Having seen all the disruption to air travel that has been caused by the inclement weather over Christmas, I look forward to the day when planes undertake commercial fights without the need for any staff (it will happen, as technology increase becomes swifter and exponentiation sees that the present innovations will be eclipsed by the future). Here's why. I find it unsettling that decisions are made to cancel trips irrespective of the wishes of the passengers - and I anticipate the day when the decision to fly in bad weather or stay at home is made only by the people doing the flying.
There will be many for whom the increased weather threat diminishes their willingness to board a plane, but equally there will be many for whom the increased risk is dwarfed by the pleasures and benefits of taking the trip. Consider Tom who is travelling to New York to be at his daughter's wedding and give her away; Dick who is boarding the plane for that career-changing job interview; and Harry who is crossing the Atlantic for the first time to meet his prospective beloved with whom he's been conversing online for the past six months - those people, and many like them, are being denied the opportunity to take a risk they may well feel is worth taking.
When announcements are made that flights have been cancelled, all travellers are inconvenienced, but the second, less circumspect, group of people (the Toms, Dicks and Harrys of this world) are inconvenienced more than the first group, because they are the ones who would have still taken the risk had they have been given the choice. It's true that bad weather increases a passenger's chances of not making the trip safely, but for those who consider the risk worth taking, a commercial flight that affords those that want to travel the chance to do so and those that don't the chance to stay at home can only be a good thing.
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