Flashback to the start of the decade, in the months before 9/11. I lived in Washington DC's Dupont Circle neighbourhood those days, a 15-minute cab ride to the Reagan National Airport which mostly serves domestic travel. There were times I would leave home half an hour before a flight (except during rush hour), cocksure that I'd not only be able to hail a cab in the street below (Massachusetts Avenue), but make the flight with a few minutes to spare. It was the start of the e-era and airlines had dispensed with ticketing and even boarding passes. You could show your driver's license and board the plane as long as you were ticketed in their system. 

The good ole days ...