Survey says Americans don't mind holiday travel delays

One in 10 American adults will be flying somewhere for the Christmas and New Year's holidays, and nearly all of them expect delays because of increased security.

But they say almost unanimously that those delays are worth it.

11 per cent of people appraoched in a poll conducted by ABCNEWS and the Washington Post say they'll be flying during the holidays (add in spouses and kids and that's tens of millions of holiday fliers).

Nine in 10 of them expect to encounter security-related delays. But it's a tradeoff just about everyone accepts: Among those who expect delays, 95 per cent say they're worth it.

A survey taken days after the September 11 attacks also found near unanimity among all Americans — 98 per cent — supporting heightened security even at the cost of "long delays in air travel."

This new poll shows that the delays-for-safety exchange is just as broadly accepted three months later among actual fliers.

The survey was conducted before the arrest of the man on Sunday (NZT) accused of having an explosive device in his shoes on an American Airlines flight from Paris to Miami.