly as literally every other country.
Anonymous at Work
Key words from article about airlines suing: Fifth Circuit
Uncle Cosmo
If they could get away with it, the bastards would charge you for the dehydrated and depressurized air they so generously fill the passenger cabin with. Maybe their next abomination will be to fill the cabin with pure nitrogen & force you to rent oxygen masks from them if you want to be able to breathe…
ETA: Bring an empty 1/2-1 L bottle with you to the airport and fill it up from a water fountain after security. Dehydration is IMO 80% of jet lag. Also, if anyone is flying that cheap Icelandair spinoff to Yerp through Keflavik, you can fill that bottle with pure Icelandic water for free if you know where the fountain is (and I can tell you where)…
Captain C
@scav:
“After all, this is a Boeing plane. You don’t really expect quality or durability, do you? You should be thankful this plane didn’t just fall out of the sky!”
cain
@Uncle Cosmo: I suspect that they’ll charge for water and you get a cup of water.
sab
Also too, I like this title. Pete Buttigieg in the middle seat, between government and airlines, between the two parties, and so many other middle seats.
karen marie
I’m kind of mad about these new rules. Other people are going to miss the opportunity to sleep on the floor of the Minneapolis airport when their flight is canceled and the airline refuses to comp a hotel room!
H-Bob
Another factor that gets omitted is that one has to add at least 3 hours to the flight time just for dealing with the airport (driving to airport, arriving 1-2 hours before the flight, deplaning, going to baggage claim, getting transportation and getting out of the airport maze. Not to mention the frequent delays for the flights themselves, where we are trapped on the plane sitting on the tarmac. I’ve had a delay of more than an hour or a flight cancellation on every trip that I’ve taken since COVID.
Chief Oshkosh
Just to rain on the parade of all you trainys, what makes you think that train travel would be any different if a federal infrastructure was put into place that mirrored the federal airway system, one that fully subsidized train travel the way we’ve done for the domestic airlines? Late-stage capitalists would infest the “new” sector and fuck it up beyond all recognition inside of a decade. There is nothing magical about trains that couldn’t be fucked up by the sociopaths that ruined air travel.
sab
@Chief Oshkosh: My experience is buses are better. I prefer trains (they don’t make me barf) but they are a lot more expensive to run and buses go wheverywheve. Trains run on expensive tracks to expensive train stations
My spelling needs spell checking but it is above my pay grade.
Matt McIrvin
@hueyplong: Spain’s excellent AVE high-speed trains actually require you to go through a security checkpoint with bag screening on the way to the platform. But the wait generally isn’t too bad.
Eric S.
@Almost Retired: 6’3″, 36″ inseam, here. I spring for the Exit Row.
Matt McIrvin
@Chief Oshkosh: I don’t care. Even if it sucks as badly as air travel, the carbon footprint is lower.
sab
Husband went out to pick up and deliver home granddaughter from marshall arts school. Nothing my education down South would have led me to expect. But whatever. She loves it. Girl happily kickassing? I have issues but so far she is thrilled.
sab
@Eric S.: I am an average woman with long legs. 5’5″ with 32 inseem. My 6’2″ husband has shorter legs than mine. Biology is weird.
Kifaru1
I will say I am never going to fly on Icelandair (or spend money in Iceland). Just gave up on about $3000 from covid times when we had to drop plans to travel in the U.K, Ireland and Iceland. Due to a few life issues we had to postpone travel twice. The tickets already cost more than pre-covid prices, you can’t change the passenger names and you have to pay exhorbitant fees to change your flights. After 2 rebookings I just told them to cancel the flights. Apparently we get $250 back from taxes. Aer Lingus on the other hand is amazing. We couldn’t fly last year because one of our pets was diagnosed with lymphoma and they just gave us a new voucher for the fulll ticket price.
Craig
I met him at a conference when he was still Mayor. We talked for a few hours about what he was doing in South Bend. He was just so forthright and straightforward, showing progress already made and plans to continue improving conditions for the city. I was impressed to say the least. How is this guy this good at his job. I’ve liked him since that afternoon.
TS
@sab:
My granddaughter loves it also – she convinced her mother to go as well – hasn’t got nana there as yet!
JoeyJoeJoe
As someone who did miss a flight due to getting to the airport too late, I think arriving two hours before departure is probably a good idea. You never know how long lines can be. I just flew from Tokyo today/yesterday, and getting to the airports three hours early gave me time to wander around, as I like to do
Another Scott
@JoeyJoeJoe: OTOH, I’ve arrived 2 hours early for a first-of-the-morning flight and basically have gotten there before just about anyone else (except for the TSA folks, or their equivalents). And no airline staff is there for the next 30-60 minutes.
That extra 30-60 minutes of sleep at O-dark-30 is important!
Grr…,
Scott.
KSinMA
@Splitting Image: Yep, me too. Give me a train any day, and give me a plane never.
Went to the UK in 2010 w/ a friend; we rode trains all over the country. We were amazed–they were on time, they were clean, they were numerous, you could even take your bike! The Brits around us were all grumbling about what crummy service it was. Most educational. Can’t wait to go back.
ETA: Yeah the UK is a small country, and yeah we rebuilt it after WWII, but still–I’d love Pete to fix ours.
Matt McIrvin
@Chief Oshkosh: …One thing that’s inherently better about trains is that if you’re traveling between city centers, the stations tend to be more conveniently located. Airports need a lot of space and the big ones are often built way out in the suburbs, so it takes a lot of time just to get to and from the airport.
Now, at the moment, it’s actually not that convenient for me to get to the Amtrak stations for the trains that go south (thanks to the absence of a North-South Station rail link in Boston), so my best way to get to, say, New York City from here is actually usually a coach bus. There are comfortable buses to the NYC Port Authority terminal that leave from nearby hotels and offer free long-term parking in the hotel lot.
But this is a function of the stupidity of Boston’s transport infrastructure. If there were a continuous north-south rail link through the middle of the city, it would be possible to have trains to New York and DC from the station within walking distance of my house. Probably not high-speed trains. But they would exist, and at least it’d be easy to ride them downtown and transfer to something better without making multiple subway transfers.
sab
@TS: Her nana will never go ( way too old) but I am glad the younger girls like it. Balance, discipline, mental calmness, actual strength. What isn’t there for a girl to respect.
sab
@sab: All planes are extremely uncomfortable unless it is your plane.
Geminid
@Matt McIrvin: Boston grew as a maritime city. It’s still quite llconclbenient if you want to sail your sloop to New York, or your clipper ship to Valparaiso.
a thousand flouncing lurkers (was fidelio)
@Trollhattan: I’m rooting for injuries. And embarrassing disclosures, also too.
Geminid
@Geminid: Thst would be, “…still quite convenient…”
Ironcity
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: Dont get too wrapped up in DOT as an agency, historically it is really a bunch of Commerce Dept. refugees with a little Navy attached. Its primary function is giving away money and every “modal agency”, more management consultant speak, must be turned into a way to return $s to the right places.
Pika
Here is Buttigieg on Erika Kullberg’s channel—was so happy to see this outreach.
Ironcity
@hueyplong: Train centric intercity travel ststem in this country will have to wait until Scotty can beam you there, or at least go supersonic. All of Europe from Spain to Norway, France to Poland is no bigger than US east of the Mississippi. At the best doable speeds it takes too long to get to anyplace a decent distance away (250 miles, say) to make train travel more than a recreationel/ tourist pursuit.
wjca
Well, for openers, we could replace “fly over country” with “choochoo by country”. Which has a better scansion — that has to be worth something.
Mart
@Mousebumples: I will never vote for that moral monster!!!
Buttigieg – “acceptable to recline (yes)”
Glidwrith
@H-Bob: That amount of time is why we’ll drive anywhere that’s within 800 miles (~14 hours). Car rental and gas is far less expensive than paying for four people.
Glidwrith
@sab:
@TS: Hidden benefit to training is how you carry yourself. The unspoken assurance that one can kick ass usually means the predators find someone else to target.
Matt McIrvin
@Ironcity: We routinely use planes even for short-to-medium-distance travel where trains are the dominant mode in Europe. The impracticality of riding them from New York to Seattle isn’t really the problem here.
Geminid
@Matt McIrvin: I think the proposed high speed rail service from Charlotte to Atalnta is a promising route. The Atalanta terminus would be Hartsfield-Jackson Airport, where it would tie into Atlanta’s well-developed MARTA system.
That and other high speed rail projects it will require more capital investment than the $66 billion allocated to Amtrak in the Infrastructure bill. This money is finally going out, almost all of it for enhancing existing service and expanding Amtrak’s service map. I expect Democrats are working on “Infrastructure 2.0” legislation that will fund more passenger rail projects including high speed rail.
Kosh III
“So there is a move among Red states to take ownership of airports away from cities and transfer it to the State government.”
That happened last year when the State tried to take over Nashville Airport Authority. It was in part just to punish Nashville for having the audacity to oppose the Regressive Party. The action is now tied up in courts, which appear to be favoring Nashville.
Kosh III
Pete/AOC 2028!