Last minute airline deals and more

A passenger can almost always get a seat at the last minute if he is at the airport. It is necessary to make reservations a little further in advance for tourist flights than for first-class flights, since there are fewer of them. Passengers are allowed 40 pounds of personal baggage free, and 60 pounds if they are going out cf the United States. Any excess baggage must be paid for at the rate of y2 of 1 per cent of the fare per pound, thus making it very expensive to carry excess baggage.

The scheduled airliners now make 97 percent of their scheduled flights. That is, bad weather or mechanical trouble causes only 3 percent of them to be cancelled. If a flight is unable to continue after departing, the airline will always pay for transportation to your destination, either on another airplane or on a train if the weather does not permit flying.

Freight is also carried by air, along with express packages and airmail. Besides the airlines that haul nothing but freight, the passenger airlines carry some freight in their passenger planes, and many of them also operate separate freight planes. The largest use of air freight is in hauling goods that are perishable and would be harmed by a long railroad or truck haul. Some businesses have candy, fresh flowers, seafood, and some kinds of fruit regularly delivered by air. Air freight is widely used in emergencies to transport various articles needed quickly. The transportation of larger articles has been increasing, too. In 1952, an elephant was flown from North Africa to a zoo in the United States. One further service that is available in air transportation is the charter plane. Just as one would charter a bus, a plane may be chartered. Both private companies and the scheduled and non-scheduled airlines provide this service. By 1953, it had become safer to fly the scheduled airlines than to drive your own car; and the safety record of the railroads is only slightly superior to that of the airlines.