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CNN Live At Daybreak

Business Travelers Fed Up with Airline Travel

Aired March 22, 2002 - 06:19   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: If you have flown anywhere since the September 11 attacks, you know what a nightmare airport security can be. Well, it's prompting many business travelers to rethink their travel plans.

Our Kathleen Koch has details for you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They are the few, the tired, the remaining business travelers, increasingly fed up with the headaches of air travel.

BOB JAMES, BUSINESS TRAVELER: I'm very frustrated, yes. I mean I travel two or three times a month and I sure wish I didn't have to, because if I didn't have to, I sure wouldn't.

TERRY HAMBY, BUSINESS TRAVELER: We fly out of Nashville so it's quicker to drive to Atlanta now than fly. And to be quite frank, I'm ready to go back to the old way.

KOCH (on camera): Which is?

HAMBY: Which is take our chances.

KOCH (voice-over): Business air travel is down 17 percent from a year ago, that is options like video and teleconferences are up 50 to 100 percent. The use of corporate jets is on the rise.

(on camera): Amtrak is on a roll, too, ridership last month up 6 percent nationwide. And for the first time, more people are taking the train than the plane between Washington, D.C. and New York City.

(voice-over): Many companies like American Forest and Paper had been trimming travel budgets even before 9/11 because of the slumping economy, but the terrorist attacks prompted them to get creative, trying Webcasting to make them more efficient and competitive.

HENSON MOORE, AMERICAN FOREST AND PAPER ASSOCIATION: I think you'll see less travel in my industry, in my business as a result of that, but it's not so more -- so much anything driven by September 11 except that forced us for a period of a couple of months to figure out how to do business differently.

KOCH: And if business travelers do come back, industry experts predict they won't put up with the exorbitant fares of the past.

KEVIN MITCHELL, BUSINESS TRAVELERS COALITION: There is, in a sense, anarchy out there. Business travelers are no longer just paying this walk-up fare, they are looking on the Internet, they are going for the Saturday night stays, they are looking for every way to save money.

KOCH: A few airlines are responding, eliminating the Saturday night stay over restrictions and offering a discount for advanced bookings. But some business travelers say it's too little too late, the hassle factor too high to tolerate.

RONALD SMITH, BUSINESS TRAVELER: They made me hold up my hands, take off my shoes, ask me all kind of questions. And I said to myself, this is - this isn't worth it, I'm not flying anymore. I mean this is nothing but a hassle.

KOCH: Kathleen Koch, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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