United’s pilots went on a 29-day strike in 1985, we flight attendants joined them in a sympathy strike, and the strike finally got them what they couldn’t get in negotiations. It was highly disruptive as I remember, but sometime you gotta do what you gotta do.
Some of their picket signs read “First airline pilots to strike in all 50 states.”
Excellent point.
Also, like healthcare, I tend to think air travel is too important to be left so heavily in control of for-profit businesses. In 2008-9, I’d hoped we might nationalize airlines but of course instead we poured taxpayer dollars all over them. Then again as the Boeing catastrophe unfolded and I still from time to time get my hopes up for a nationalized alternative to these for-profit wastes of taxpayer monies
Flight time is 2 hours ten minutes, then getting from downtown in each city to/from the airport is about hour each way (including the wait time for your ride to pick you up) That’s another 2 hours, minimum. Not to mention an additional $100 in shared rides fees. Lets add in passing tlhrough Security, 20 minutes to an hour. Same expense but even longer delay if you rent a car at either end.
Now we’re talking up to five hours to get from one downtown to the other. Yes the high speed train takes an hour more (assuming you’re not dealing with rental cars), but nearly all of that six hours can be spent reading, sitting, having a drink, or watching a film at your leisure. And the seats aren’t cramped and no one is telling when you can and can’t use the bathroom.
BTW, 120 mph is at the low end for speeds on a mixed-use High Speed Rail Line. The mid-range is 140 mph, which would reduce the rail transit time to 5 hours.
Not mentioned here, but something that makes the system even more brittle (and the impact of a strike greater) is the hub-and-spoke system that most airlines have adopted to get monopoly/oligopoly power over fares where they can.
Depending on where you’re flying, there may effectively be only 1-3 airlines who can get you from origin to destination. So a strike may leave significant parts of the country without available flights at all. (“Sorry, we were already at 80% on every flight for the next two weeks. Maybe next month?”)
I live in Cincinnati. To fly from here to Philadelphia or DC takes at least six hours. It takes half an hour to get from home to CVG. I have to be at CVG two hours prior to departure. Flight time to Philadelphia is about 90 minutes, the same to DC. (If you have to fly through a connecting airport, that time is blown to hell: through Midway it can take 3 hours in the air plus the layover time to get home.) Count on an hour to get a rental car, and another 30- 60 minutes to get to your destination from the airport. I can drive from here to Philadelphia in 8 hours, and I have my car there and I go straight to my destination.
I have friends in DC and family in Philadelphia. I’d much rather schedule business in those cities around Fridays: drive out Thursday, do my business Friday see my friends/family or do tourist stuff on Saturday and come home Sunday. I hate flying.
I’m sorry, but Sara Nelson never fought an employer in her entire career as a union President. Please stop going to her about airline worker struggles. She has you all fooled.
No reason for that. Just fly first class.
This is the most snobby and condescending response to this problem that I have ever seen.
I love train travel and would like to see many more options in North America. My experiences of train travel in Europe have been great
Ah, gee. You just had to go and clip his wings. 
Our general rule of thumb is, if we can drive somewhere in 10 hours or less, we’ll drive rather than fly. We can pack as much stuff as we want in a car, have our choice of what, where and when to eat, have very comfortable seats, and not have the hassles of security, schlepping through crowded airports with baggage trailing behind us, and so on.
Don’t get me wrong - we fly often - just got back from Sicily 3 days ago, a trip that required 3 airplanes and about 24 hours of combined flying, waiting, and using ground transportation to either a hotel or home. You do what you have to do. For continental travel, we are looking more often into trains as an alternative to air or driving.
Haha. I have determined that if you fly from Boston to Philadelphia. The time it takes to get to airport, being there early they getting from Philly Airport to destination. I can save about 25 minutes.
If I have to rent a car when I get there, even pre-booked eats all that time savings.
Sure, I don’t risk traffic on the GW… but yeah not worth it.
DC is at about that 10 hrs tipping point. If I go for work, I fly, taking the Family, I drive