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Morning News

A Day in the Life of an Air Traveler

Aired August 31, 2000 - 11:23 a.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, Labor Day weekend means planes, trains and automobiles for millions of Americans. AAA estimates that 33 million people will travel more than 100 miles from their homes over the holiday. That is up 5 percent over the last year, despite higher gas prices. And millions of others will take a trip on a plane. And in these days of crowded skies and delays, we looked to put the airlines to a test.

CNN "NEWSSTAND" correspondent David Mattingly, I guess just the man to do it. Maybe you ticked somebody off up at the assignment desk. I don't know how you...

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Who knows? Who knows?

KAGAN: I don't know what you do to get an assignment like this. But explain to us what you did, what the idea was.

MATTINGLY: What the idea was, was to get a day in the life of air travel in the United States.

KAGAN: It stinks, I can tell you that.

MATTINGLY: Well, all we wanted to do was go from Atlanta to San Francisco, but via Chicago, Denver, Dallas-Ft. Worth, and Las Vegas. And we had an hour layover time built into our schedule, and you think that would be enough, but...

KAGAN: Silly man. Let's look at some of the tape that we'll be seeing more of tonight.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTINGLY (voice-over): I'm 38 minutes late at the gate. I've got 15 minutes to make my next flight on United. At Chicago O'Hare, that means a gauntlet of twists and turns to airport transit, changing concourses by train.

(on camera): OK. Which direction does the train -- which direction am I supposed to take?

I don't see United posted anywhere.

(voice-over): It also means asking a lot of questions along the way. (on camera): Excuse me. I'm looking for United. Does this go to United? Does anybody know?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've just come from United.

MATTINGLY: Oh. So United's that way?

About the only way we're going to make it now is if the flight we're leaving on was also delayed by the fog.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: And it sounds like it might have gotten worse from there.

MATTINGLY: That was just our first layover. There were many more to come and many more stories to tell.

KAGAN: So how many planes did you miss?

MATTINGLY: I'd rather wait and show you tonight on "NEWSSTAND"...

KAGAN: OK.

MATTINGLY: ... because that might tip it. But let me say every step of the way there was a problem.

KAGAN: There was, on every single of the four legs.

MATTINGLY: That's right.

KAGAN: Did you learn anything?

MATTINGLY: I learned never to try that again. Next time I'm flying to San Francisco, it's a direct flight.

KAGAN: Be nicer to the people who are handing out the assignments on the assignment desk. And we can see that -- tell us exactly when we can see the piece.

MATTINGLY: Tonight at "NEWSSTAND," which is on at 10 o'clock Eastern Time.

KAGAN: Right. Did you get to keep the miles at least?

MATTINGLY: We'll see about that.

KAGAN: We will see. Oh, so many -- man of mystery. David Mattingly, thanks for stopping by. We might be watching, although it might be giving us indigestion to watch that, as well.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com

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