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Most air travel is unnecessary. Obviously all vacation air travel is unnecessary, but that's also true for business trips, too. Companies used to conduct business without zooming from one city to another, in the days before airplanes, and they could easily do it again if they wanted to, especially since there are more viable alternatives now than there were 100 years ago (teleconference, video conference, telephone, e-mail, etc.).

So, if push came to shove, conceivably 95% of passenger air travel could abruptly cease. I don't think that will ever happen, but perhaps enough people will eventually be sufficiently disgusted by make-believe security theater that they'll simply stop flying until the situation improves. And if a lot of people stopped flying, there's absolutely no doubt that things would change overnight.

If there is a drop in passenger traffic due to the overreaching security procedures, the airlines will pressure the TSA into modifying those procedures. So it would be a good thing if people were to boycott air transportation, or elect to opt out of the scanners and get the enhanced pat down. The chaos created by the bottleneck at security would create a lot of missed flights and connections. There will be pushback towards the TSA by the airlines.

All flight crews are refusing to go through those scanners and therefore must get the pat down. The flight delays caused by this security procedure already have created the need for finding alternatives that do not require irradiating crews 8-10 times a month. The pilots unions, airlines, and the TSA are in talks right now. If the passengers stay away, airlines will lose money. The sooner that this happens, the sooner that these screening machines will go the way of the air sniffer booths that the TSA abandoned about 8 months after they were introduced.

Money talks. National Opt Out Day is November 24th. Pass the word.

Good points. I quit flying a few years ago because of the security hassles. Recently had to go across the country, and had little time to spare. The TSA folks are as bad or worse than depicted on TV. The flight attendants look and act like the worst teacher you ever had. The seats are too close together, and they forgot to pad them. On one leg, a FAT lady sat next to me, sweated and slobbered the whole flight.

I drove a rental car back. The motels are pretty grim. Traffic ain't fun. It took 5 days of driving most of my waking hours. I'm not sure which one was worse. At least I could look out the window from the airplane. In the car, I saw white lines pavement and interstates.

I think if you get 4 or 5 people together, you can charter a Lear or something for about the same money per seat.

While you may never have a need to travel outside of your own city, many people still do. That means A) fly commercially, B) take a bus/train, C) drive or D) charter a private plane. A is often times the most economical and quickest way to go.

I do, however, agree with you that security is a joke. The TSA should be disbanded. The terrorists must be laughing their asses off at us.

It is either security is tight or every terrorist in the world would be attempting to blow up a plane. It has to be to scare threats away because a terrorist wants to blow up and die for glory not sit and rot in prison for the rest of their days. I think it should be tighter. They are security not your friend they are told to be stiff and somewhat intimidating and dry to weed out the threats by making them even more nervous. The whole travel thing is horrible but that is just the way it is until some airline comes out with a way to make travel easy and they will soar to the top. But until then we just have to deal with it because driving across country takes too long and is worse. I do not know about chartering your own private jet. With those prices you could by your 16 year old a new car.

Um, for people who like to travel outside of their own zip code? What other choice do people have if they want to travel to another state? Not everyone likes to drive cross-country. And will everyone stop whining about security? Would you rather they not check anyone and just allow bombs and guns on the plane??

Why? Because it's cheaper than a private jet charter and faster than walking.