U.S. Airline Flights at 10-Year Low

Who wants to be groped and stripped virtually naked just too board an airplane? People used to look forward to flying, but we live in a different world now. Much is due to the government's expansion of TSA power. To get on an airplane now, you may have to survive a virtual strip search by leering TSA agents, have your junk felt up by some pervert in a uniform and risk having dishonest TSA agents steal your valuables while they are searching your luggage. Then, you are practically held prisoner by the flight crew. Anyone who objects or asserts their basic human rights faces arrest. Driving never looked do good.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. airlines in 2011 operated the fewest number of flights since the hijack attacks on New York and Washington depressed air travel and accelerated the industry's worst-ever financial downturn, government figures on Tuesday showed.

The Transportation Department said major airlines, their chief low-cost competitors and the biggest regional carriers, recorded 6.08 million departures last year. Takeoffs were not that low since 2002, when they totaled 5.27 million.

Reduced operations and good summer weather, especially in the East, helped airlines post a 79 percent on-time rating in 2011, unchanged from the previous two years.

The overall number of flights by U.S. airlines have steadily declined since 2008 when the recession dampened travel demand. Most recently, stubbornly high fuel prices have prompted airlines to further cut capacity to reduce costs and maintain higher fares. Keep on reading...