Hi Geo,
As for DOT, I agree, the new US Move Up policy (or 99% of airline policies) are not violations of DOT regulations, but I think consumers can file DOT compalints about any perceived "service issue." There was some discussion earlier about US removing DOT complaints from the database through some process, but I'm not sure what the criteria is for a removal.
As a point of discussion under DOT procedures, a consumer could also file a complaint say because airlines no longer serve hot meals in coach, and my understanding is that said complaint would get tagged against the airline in the monthly ranking under some sort of general category? In other words, I don't think DOT adjudicates complaints against regulations in order to make the complaint "count," in terms of the rank of each airlines monthly report metric?
I don't think DOT would take action on these types of complaints, but I do think it could ding an airlines monthly metric?
http://airconsumer.ost.dot.gov
I can write a letter to US, but 1 letter I'm sure will be ignored.
And also as I was getting too, I think we are all really worse off now than say in 1995 or even year 2000. I feel like I'm paying about the same for air travel (I know there may be a slight inflation adjustment) and I'm getting less value now than what I used to get.
I wasn't around flying, but I suspect people "had it better" say in the 1980's and/or before deregulation. I know I feel like I was better off," in either 1995 or 2000.
I know the low end fares, I agree those are much lower now, but also I don't think the airline gouged for business or first class to the extent they do now.
Its also interesting while not related to this issue, EU regulators seem much more embolden to tackle consumer issues, and not just leave things to be resolved by "market forces."
I haven't found that the market really resolves these kinds of problems on its own eg quasi contracts.