Traveler survey

This survey from last month is rather interesting. It was a very long survey, so I'm definitely cherry-picking here, but I have been a proponent of the idea that this will not change unless it hits the airlines where it hurts: their wallets. So, let's look at the questions that involved whether people are cutting down on air travel and why.

First: Yes, Americans are cutting down on air travel, whether for business or pleasure, but not yet in large numbers. This can be seen in that more people are cutting down on travel (28-31%) than are increasing air travel (17-26%), but most people are holding steady (42-54%). (These graphics are from the Powerpoint download provided by the US Travel Association.)

What's the big deal?

I can't say how many times I've heard the media try to marginalize the outburst against scanners with some comment like "What's the big deal?," implying that only the rare prude would object to being seen naked or felt-up against their will. I don't think this tactic will work in the long run - I have friends and family from the left, right, center, the politically outspoken and the apolitical all indicate outrage over the scanners.

Vedran Vuk sent me an email noting that the most recent gallop poll only asked frequent flyers about the scanners, accounting for only 23% of Americans. So 71% of 23% think the scanners are A-OK. The media should be careful about relying on the opinions of 16% of the population in their smear campaign painting anti-scanner mentality as belonging only to fringe groups. Meanwhile, there's a Zogby poll that says that most Americans oppose the TSA security measures.

One group that the media is not mentioning are those who have been sexually assaulted in the past. This article tells the story of such a person who finds going through security to be very traumatic now. (Note: I'm not 100% sure the story is true, and it is impossible to verify, but the point remains that this type of thing is statistically likely to happen.) Thanks to Dennis Drew for the link.