I don't think VX's ownership is a scam job (though Alaska has every right to ask that rules be enforced, just like VX had every right to appeal DOT decisons, etc.), but I also think the foreign ownership rules for airlines are dumb, given that most US airlines are horribly run and could use competition for domestic routes, and you could probably figure out a way to have foreign ownership be compatible with needing airplanes for troop transport in dire extremis (which is the only halfway reasonable excuse I've heard against foreign ownership), such as by using angary if you HAD to transport troops and a foreign airline was being stubborn about helping out (you could also make it a condition of operating in the US).