"Hank Rausch" wrote in message
m...
the general
inconvenience of commercial air travel in this country, post-911, has
signficantly altered the balance in this "reasonable man" calculation.
In other words, it is easier to make a case, in general, to use one's
plane for a legitimate business deduction, even when the cost of doing
so is significantly higher than a commercial ticket. The potential for
identify theft alone would be a justifiable reason to forego
commercial air. With the information one is required to supply now
under CAPPS II, plus a social security number, one would basically
have the "keys to the kingdom" to steal someone's identity.


I concur, but it was a good argument before 9/11. In fact, it was the 30
hour commercial jet flight time to AND from VA and MI on 10/31 - 9/1 and
9/3 - 9/4 2001 and loss of a days wages that convinced me to complete my
PPL and IA tickets. These were the result of weather delays at ORD, but even
the connecting flight time was equivalent to launching direct in a 172. It
was impossible to justify 10x the airline expense for the same trip
completed in 1/3 of the time by automobile - except that statistically the
travel by jet was safer. Anyway, the reasonable man calculation certainly
did not work - I had to pay all of the expenses incurred for "WX delay" in
addition to the cost of the tickets - well over $2K all told. According to
IRS mileage rates, the cost to drive is roughly $400 and to fly a 172 is
roughly $1K - in way less time - which is the whole value proposition of jet
travel.

Some other factors to prove this in the pre-9/11 world we

- Delays and lost revenue resulting from work stoppages and slowdowns by
unionized aviation employees.

- Potential to be a victim of the 'air rage' syndrome that was occurring
based upon all of the combinations above.

In your example, to go from IAD to LGA tomorrow coming back Tuesday is $500
per person by commercial jet. In as much, the 172 pilot can depart and
arrive on whatever schedule is most practical...for about the same or less
in about the same amount of time! Now add a second passenger to both
scenarios...!

Now that is liberty.

With low-cost single engine personal jets coming to fruition, I can see the
concept of the Jetson's becoming more real. Obviously, there are powerful
forces that would prefer that not happen any time soon for all kinds of
reasons. (e.g., CBS, FAA, DHS, AAL, UAL, EPA, GM, etc.) The list is just to
show that the opposition will transcend the Estates, if you will.