Something Needs to Change - A Suggestion

These are all from my Twitter/X feed yesterday morning. What do these have in common?

All of the major airlines in the U.S. are terrible. 

While we often hear the airlines were "deregulated" during the Carter Administration, they really weren't. They were allowed to choose where they fly and a few other things but they are otherwise heavily regulated. For safety, regulation is fine. For everything else, it's bad. 

For example: Suppose a startup airline's customer research said that many businesspeople would pay extra for an airline that allowed three carryons? Might be a great marketing niche. And, suppose they worked with Boeing to create additional safe and secure storage for the extra bags? Great, huh? WRONG!!

The legacy airlines have lobbied the FAA to put two carryons and much more that would snuff out innovation into the law. Innovating in the airline industry is practically impossible. So, all we get is cheaper tickets -- which translate to incredibly bad customer service, even if you pay for a first-class or other premium ticket. 

Braniff Airlines 747 in the 1970's

When you hear that it is cheaper to fly today (adjusted for inflation) than it was in the 1970's, that is garbage. Coach in 1972 had the same leg room and almost the same seat width as today's domestic first-class! When we took our domestic honeymoon flight (coach), we had a choice of three hot meals. We were even given little kits with chapstick, slippers, eye shades, earphones for the movie, etc.! A more proper comparison would be 1973 coach versus today's domestic first-class.  When those jets were retired, they were five across. Guess what? Today -- on an apples to apples basis -- is more expensive! Heck, flying a DC-9 in coach in the 70's was four across in coach. Years of airline mergers -- likely in defiance of anti-trust law -- has destroyed genuine competition. 

DC-9

I give the airlines, the FAA, and the NTSB tremendous credit for preserving safety. But, as we saw so often in 2025, that safety margin may be starting to fray. 

It is past time for the United States to adopt something similar to the European Bill of Rights for airline passengers. When the airlines mess up, passengers get cash on the spot, not some future travel credit which may or may not even be useful. They also provide for genuine meals, hotels, et cetera, for when there are lengthy cancellations. The financial cost to the U.S. airlines would be substantial -- which may be the only way, short of complete regulation, to get them to clean up their act.

Congress?