US airline passengers declined in first half

The best efforts of the airline industry and the TSA are paying off. They're getting rid of those pesky customers who really are just a pain in the rear end. For the Democratic Convention I flew over using Delta, by mistake. I booked in Air France but thanks to a code-share I ended up flying between France and the US on a few ancient Boeing something or others that I hadn't seen in about ten years. Even ten years ago they were looking old with the obvious giveaway being the overhead storage that only has room for a child's lunchbox. Naturally the clunker I flew on coming back was so old, the storage door kept popping open because my laptop - yes, a 2 year old 5.5 pound MacBook - was too heavy.

The Delta folks were all very pleasant though I never like flying on old planes. I did notice that my puddle jumper flight from Salt Lake to Denver offered more personal leg room than the overseas flight, that crammed us in like sardines. How bizarre is that? The bright spot in this latest report is that international customers have increased, surely due to the weak dollar. Europeans continue to travel to the US for cheap holidays and shopping, much like Americans used to do when they traveled to Mexico. Those Republicans sure are clever and creative people when it comes to the economy. With all due respect to Mexico, which I like, who would have guessed that anyone could make the US such a destination?