Air Travel

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And the public has responded. JetBlue, Frontier, AirTran and that big small airline, Southwest, are flying full planes and making money. Clearly, consumers will pay for a sense of security.

Airlines always point out that flying is the safest means of transport. And the reason is that the airlines and the government have created a culture of safety that puts everything else (like comfort) second; a system of inspection, mechanical redundancies and training builds concentric rings of safety around a tube of metal filled with humans. Says McKenna: "We've created a system in which everyone involved with a flight understands that he or she is responsible for the safe conduct of that flight, and most people take that responsibility seriously. If we can do that with security, American passengers will be very secure." If we don't, we now know what we can expect.

--By Bill Saporito. Reported by Sally B. Donnelly/Washington