US airlines are pushing to remove protections for passengers and add more fees

i’m hard-pressed to think of an industry whose financial principles i’m more skeptical of than the airline industry. post-9/11 the industry cratered and they said they needed to add fees to keep from going bankrupt. united created ted, their own low-cost no-frills carrier which was actually decent. once air travel recovered, they (airlines, in general) kept the fees and have been turning record profits ever since. united dumped ted so that they could return to focus on squeezing customers there.

i love travel but i hate dealing with airlines. their executives rank up there with health insurance as some of my least favorite personalities.

and one last thing, other than (eventually) telecom way back in the 80s, has there ever been an industry whose deregulation has been a net win for consumers? i’m genuinely curious and not asking sarcastically

Looking at the numbers, for example:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Airlines#Business_trend...

United had their highest revenue in 2024, and their profit margin was... 5.5%. Would reducing your ticket price by 5.5% make any difference?

also, don’t forget (well known fact) that passengers paying for premium economy and business class seats are the most profitable for the airlines - by far. Aside from profits from credit card rewards programs.

so the profit margin on economy tickets is likely even smaller than 5.5%!

I have no doubt that if they could fill the plane with 200 business class travelers they would. But that group simply isn't big enough outside of routes to New York or Shanghai.

The 747 became the queen of the skies because it carried 400 tourists to Málaga, Okinawa and Ft Lauderdale.