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The backscatter machines were pulled three weeks ago from New York's LaGuardia and JFK, Chicago O'Hare, Los Angeles, Boston, Charlotte and Orlando airports. The move was designed to speed up security lines at checkpoints there.

Sanders said it's worked and that lines at those airports are now moving 180,000 more passengers each day.

I find this confusing. Were the TSA lines the gating factor in keeping 180,000 passengers from flying each day? According to A4A, 2.4 Million Passengers will fly on 11/25/2012. 180,000 passengers is 7.5% of that figure. An average travel day in the US looks to be roughly 1.8 million passengers. 180,000 is 10% of that figure.

What did those 180,000 people do? Wait in line until it closed/they missed their flight, then try again another day? Decide not to fly?

Hey, me too, and seriously, if you do this: write to your favorite congresscritter(s) to let them/him/her know. The House and Senate Transportation committees are good places to send a note if you don't want to write to your own congressional reps. (The Senate committee already hauled Pistole in last week for a grilling. Hopefully they will keep on top of him.) Consider cc'ing the TSA, White House, and the Air Transport Association (airline trade group). Other good organizations to write to might be the ACLU, We Won't Fly, and Fly With Dignity.

Opting out altogether is great, but not if no one knows about it. If you let organizations like this know, you'll get included in the numbers.

Do U.S. airlines also pay fuel taxes ?
At the federal level, airlines pay 4.4 cents for every gallon consumed on a domestic flight. Of that amount, 4.3 cents goes to the Airport and Airway Trust Fund while 0.1 cents supports the Leaking Underground Storage Tank Fund. In addition, in most states airlines pay a flat rate per gallon or an ad valorem sales tax on the purchase of fuel. In California, for example, airlines pay a fuel tax in excess of 8.0 percent of the price of jet fuel. So if the price of jet fuel purchased in California were to double, our tax would double as well, generating substantial revenue for the state's treasury.

Also, in the UK at least, we do pay a tax on air travel to the airline, whether that is to cover govt. imposed taxes or not I don't know.

Why should the population of the US prop up an industry which has had many many decades to compete on the world market.

I really don't know

There were 3 major air crashes last year !

Three major air crashes is probably about a thousand deaths.

If we can cure the pedestrian-death problem - cars would be close to equaling planes right now.

Governments love this stuff, don't worry.

Hell, look at some of the efficient projects they have going now. The TSA is the latest and greatest. They're defending against a non-threat, and costing billions every year.

"Consequently, airlines will be confronted with the worst of two worlds -- a national security tax increase added to an already crushing $3.2B tax which holds no promise to enhance aviation security."

- James C. May, President & CEO - Air Transport Association of America, Inc.

A passenger jet, supposedly, harms the environment as much per passenger, as five passenger cars would over the same distance if you ignore the impact of building and maintaining the roads.

Now, it's possible that you get higher output of certain nasty things - you probably get more nitrogen oxides, for instance - but I can't imagine that they're five times worse. And, as you say, that doesn't include the mess that roads make.

Wow...thanks for providing a fact filled response to my display of facts (irrelevant or otherwise is left up to the reader to decide.) My first thought was not to reply, since you didn't provide anything of substance to reply to. But this is /., so what the hell...

Facts? You talked about your monthly bills and that you bought a motorcycle. Those are anecdotal details, not facts relevant to your larger claim that market forces are sufficient to stop an energy crisis.

Here are some examples of actual facts.

• Fact: Fuel expenses are the second highest operating cost for the airline industry.
• Fact: Every penny increase in the price of jet fuel per gallon turns out to be $180 million dollars per annum.
• Fact: Worldwide, oil demand is increasing and will continue to for the foreseeable future.
• Fact: Worldwide, oil production, on the other hand, is leveling off and will probably continue to or may even begin to decline in the near future.

See how that works?

Competition is an amazing thing ... businesses find all kinds of ways to cut costs when they have to. And if prices go up 25% AND 25% fewer people fly, well, we have a magical 25% reduction in consumption, don't we.

But the free-market supply-demand curve is a simplification only completely accurate in ideal circumstances. The airline industry is, in fact, probably best example of an industry where such a simplification doesn't work. First of all, the airline industry is highly subsidized and regulated by the government. The basic infrastructure costs are enormous, and these costs are present regardless of demand. Combine that with the fact that the profit-margins are slim and based upon a high-volume of demand and it's obvious that simply increasing prices won't help. Listen, we're not talking about fucking lemonade stands here.

-Grym

Wow...thanks for providing a fact filled response to my display of facts (irrelevant or otherwise is left up to the reader to decide.) My first thought was not to reply, since you didn't provide anything of substance to reply to. But this is /., so what the hell...

Facts? You talked about your monthly bills and that you bought a motorcycle. Those are anecdotal details, not facts relevant to your larger claim that market forces are sufficient to stop an energy crisis.

Here are some examples of actual facts.

• Fact: Fuel expenses are the second highest operating cost for the airline industry.
• Fact: Every penny increase in the price of jet fuel per gallon turns out to be $180 million dollars per annum.
• Fact: Worldwide, oil demand is increasing and will continue to for the foreseeable future.
• Fact: Worldwide, oil production, on the other hand, is leveling off and will probably continue to or may even begin to decline in the near future.

See how that works?

Competition is an amazing thing ... businesses find all kinds of ways to cut costs when they have to. And if prices go up 25% AND 25% fewer people fly, well, we have a magical 25% reduction in consumption, don't we.

But the free-market supply-demand curve is a simplification only completely accurate in ideal circumstances. The airline industry is, in fact, probably best example of an industry where such a simplification doesn't work. First of all, the airline industry is highly subsidized and regulated by the government. The basic infrastructure costs are enormous, and these costs are present regardless of demand. Combine that with the fact that the profit-margins are slim and based upon a high-volume of demand and it's obvious that simply increasing prices won't help. Listen, we're not talking about fucking lemonade stands here.

-Grym

Look at the financial information on the ATA website. The U.S. airline net profit from 1934-2002 = $0 (including direct subsidies but not indirect) Examples of indirect subsidies: Air Traffic Control, Airports, no taxes on fuel, and foreign flagged airlines are not allowed to fly between two U.S. cities.

Car users only pay about 2/3's of the direct costs of maintaining the road system. Some indirect costs: that free parking at work, on the street in front of your house, at the McDonalds. Of course in Silicon Valley we subsidize the cars in other ways -- like $750K condo's (parking lots cannot be used for homes, so less homes). Take a look at this satelite photo of silicon valley to see how much land we devote to cars.

6. TSA shall provide passengers with effective and expeditious means to (a) inquire about TSA's CAPPS2 privacy policy; (b) access, consistent with national security considerations, to their personal information and correct that information; and (c) resolve complaints about the collection, accuracy, processing, or use of personal information.

And if you mess with the Air Transport Association, you'll get labelled as a terrorist.

Autos still recieve subsidies as do airlines. only about 2/3's of the cost of highway system is covered via auto related user fees. As far as making money, the airlines have made a grand total of $10 billion since 1938. Not a very good return for the past 70 years! This is not even considering that they are not including the construction cost of building airports in the P&L's! Denver's new airport cost about $3 billion.