In article ,
says...


These rewards have been substantially eroded
over the years though, particularly in recent
(post-911) years.

Well, yes, but the hassle of flying commercially has increased far more
than the hassle of flying onesself (except in the DC area). My wife is
far more inclined even on longer trips now to propose taking the little
airplane rather than the aluminum tube.



I do agree with this somewhat.
Certainly, the fact tht you have to just about strip naked to get on a plane
today, and you have to wait for hours as everyone else does the same is going
to be a big advantage for business aviation. (Not to mention the fact that
the threat of truly being blown out of the sky, while still remote, has
become more realistic - which may tip the scales for some CEO's, or their
risk-management departments).

But this still doesn't change the fact that it's really hard to eek any
demonstrable utility out of private aviation today. If your calculation
includes any cost-to-benefit consideration at all then you're right out the
window. If cost is of little concern, or pleasure is great enough to justify
it, then you still have to weigh-in the time and hassle to and from the
airports - and in many cases in the US it would simply be more convenient,
as Jay says, to drive it.

In Europe, the fast trains, combined with good roads, plus now the fact that
you can put your car on the train, is rapidly making even commercial aviation
obsolescent, let alone private flying, which is relegated pretty much to a
leisure activity.

GF