What's wrong with flying commercial? Are politicians "better" than the rest of us? The obvious answer from the GOP Establishment Elites is yes, they are better than the rest of us.
For the Governor of the State of Texas, who has a security detail that covers logistics, protection, etc, I don't see that "flying commercial" is a realistic or practical option.
What’s wrong with flying commercial? Are politicians “better” than the rest of us?
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I think it would be difficult to book commercial for a ‘team’— he doesn’t travel alone.
With chartered flights they are more flexible with times, no layovers and they can get into airports that big commercial airlines don’t service. With several traveling as do in a campaign, it isn’t that much more expensive to charter—plus they can get work done in privacy as a group. It just makes good sense.
Here is a NETJETS link, if you read around it, it explains some of the advantages.
http://www.netjets.com/ABOUT_NETJETS/about_netjets.asp
Another link
“Commercial airlines only serve about 500 airports. There are more than 4,000 paved GA airports in the U.S., and that figure is increasing.”
“”Commercial airlines simply aren’t as dedicated to or interested in the business traveler, as they were 20 years ago,” he said. “GA is the way of the future for business travel. GA is a hassle-free, point-to-point, on demand, customized, secure, dependable and much more affordable option than most people imagine.”
http://www.airportjournals.com/Display.cfm?varID=0604010
I assume from your TAG that you are a Palin supporter? If she were to get the nomination, would you expect her to travel between campaign stops flying commercial? I sure as hell wouldn't. She would most likely travel the way most candidates do.
>>> What’s wrong with flying commercial? Are politicians “better” than the rest of us? The obvious answer from the GOP Establishment Elites is yes, they are better than the rest of us.>>>
Wow: voila folks: class envy 101 on display. There is nothing wrong with flying commercial - except that I’m sure you resent folks who fly first class commercial too. Where does it stop? Why doesn’t he take Greyhound. No wait, he should thumb a ride.
And should they fly direct, or have connecting flights? Can you run a campaign or a company or anything large if you are always making connections in an airport?
Let me give you a little life reality lesson that you are sure to resent: people who run big operations, be they a state or a big company — or that give concerts or other performances that thousands of folks pay to see - have time that is more financially valuable than most folks. It just is.
This is why corporate jets even exist: for people who doing a cost benefit analysis understand that being able to travel on their schedule has a monetary value greater than the cost of a corporate jet. Most states, and they are all geographically smaller than texas, have a jet for their governors. On a certain financial level, it just makes sense.
Rick Perry fits that category. I don’t fly corporate jets. But I don’t resent those that do either. But I’ll tell you what, most liberals do.
Two problems. First, with a large staff, it is probably cheaper to lease the private jet than to fly commercial.
Second, you are at the mercy of the commercial airline routes and schedules. They may not have flights going to the cities you need to visit, or they may not have flights going at the times you need in order to get to the events that are scheduled on time.