Air travel is a nightmare, like so many things that just don't work

For many Americans, air travel has become a nightmare. Too many flights are late, canceled or overcrowded. Baggage gets lost, connections are missed, and getting a passport on time is a minor miracle.

The main alternative — hopping in your car to drive to your vacation destination — is no picnic when byways large and small are choked with vehicles of all types.

And it's doubly frustrating that all of this is transpiring in the wake of a pandemic that shut down travel for months and left people yearning to get away again.

The nation's travel woes add to a gnawing feeling that nothing works anymore, especially government. That includes difficulties dealing with the IRS, trouble filing for unemployment benefits especially during COVID-19, agita for small businesses battling endless red tape, delays in receiving building permits from local governments, headaches from filling out myriad government forms, a broken assessment system in Nassau, and county operations ground to a halt by cybercriminals in Suffolk. 

It all adds up to a primal scream whose most visible and visceral manifestation is the effort it takes to get on an airplane to go somewhere to relax and have fun.

The current mess conjures fonder memories of Juan Trippe, the New York aviation pioneer who set the highest standards for the fledgling aviation industry in the middle of the last century. Trippe, who summered in East Hampton, created Pan American Airways whose clipper planes flew round the world serving meals on silverware and real china.

DELAYS AND EXCUSES PREVAIL

The top-notch efficiency offered by Trippe is now a distant dream. Delays and excuses have replaced silver and china.

Remember late June, when thunderstorms struck metropolitan area airports and travelers suffered lengthy flight delays and long lines, with many forced to rebook their planes? About 4,500 flights nationwide were canceled on one day alone. While weather and sometimes dust storms from Canadian fires were partly to blame, others point to the Federal Aviation Administration and the airline industry itself for underlying problems leading to disruptions, as well as a volume of air travel on pace to exceed record rates set in 2019.

One ongoing concern has been understaffing in air traffic control towers that safely guide flights in and out of major airports. In June, an audit by the U.S. Transportation Department’s inspector general found the FAA’s New York Terminal Radar Approach Control, located in Westbury, employs only 54% of its target number of controllers. It's a vital safety hub that supervises air traffic at John F. Kennedy International Airport, Newark Liberty International Airport, LaGuardia Airport, and Long Island MacArthur Airport.

It can take up to three years to train a new controller. COVID led to delays of nearly two years. Immediate improvement in our air traffic control system must be a high priority. 

The surge in demand for air travel abroad also has caused long delays for passports. Woeful stories abound of Long Islanders waiting for service on the National Passport Information Center hotline and in the processing of applications. Some have missed family trips and weekend getaways with passports stuck in an application system hampered by staffing shortages at the U.S. State Department, which issues passports needed for international travel. COVID forced the agency to eliminate some positions handling passports, adding to the backlog. 

LONG ISLAND TAKES A HIT

The delays especially hurt places like Long Island, with its large immigrant population and affluent residents who travel widely this time of year. The federal government should stamp ‘expedite’ on solving the passport snafu.

Another problem is the pilot shortage. This year, American Airlines, one of the industry’s largest with some 15,000 pilots, expects to see 712 pilots reach retirement age. Other airlines report similar concerns. Congress is considering raising the mandatory retirement age of airline pilots by two years to age 67 to keep more of them in the skies. But to avoid future flight delays and cancellations, more recruitment and training of younger pilots is needed.

The money poured into renovations at the region's airports, in recent years and in the immediate future, makes these problems even more aggravating. Poor and aging conditions at LaGuardia, for instance, used to be among the reasons for delays and disruptions. But improvements there have alleviated congestion and given it a top-tier look that would make Juan Trippe proud.

That big bold approach is also reflected in the total $18 billion in public-private improvements planned for Kennedy Airport, an investment intended to improve the quality of the flying experience at the busy international hub.

But those changes will not have their maximum impact unless the federal government and the airlines themselves can fix the problems that ail them and haunt us. We need this industry to work, and make the skies friendly once again.