Considering what zoos the airports have become - searching Granny and junior, in order to avoid (gasp!) the appearance of Political Incorrectness it would proffer simply to search Moslems - eating a mouthful of tacks would be more pleasant than flying.
On the other hand, occasional train travel CAN be fun, and rather scenic, too.
So what does that $2 ticket cost now days? Rail traffic has collapsed here in the west. I took a train to El Paso when I went into the army in 1966. There is no passenger traffic now unless you count the HOBOs. I saw some passenger cars that were parked on a siding for 20 years. An old caboose made a nice coffee shop. Most of the rails got ripped up in Colorado for metal in WWll and were never replaced. Many more rails are abandoned and not in use. Freight is not recovering let alone passenger.