The Nov. 13 news article “Shuttles under fire at Dulles,” about the crash of a Dulles Airport transport vehicle that injured 18 people, repeatedly used the term “mobile lounge.”
That is of course the term that the airport prefers; it elicits an image of travelers relaxing after their flights on swanky furniture, perhaps sipping cocktails from the lounge’s bar to ambient jazz.
In reality, the travelers are mostly standing, crowded toward the end that they think will dock, constantly bracing their feet as the vehicle lurches toward the terminal. I despise this relic of the ’60s that is no longer used by any other major airport.
“Mobile lounge” is not accurate. I don’t expect The Post to refer to it as a “mobile torture chamber,” but “transport vehicle” would be fine.
Patrick Butler, Washington
In the 1960s, the “people mover” shuttles at Dulles were given the name “mobile lounge” because they were intended as a comfortable place in which passengers would leisurely travel from the main building (there were no auxiliary terminals at that time) directly to the plane, and going to the plane would be just like walking from a parlor in your home into another room. Today, the lounges rarely travel directly to the plane, rather to an auxiliary terminal, with passengers crowded as if on an urban subway, shoulder to shoulder and grasping at metal poles.
Edward Tabor, Bethesda
I recently tried to navigate Dulles International Airport with a broken ankle and a cane, and I found the people movers were not the problem – at least they offered me a seat and a ride to get me closer to my destination.
Over the years, I’ve often been tempted to track what the distance is from the front of the terminal to a gate. It seems like miles and miles of concourses without any moving walkways and little available golf cart assistance. At peak travel times, there is sometimes not enough seating at the gates, and the lounges are filled. This didn’t bother me as much when I was younger and fitter, but now traveling through Dulles is a tremendous challenge.
These are certainly, as the Nov. 14 editorial “Dulles people movers cannot go away fast enough” pointed out, not optimum conditions at “the international airport for the capital city of the richest and most powerful country in the history of the world.” In my decades of travel for work, however, I found Dulles to be much better than many other international airports. If Congress and the airlines can find a way to modernize the transit and make the place more user-friendly, Dulles might be able to start drawing the passenger traffic it deserves.
Jan T. McCarthy, Keswick
Moore seeks to counter threat to democracy
The Editorial Board was wrong to attack Maryland’s Democratic governor in the Nov. 9 editorial “Wes Moore’s gerrymandering ploy,” especially because the board claimed in the subheadline of the Aug. 21 online editorial, “The Texas gerrymander freakout,” that Texas’s ploy, explicitly aimed to sway control of the House, was “not a threat to democracy.” President Donald Trump set off this redistricting war to evade accountability from voters. If that’s not a threat to democracy, what is?
On Nov. 4, California voters — including 57 percent of independents — overwhelmingly approved Proposition 50 to neutralize Texas’s gerrymandering. Moore and other Maryland Democrats have also endorsed redistricting to counter red states. Meanwhile, Maryland Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) has dug in his heels, effectively aiding Trump’s plans. A letter from Ferguson to his colleagues contended that redistricting poses a litigation risk, would push more red states to redistrict and stands to dilute Black voter power.
However, with six of Maryland’s eight seats considered safely Democratic, lawmakers can draw more competitive districts that will lower the risk of litigation and increase the chance of favorable decisions from the courts. Also, the fear of more red states redistricting has sailed: Missouri and North Carolina Republicans have redistricted for two additional seats, and Trump is pressuring even more states to follow suit, while Louisiana and Florida are waiting for a Supreme Court decision to redistrict and erase majority-Black congressional districts. Those Republican leaders are intentionally dividing Black communities across the country and ousting Black representatives. They, not Democrats, want to decrease the power of Black voters. And the policies passed by another Republican-controlled House would harm Black Americans nationwide, including in Maryland.
When moral standards apply only to one party, there is less accountability in our elections.
Neera Tanden, Washington
The writer is CEO of the Center for American Progress Action Fund.
The heroes left unhonored this Veterans Day
My now-deceased husband, Ewing H. Miller II, a B-24 pilot, can be seen standing next to the wreath on the far left of the 2019 photo on the Nov. 7 Best Bets page.
I attended this year’s Veterans Day ceremony at the World War II Memorial to honor him and his entire crew lost in February 1945 when their plane was hit near Vienna. This year, there were three World War II veterans, ages 100 to 102, still proudly participating, but missing in action was the U.S. military. For the first time, there was no honor guard, no military band, no active military officers.
Because Ewing’s father was an officer in the Great War, I stopped at the World War I Memorial, where military officers from several allied countries attended, but again, I did not see any U.S. military present.
As Ewing said in his 2018 Veterans Day speech at the World War II Memorial, “whether we were first generation or seventh didn’t matter to us. My generation of World War II felt that we were Americans.”
Why were these Americans not officially recognized by the U.S. military this Veterans Day?
Donna Barnard Ari, Washington
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