To me this is just another reason (of many) that travelers should consider general aviation (charter, etc.) as an alternative to commercial airline travel.
The straight financial cost may be higher but avoiding all of this sort of nonsense has its rewards, and remember that most GA operators are locally-owned smallish businesses that appreciate your support and treat their passengers like customers and not like prisoners (or worse).
I echo tocomment - for someone who has only ever flown commercial, how would one go about finding and hiring a GA operator? What's kind of premium would you expect pay for a regional (eg Chicago to Detroit) flight or a longer flight (eg Chicago to LA)?
I'm actually pursuing my private pilot's license so my route would be a little different than most, but here in Wisconsin we have Wisconsin Aviation which operates out of several airports and provides everything from aircraft rental for pilots to full charter services:
I'm also curious. Do you use a national charter company or do you have to contract directly with owner/pilots? How much does it cost? How fast is it compared to regular commercial travel?
A little over a decade ago, my company used a local charter company when Northwest's pilots went on strike. We were able to get a five-seat turboprop with two pilots for $2000 for 70 minute flight (about 400 miles.) A full-fare ticket on Northwest cost about $540 at the time. Our total travel time was cut in half--no ticketing, no security screening, no baggage claim. We even convinced the rental car companies to run our cars over to the charter office. All we had to do was say hello at the charter office and head on to the plane. This particular company also had seven- and ten-seaters which were slightly cheaper per person per hour. I assume the prices would be more expensive now. Anybody have experience with netjet or similar fractional ownership?
EDIT: Forgot to mention that the same flight on Northwest was 50 minutes in the air.
The GA safety record also includes student pilots, weekend pilots, crop-dusters, and other high-risk flight operations.
Scheduled airlines are operated under FAA Part 121 rules, charter operators work under Part 135 rules, and everything below that is under Part 91 rules. Part 135 operations are much safer than for all GA. It's safer than driving, though not quite as safe as flying a scheduled air carrier.
From the NTSB (http://www.ntsb.gov/aviation/table1.htm), in 2009 scheduled air carriers had 0.006 fatalities per 100,000 flight hours, on-demand carriers 0.07 per 100,000, and all GA 1.33 fatalities per 100,000 hours.
I was once shuttled to a business meeting in a small plane (maybe six to eight seats). I had no idea what to expect, showing up for my small flight. I parked at the airport, walked down to the runway where I met the pilot. I said, "is there a security screening? I've got a knife [about 3.5in blade, in my pocket]. I've also got this big thing of water." Pilot said, "that's nice, hop on in the plane. Need anything else?" I even got to listen to my MP3 player during take off.
Assuming that what I flew was "GA," then no, it doesn't seem like the TSA applies there.
As for how you get these sorts of flights and how much they cost, I can't help. I was just the passenger, and haven't done it since.
"""TSA’s Office of General Aviation is committed to working with the industry and community to develop and implement reasonable and effective security measures. As part of these efforts, TSA has recently launched the General Aviation Secure Program. This program is designed to build upon the Airport Watch program, encouraging everyone to be vigilant about general aviation security and report any unusual activities to TSA."""
The straight financial cost may be higher but avoiding all of this sort of nonsense has its rewards, and remember that most GA operators are locally-owned smallish businesses that appreciate your support and treat their passengers like customers and not like prisoners (or worse).