Originally Posted by
LovePrunes
oh great...more government regulation of private industry. Because we all know how well more of THAT usually turns out.
do you favor government passing laws on minimum space between seats, too?
let the free market decide.
The US airline passenger service market is anything but a highly-competitive free market. And the more concentrated market-power a firm or oligopoly has, the greater the consumer benefit that may arise from regulation.
Isn't there already de facto regulation in place that results in there being a required minimum allowed space between seats, something to do with the need to evacuate planes in an emergency? Or do you prefer to see the passenger death counts increase in an emergency due to retarded evacuation rates due to overly-tight seating arrangements and "let the free market decide"?
If AA manages to largely end the option to change refundable tickets for relatively reasonable change fees, then it is yet another sign that the market for AA's services isn't as competitive as it should be for consumers and that maybe some regulation is not entirely uncalled for.
