Let the train take the strain

THE poor travel by bus—or, rather, they used to. If you didn't mind arriving in Peoria, Illinois, in the middle of the night at some crime-ridden downtown terminal, there was no cheaper way of criss-crossing America. Today, the poor travel by air. With low-cost airlines multiplying like rabbits, the options and the prices are remarkable. Thanks to deregulation, you can fly from London to hundreds of destinations—ranging from Cannes, Carcassonne and Cork to Palermo, Perpignan and Pisa—at prices un-imagined a decade or so ago. Never mind the discomfort or being treated like cattle, or the fact that you usually end up at some unheard-of airport miles away from where you want to be. Flying is so cheap that if you book early and travel at an unpopular time, you can pay as little as $40 for your seat.