New Rules of the Road

Fast Company road warrior Heath Row embarked on his third CoF Roadshow exactly one week after four terrorist hijackings rocked the world off its axis. Traveling 2,609 miles from Providence, Rhode Island to Vancouver, Canada, Heath passed through three time zones, three airports, and one national border just as U.S. airports were unveiling their strictest security controls ever.

What's it like up there, where legroom and stale peanuts used to be our biggest concerns? How are travelers navigating the new airport restrictions? Do you really need to check in two hours early? Heath is the man to ask.

Here, he and other Fast Company road warriors weigh in on contraband carry-ons, flight alternatives, and the new realities of airline travel. We invite you to read these reports from the road and to add your own observations and opinions to Sound Off below.

Heath Row

Social capitalist

September 18, 2001
I rose early, caught a 6:15 AM airport shuttle bus with a Canadian airline crew, and checked in with a confirmed seat on my flight to Chicago. The United Airlines representative, wearing a black-ribbon pin, was surprised by how many of my flights had been canceled and rescheduled: "You must really want to get home," he said.

Getting through security was surprisingly easy; they're checking photo IDs and boarding passes, but I didn't have to turn on any of my electronic gear -- my PowerBook, my two cameras, or my cell phone. And the airline personnel were surprisingly energetic, friendly, and relaxed, either because passenger counts are down and work is easy or because people are trying to shine in the face of the impending airline layoffs -- reported in the Providence Journal this morning to be upward of 100,000 people.

My guess is, it's because passenger counts are down. The Providence airport was oddly quiet on what I expected to be a hectic morning. Waiting in the gate area for my flight reading this week's issues of Newsweek, Time, and US News & World Report, all with extensive coverage of the tragedies, I took time to look around -- and to listen in on people's conversations. One woman had been trying to return home to Moline, Illinois since late last week. A man told his daughter that "now's the safest time to fly." And the airport's intercom system frequently chirped its warnings not to leave bags unattended. Police officers hovered near security checks and roamed the concourse.

As our boarding time neared, I was struck by the irony that our boarding time -- 8:45 AM -- coincided almost exactly with the time at which American Airlines flight 11 hit the World Trade Center just one week earlier.

[ Read more of Heath's travel diary here. ]

George Anders

Senior editor

I am on a Continental flight from SFO to Newark. I look around me. No one is flying. There were supposed to be 23 passengers on this plane. We ended up with 10. I asked for and got an upgrade into first class for no good reason. Just before takeoff, one of the flight attendants asked if I minded if the entire planeload of passengers, such as they were, moved up to first class. Sure, I said. So 10 people are sitting with me in the 12 seats up front. Coach is utterly empty.

[ Read more of George's travel diary here. ]

Fara Warner

Senior writer

I've flown three times since September 11. Here are a few words of advice as you board planes.

You must have a boarding pass. Counter to the information on many airline Web sites and the advice coming from some travel agents, that is the rule according to the folks checking IDs and scanning bags at the airport X-ray machines. Several airline sites say that passengers can proceed to the gate if they have an e-ticket receipt. Save yourself some aggravation, and go to the reservations counter to get a boarding pass before even attempting to pass through the X-ray machine.

Every airport is different. In San Francisco, they checked my carry-on luggage for a pair of nail scissors, which I was allowed to keep. In San Diego, they confiscated the scissors. In Detroit, they "wanded" me with an electronic metal reader and then patted me down. In San Francisco, I walked right through. The point is: Sometimes you'll have an hour and a half to spend thumbing through magazines, and other times you'll still be standing in line at the X-ray machine behind travelers with too much change in their pockets while final boarding begins on your flight. Don't try to second-guess what will happen at the airport; give yourself that extra hour to get on a plane.

Keep your cool. Smile. When I remember these words, I seem to sail through lines and security checkpoints. There is absolutely no use getting frustrated or angry at reservation clerks, flight attendants, or X-ray attendants. We're all in this together. The folks at the airports are just trying to do their jobs and keep us safe. Give 'em a break.