Feeling nervous about getting on an airplane after all the recent incidents where they fall apart midair or catch on fire? We can’t blame you. But if you’ve got a vacation or family event coming up, you have to get across the country somehow.
So what are you supposed to do? Drive?
Philip Ballard, a travel expert with HotelPlanner.com, spoke to KNX News Chief Correspondent Charles Feldman about potential travel alternatives.
“You can still take the Greyhound bus like the Simon and Garfunkel song, but there are now more upscale alternatives such as, you know, luxury buses and shuttle services,” he said.
He said infrastructure challenges have hampered efforts to build government-owned train lines, but private companies are stepping in to fill the gap. Brightline, which operates a high-speed rail across Florida, recently won a $3 billion grant to build a rail from Los Angeles to Las Vegas.
But Ballard also said not to write off a good old road trip.
“The great American road trip is really now in its new golden age,” he said. “AAA has indicated for the past two years that holiday travel and travel throughout the year has reached, you know, record volume. So I mean, the nation's highways have never been busier, especially in our national park cities and towns.”
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Despite the recent concerns about the Boeing 737, Ballard said overall travel confidence remains high, and there likely won’t be a noticeable impact on air travel volume.
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