Comments on: Broken promises: How airlines have betrayed us http://www.elliott.org/the-travel-critic/broken-promises-how-airlines-have-betrayed-us/ Consumer advocate Christopher Elliott's site. Fri, 10 Feb 2012 05:25:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Jim http://www.elliott.org/the-travel-critic/broken-promises-how-airlines-have-betrayed-us/comment-page-1/#comment-15315 Jim Fri, 31 Oct 2008 15:33:23 +0000 http://www.elliott.org/?p=5286#comment-15315 If there were free and open competition, perhaps deregulation would work. But air travel relies on a severely-limited public infrastructure (airports, ATC, TSA, etc.) to function and, by its very nature, has a high start-up barrier and very limited competition. What is unreasonable is the expectation that deregulation would work well under such conditions. If there were free and open competition, perhaps deregulation would work. But air travel relies on a severely-limited public infrastructure (airports, ATC, TSA, etc.) to function and, by its very nature, has a high start-up barrier and very limited competition.

What is unreasonable is the expectation that deregulation would work well under such conditions.

]]> By: How the Airlines Have Betrayed Us | Flight Wisdom http://www.elliott.org/the-travel-critic/broken-promises-how-airlines-have-betrayed-us/comment-page-1/#comment-15281 How the Airlines Have Betrayed Us | Flight Wisdom Wed, 29 Oct 2008 20:41:44 +0000 http://www.elliott.org/?p=5286#comment-15281 [...] stole the title for this post from Chris Elliott, whom we admire as the champion of fair disclosure and fees, although we admit to disagreeing with [...] [...] stole the title for this post from Chris Elliott, whom we admire as the champion of fair disclosure and fees, although we admit to disagreeing with [...]

]]> By: Yin http://www.elliott.org/the-travel-critic/broken-promises-how-airlines-have-betrayed-us/comment-page-1/#comment-15266 Yin Tue, 28 Oct 2008 18:39:35 +0000 http://www.elliott.org/?p=5286#comment-15266 Bob, did they have customer service back then? $1100 doesn't sound so bad... Bob, did they have customer service back then? $1100 doesn’t sound so bad…

]]> By: Bob http://www.elliott.org/the-travel-critic/broken-promises-how-airlines-have-betrayed-us/comment-page-1/#comment-15234 Bob Mon, 27 Oct 2008 17:06:23 +0000 http://www.elliott.org/?p=5286#comment-15234 Anyone who wants to turn back the clock 30 years to regulated airlines is too young to remember life under the rule of the Civil Aeronautics Board. That's when prices were set at cost+12% based on planes flying half-full. Airlines were prohibited from responding to consumer demand when adding and deleting routes. The whole system was an expensive, inefficient mess. That 70's era $350 fare would be $1100 in today's dollars. Is this really what you want? Anyone who wants to turn back the clock 30 years to regulated airlines is too young to remember life under the rule of the Civil Aeronautics Board.

That’s when prices were set at cost+12% based on planes flying half-full. Airlines were prohibited from responding to consumer demand when adding and deleting routes. The whole system was an expensive, inefficient mess.

That 70′s era $350 fare would be $1100 in today’s dollars. Is this really what you want?

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