RALEIGH, N.C. — Until last week, when employees of the Soleil Group, based in Cary, N.Y., embarked on a business trip, their biggest decision might have been whether to take a window or aisle seat.
But now that security concerns have stretched airport waits, the hotel company's representatives are settling on a different option: their personal car.
"It's faster and more reliable," said Soleil co-owner Dicky Walia. His partner, Sanjay Mundra, chose to drive Tuesday from Raleigh to a Soleil hotel in Charleston, S.C.
Mandates to get to airports hours before departure times, new security restrictions and snarled schedules are prompting some passengers to bail out of commercial airline trips. Some are driving. Others are chartering planes. And if the extra hassle persists, airline revenue could suffer and some short-haul flights might be canceled.
"It's a concern if there's a big hassle factor," said Helane Becker, an analyst for The Benchmark Company in New York. "If your flight is only one or 1.5 hours long, and you have to get to the airport two hours in advance, is it worth it? It's likely you would drive. This latest terrorist threat has caused people to rethink."
Mundra said the decision to drive wasn't difficult. The 250-mile trip to Charleston took four hours and cost $65 in gas. Counting early arrival, flight time and renting a car, flying would have taken four or five hours. A walkup ticket on US Airways cost $1,350.
"It would have taken four or five hours, and I would not have been in control of my destiny," he said.
After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, many former airline passengers began driving to destinations and carriers were forced to cancel some short-haul trips. Becker said there are still 15 percent fewer departures now than in 2001.
Airlines, which are enjoying one of the busiest travel seasons in decades, said they've seen no significant drop in bookings or passengers. With planes filling up, there's no reason to consider dropping flights, they said.
"We haven't seen a lot of people booking away across the system," said Dave Jackson, a spokesman for American Airlines and American Eagle, the busiest carriers at Raleigh-Durham International Airport.
Neither has Southwest, said spokeswoman Paula Berg. "I'm admitting it (extra hassle) exists, but I'm saying it's not as bad as some people think, and it will improve.
"If everyone adheres to the current security directives — don't wear any metal, don't carry any gels, liquids or water — the security process should move quickly," Berg said.
Some travelers aren't convinced.
Liz Daniel, charter manager at Landmark Aviation in Raleigh-Durham International Airport, said calls for charters are up 30 percent to 40 percent since British authorities uncovered an alleged plot to blow up planes.
"We've had a lot of calls," Daniel said Tuesday. One caller had elderly parents not up to standing extra time in security lines. Another's husband was disabled. But chartering isn't a cheap alternative. Daniel said it costs $1,500 to $2,000 an hour to rent a twin-engine King Air turboprop plane, while a private G4 jet runs $4,000 an hour.
Still, some callers are considering chartering planes for longer transcontinental or international flights, Daniel said.
Caleb Tiller, spokesman for the National Business Travel Association, an Alexandria, Va. group representing business travelers, including many corporate travel managers, said airlines could begin canceling flights if long waits continue in security lines and for flights. In a continuing online poll, 50 percent of the association's members said they planned to decrease business flights.
But whether it's a substantial travel decrease will depend on how long the added inconvenience persists, said Tiller, who expects things to return to normal soon.
"There will be some slight decrease in commercial air travel as long as the heightened security measures are in place," Tiller said, "but every indicator leads us to think this is a temporary situation." For example, travelers in the United Kingdom now can bring a carry-on bag; last weekend, they couldn't.
"For some people, it's been an inconvenience, but most people expect it to get back to normal soon," Tiller said.