New Restrictions Don’t Affect Some Travelers

GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Some air travelers are circumventing long delays, checkpoints and having to leave personal items behind.

Dee Dee Morrison is a frequent air traveler who arrived on time to her destination Thursday without having to go through beefed-up security.

"I literally drove on the tarmac" Morrison told News 4’s Ron Reynolds. "I got on the plane and we were in flight within 10 minutes".

Morrison left her home in Birmingham on Thursday morning, the day United States travelers learned of a terrorist plot against air travel and new security measures snarled airports nationwide.

She arrived on-time to two business meetings, one in Savannah and the other in Greenville.

Morrison was flying on Satsair, a Greenville-based air taxi service.

Since the news about the terrorist threats, the company’s president said that he has seen an increase in business.

"One of our customers was in Charlotte and needed to get to Ft. Lauderdale" Stephen Hanvey said. "So we flew up, picked him up and took him to Ft. Lauderdale. We had a couple of other customers similar to that."

The service is more expensive that most commercial air. Customers are billed from the time they board the aircraft until they get off at their destination.

The plane seats up to three passengers and costs just under $600 per hour.

Morrison said the convenience is worth what she had to pay.

"I would have had to fly through Atlanta,” she said. “I'm sure that flight would have been delayed."