05-28-2009, 05:33 PM
By nkp:
In fact, on my recent flights back and forth to California, the number of ticket agents was practically non-existent, even at airports like DIA and San Francisco. By far the greatest number of employees are now TSA employees screening for security.
You do have a point about AMTRAK; however, an automated computerized system such as the airlines currently employ would virtually eliminate all but a handful of station personnel.
It is often difficult to calculate the cost of airlines, especially as they now contract their maintenance to foreign countries or defer it altogether, as in the case of Southwestern Airlines. However, this much I do know - when a plane malfunctions,. it falls from the sky and a great many people die. When a train malfunctions, it coasts to a stop. Even a disastrous collision rarely kills as many as a single plane crash, and given the current trend towards larger and larger aircraft with more and more passengers crammed in, this unpleasant fact will only get worse.
I'm one of those people who actually want to enjoy the trip as well as the destination, something I have been unable to do on an airliner for many, many years. Speed is nice, but it fails to overcome rudeness and discomfort enough to change my mind. I miss the pleasure of the journey itself.
Quote:Mountain Man, on the flip side to what you've said....how many passengers are served by every employee at both the rail station and airport? Here in Cincinnati, I wouldn't be surprised if the airport personal serve 10x or even 100x the number of customers than the people at the Amtrak Station. Sure, the Airport has a much larger payroll...but it has far more customers...so the employees are less efficient. If the traffic was equal, I'd expect the Amtrak employees to serve more people...as a passenger train requires far less staff per passenger than an airplane...but the friendly skis require far less maintenance than the high iron. I believe that the fixed costs of railroads are much higher than airlines, but the variable costs of planes are much higher.
In fact, on my recent flights back and forth to California, the number of ticket agents was practically non-existent, even at airports like DIA and San Francisco. By far the greatest number of employees are now TSA employees screening for security.
You do have a point about AMTRAK; however, an automated computerized system such as the airlines currently employ would virtually eliminate all but a handful of station personnel.
It is often difficult to calculate the cost of airlines, especially as they now contract their maintenance to foreign countries or defer it altogether, as in the case of Southwestern Airlines. However, this much I do know - when a plane malfunctions,. it falls from the sky and a great many people die. When a train malfunctions, it coasts to a stop. Even a disastrous collision rarely kills as many as a single plane crash, and given the current trend towards larger and larger aircraft with more and more passengers crammed in, this unpleasant fact will only get worse.
I'm one of those people who actually want to enjoy the trip as well as the destination, something I have been unable to do on an airliner for many, many years. Speed is nice, but it fails to overcome rudeness and discomfort enough to change my mind. I miss the pleasure of the journey itself.