Trying to get there from here

There's unfortunate irony in two announcements made this week by municipal and state authorities concerning local airline travel.

The first was completion of four new security lanes at Pittsburgh International Airport intended to alleviate the exceptionally long backups that can form during peak travel hours.

The second was the inauguration of a Web site posted by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, www.Iflypa.com, that's intended to inform prospective air travelers about the benefits of flying out of one of the Keystone State's 15 "conveniently located" airports vs. driving to an airport in another state and taking a plane from there. This site is primarily a listing of airlines that serve those airports, with links to each carrier.

The problem is, costs notwithstanding, that driving to Cleveland, Akron or Columbus, Ohio, may still be the most convenient option for trips to many destinations.

These two developments may be noteworthy, but both are undercut by the recent revelation that come January, US Airways is slashing 13 more nonstop flights from Pittsburgh International.

It is axing two of its eight daily flights to Charlotte, N.C.; one of five flights to Orlando, Fla.; one of three flights to Tampa, Fla.; and one of six flights to Richmond, Va. (It did announce a resumption of one nonstop flight to Ithaca, N.Y., and two each to both Elmira and Binghamton, N.Y.).

Perhaps more important, US Airways is eliminating all its nonstop service to Dallas (three daily flights) and Detroit (four daily flights), as well as reducing nonstop service to San Francisco to four flights a week (Thursday, Friday, Sunday and Monday, departing at 6:20 p.m. and arriving at 8:47 p.m.).

In August, US Airways also eliminated its nonstop service to Seattle and San Diego, while maintaining (for the time being at least) 13 weekly nonstops to Los Angeles. It also has terminated nonstop service to Portland, Maine, and Ottawa and Montreal, Canada. This followed its ending of all direct flights from Pittsburgh to European destinations.

While alternative nonstop service will still be available to Houston (Continental), Dallas (American Eagle) and Detroit (Northwest), there are no other nonstop options to San Francisco. So for anyone unable to make a reservation on one of those four direct flights, a five-hour, 20-minute trip will become a minimum of eight hours, 40 minutes, assuming the flight connections operate as scheduled.

This erosion of service and convenience should not surprise any reader. The local story for US Airways over the past four years has been a sad one, as the once-mighty airline has struggled through two bankruptcies before its merger with American West in September in an attempt to regain its financial footing.

And US Airways is by no means the only airline teetering on the brink of insolvency. United, Northwest and Delta are flying under bankruptcy protection. Together those three account for 44 daily flights from Pittsburgh. And Independence Airlines, which recently declared bankruptcy, has indicated it may cease operating entirely on Jan. 5 if it doesn't find additional financing.

For travelers in this area (and other areas as well), this amounts to a slow death by a thousand cuts, as our ability is reduced to fly conveniently to destination after destination.

Business travelers are finding it increasingly difficult to plan trips that make efficient use of their time. Leisure travelers are thinking twice about taking short trips when the travel part encompasses more and more of the time. And how much less desirable will a visit to Pittsburgh be if getting here is so much more of a production? While the extra hassles may not dissuade fans from flying into town next April for the All Star Game, it certainly isn't going to be good for our more conventional business.

Our travel prospects become even more problematic when viewed in relation to other reductions made in public transportation options.

Amtrak, itself nearly broke, has cut its passenger service from Pittsburgh (and many other cities) to what seems a bare minimum. We're down to one train a day to Chicago (a nine-hour journey departing at 11:45 p.m.), one to Philadelphia (a seven-hour, 30-minute journey departing at 7:20 a.m.) and one to Washington D.C. (a seven-hour, 40-minute journey departing at 4:15 a.m.).

And Greyhound, also staving off hungry creditors, has reduced the number of daily departures and eliminated service completely to many smaller cities.

Our only other option is getting in a car and hitting the highways.

Have we been spoiled by several decades of convenient (if costly) airline connections? Undoubtedly.

In the old days, we took for granted that airline trips would be all-day adventures involving changing planes. We planned our lives and travels accordingly. The pace of life has become much busier since then, and we have become used to being able to get places with relative ease, if not comfort and amenity.

Clearly, ease of travel is not an inalienable right. All of us are going to have to make major adjustments in our expectations and factor in much more time for getting to and from our final destinations (not to mention getting to airports early to clear security).

At least for the time being, we can still get there from here.