No Matter How High the Fee, They Still Want to Fly When they Want to Fly

The big story in travel continues to be the reduction in flights out of JFK, and how much this will affect travelers across the US. In yesterday's Wall St. Journal, Scott McCartney writes about how the efforts of the FAA to limit take-offs during peak periods will affect the average traveler.

The goal is to cut down on flight delays, and the target is to cut 20-25 flights per hour from airline schedules. "But six of the 10 most heavily traveled routes in the country touch New York, and the FAA says about one-third of the nation's air traffic passes through New York airspace. So there will be domino effect that will back up the rest of the airports.

"Airlines say congestion pricing, (advocated by Transportation Secretary Mary Peters) is just another tax on a financially ailing industry that's already heavily taxed. Another problem is that since so many people want flights at peak times, the government may not be able to levy fees high enough to really affect scheduling."