More Like 'Labored Day' Weekend

Bring a Book--or Maybe a Sleeping Bag

'Tis true that even Federal Aviation Administration Administrator Marion Blakey plans to hop on an airline this very busy Labor Day weekend and take her traditional seat in coach. But with ticket sales at a near-record high, she has this bit of advice for y'all who are planning to join her in the air: Bring something to do.

"People should brace up and bring a good book," she says. Everybody knows that air travel has been bad this summer, but this could be the worst weekend if stormy weather slams the New York-Washington corridor, she says. It's not really an FAA problem, or even related to the search for faulty engine mounting bolts on Boeing jets.

Blakey tells us that it's more about the weather, high traffic, and those fancy corporate and private jets traveling to party cities, especially New York. Interesting fact: Blakey says that the number of corporate jets has tripled "over the course of the last few years."


By Paul Bedard