Slightly sunburned from his vacation on Molokai, the Las Vegas resident continued to march through his life exactly the way he wanted.

"I'm not going to let anybody stop me from doing what I gotta do," he said of his decision to fly on the one-year anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. "If everybody stayed home, it would hurt the economy. They've already hurt us enough."

Among the few people at the airport this morning, the dominant theme was resilience. Though scheduling sometimes played a role, travelers generally said they were determined to exercise their fundamental rights as Americans, making decisions and doing what they wanted without trepidation.

"We're just going to go ahead and live our lives," said Peter Rueda, who was returning to Los Angeles with his companion, Hortencia Orozco. "If (a terrorist attack is) going to happen, it's going to happen."

Mornings are usually quiet at the airport. But today the Hawaiian music seemed louder, the baggage turnstiles more still and the sidewalks emptier.

One United Airlines ticket agent estimated that the nearly nonexistent lines represented about 50 percent of the usual crowds at that time of day.

Indeed, passengers arriving at airports across the country said there were many empty seats, with some flights only half full.

Carriers eliminated flights after the attacks in which hijackers commandeered and crashed four planes. And airlines cut more fights week because of a drop in travel demand for the anniversary week. Carriers have lost at least $9.7 billion since Sept. 11.

Amid sagging travel demand by consumers still jittery about flying, airlines cut their domestic flight schedules by 13 percent today compared with the previous Wednesday, according to OAG Worldwide, a company that provides flight information.

The cuts also have affected the Islands. Hawaiian Airlines has said it cut three of its usual 14 daily round-trip Mainland-Hawai'i flights today. Aloha Airlines said it planned to operate all of its regularly scheduled flights, but Continental Airlines cut one of its two round-trip flights from Houston to Honolulu because of reduced demand.

That didn't stop Rachel and David Walker, who were spending their honeymoon in Hawai'i and traveling to a neighbor island before returning home to St. Louis, Missouri.

"I think today would be the safest day to travel," David Walker said of the increased security at the nation's airports. "We're doing what we're doing. We're not letting anything stop us."

Others let practical reasons dictate their travel plans.

"I'll have more room on the plane because there will be fewer people flying," said San Antonio resident Susan Mooberry, who also mentioned the comfort she felt with the increased security.

Flying today was not the first choice for Amy and Dan Callahan, returning to Okinawa with their two sons, ages 4 and 7. Rather, it was the only flight available for the next five days.

But going to Japan, where Callahan serves in the Air Force, rather than to the U.S. Mainland, consoled them.

And they possessed the same determination that other travelers displayed in the airport today.