The Economy

Over Christmas I got a first hand look at how serious the economic downturn is.

Thanksgiving is the busiest flying weekend of the year.

Closely behind is Christmas. It should have been hectic at the airports since Christmas was close to the weekend. Normally a ton of people would have been flying on Christmas Eve.

I was a little surprised when I got to RDU. It wasn't nearly as crowded as I expected. Security usually has long lines. Basically none this time.

On the flight from RDU to DCA - my jet had nine passengers.

Nine.

The plane was basically empty. I don't know why the airline didn't just cancel the flight and put us on a later flight.

Then, on the flight back Friday - pretty much the same thing. Took maybe 5 minutes to get through security.

The flight back had, oh, possibly 2 dozen people. Not much more. Again - basically an empty jet.

You can't fly planes with so few passengers and make money. Especially with the fares so low.

And the fact that the planes were basically empty on a major family travel holiday - even with low fares - that tells you that either people do not have the money to spend - or are afraid to spend.

The whole experience speaks volumes about the state of the economy.