Originally Posted by
porciuscato
This should help clear the fog:
https://www.economist.com/leaders/20...rican-aviation
The bottom line is that Govt. legislation prevents 1) Foreign competition 2) Foreign ownership of U.S. airlines 3) The ability of US citizens to sue airlines for contract breaches. Local govts like San Francisco's have compounded the problem by allowing politically preferred airlines to monopolize gates and landing slots. As a result, US airlines provide passengers with the worst value proposition in the world (with FF programs being part of that proposition).
Remember how crappy American cars used to be back in the 70s? When foreign competition was allowed in, the US mfgrs really upped their game. Now you can buy some really great American cars. Let's get that dynamic working on the airline industry.
I'm currently driving one of those "crappy" cars (a '70 Eldorado). It is easily the most fun car I've ever driven. US cars were actually quite good (cheap paneling aside) until a volley of regulations and circumstances came crashing in that overwhelmed the automakers' ability to adapt.
I wouldn't be opposed to some case-by-case competition allowances, but I'm wary that we'll get Ryanair and its ilk rather than, say, BA running LAX-JFK-LHR tag flights.