Ah, flying.
Isn’t it wonderful that the skies are the playground of travelers everywhere?
Around the world, people are flying in the lap of luxury, sipping wine thousands of feet
above the ground in comfortable reclining seats.
Meanwhile, you’re in a winding security line at a crowded airport, hoping that you’ll
get through in time for your flight - assuming it doesn’t get canceled!
Let’s be honest, flying kind of sucks in the United States and it only seems to be
getting worse - but why?
It didn’t always used to be this way.
During the early days of commercial flights during the 1950s, flying was a luxury experience.
Seats were roomy and comfortable, airline food was hot and delicious, and being a flight
attendant was one of the most coveted jobs in the world.
Of course, there was one big drawback to this - flying was expensive.
So expensive, in fact, that it was largely just a luxury experience for the rich.
Then it got cheaper, it got more efficient, and it got safer.
But it didn’t get more enjoyable.
So what caused the breakdown in the flying experience?
Part of it was simply that the experience turned from an elite flying experience to
the equivalent of sky buses.
Today, thousands of flights come in and out of the most popular American airports each
day, meaning it has to be a well-oiled machine.
And that demand means airlines still have to work to get everyone moving at a reasonable
price.
So the airplanes get more crowded, the seats get smaller, and the luxury meals are replaced
with simple boxed meals - if you’re lucky.
More often, you’ll only get a small bag of pretzels and a half-can of soda!
But a lot of elements of the flying experience have also changed - and not for the better.
It’s one of the most iconic scenes in romantic comedies - the male lead has realized he was
wrong to let the woman he loves go, but she’s already on her way to Paris!
He only has minutes to get to the airplane gate, so he dashes out of the taxi and leaps
past the security line to get to her before it’s too late!
Maybe if the gate’s already closed, he runs out of the door and charges onto the tarmac,
flagging down the plane!
One way or another, he gets her attention, proposes, and everyone around applauds!
It’s a Hollywood happy ending!
Except today, it would end very differently.
Today, our romantic hero would be more likely to wind up pinned by a dozen guards and on
a short trip to the nearest federal interrogation facility.
Security has been ramped up a lot at airports and on planes, primarily due to a string of
hijackings, terror attacks, and other incidents on planes.
Back as late as the 1990s, people have memories of casual airport security.
People used to be able to sneak onto planes almost as easily as they could trains or buses
- with some people even stowing away in cargo in the past!
But now that’s definitely a thing of the past - and it’s been replaced with some
seriously unpleasant parts of flying.
And the “fun” starts long before you board the plane.
What’s the most stressful part of flying these days?
For a lot of people, it’s getting there!
Airlines usually recommend getting to the airport up to two hours before your flight
so you can get through security and check in - and make sure everything you’re carrying
can go on the plane.
There have been a lot of changes in security practices since 2001, and often the government
is reactive once they discover a new threat.
When Richard Reid tried to set off plastic explosives in his shoes in late 2001, he was
stopped - and twenty-one years later everyone still has to take off their shoes at US airports!
And it doesn’t stop there - due to the threat of plastic explosives, people can only bring
liquids through airport security if they’re under 3.4 ounces.
This extends to gels, creams, and pastes - which not only means you’ll have to throw out
your water bottle and buy the $5 water at the airport kiosk post-security, but Nana
might not be able to bring her homemade jams home to give to the grandkids.
And that’s just the beginning of the problem.
Once you get through airport security and board the airplane, it should be smooth sailing
- right?
Not so much.
Nowadays it seems like every single element of the flying experience is pay-to-play.
This includes bringing on checked bags, getting anything serious to eat on a longer flight,
or even selecting your own seat!
Those who don’t pony up can find themselves scattered around the plane in middle seats
far away from the rest of their party - and this has even extended to parents and their
kids.
Better give the airline their bonus fee if you don’t want your two-year-old sitting
next to that guy in the “Official Beer Inspector” T-shirt for a six-hour flight, mom!
And that, of course, is assuming you manage to get on the flight at all.
It’s one of the biggest plagues of flying today - cancellations and overbookings.
Flights can be canceled for many reasons, including mechanical and weather issues.
And when one flight gets canceled, the passengers have to be rebooked - which means other flights
wind up overbooked!
This can mean scrambling to fit people in stray seats - or even bumping people from
flights they already booked.
But it’s not always unforeseen circumstances that lead to flights being overbooked.
Sometimes it’s by design.
In one of the top examples of “Surely this is illegal…right?”, airlines regularly
overbook flights with more people than can actually fit on the plane.
So what’s the plan?
They assume that some people simply won’t show up, leading to the plane actually being
full.
But it happens regularly that everyone DOES show up, which then turns the flight into
an airport game of Lord of the Flies.
First, the airline offers people money or upgrades to take a later flight, but if no
one takes the bait, they will start kicking people off the flight they paid for!
This is usually done by denying them boarding, but there have been incidents of people pulled
off flights due to overbooking while they were already sitting on the plane because
someone else was deemed to be a higher priority!
Flying has been a pain in the United States for a while - but in 2022, it got a whole
lot worse.
A blast of cold weather circling the country around Christmas derailed an already chaotic
flying season, but no one was prepared for what happened next.
There were thousands of cancellations due to weather, as sub-zero temperatures are not
easy to fly in, but eventually all the airlines rebounded - besides one.
Southwest Airlines, a mid-priced carrier responsible for many flights in the western United States,
came back from the weather delays - and proceeded to completely melt down.
What followed was one of the largest customer service breakdowns in airline history.
The delays started on December 21st, as countless flights were canceled due to weather.
But then the delays continued through the Christmas holiday - leaving tens of thousands
of people stranded at airports.
The culprits were understaffing and an outdated employee scheduling system, with many employees
not even being able to find out where or when they were supposed to work.
The day after Christmas, the airline pre-emptively canceled thousands of flights and halted ticket
sales - and warned people who were stranded that they might not be able to get them on
a flight for a week!
So why weren’t people rebooked on other airlines?
Because Southwest wasn’t part of a reciprocity agreement that makes it easier to rebook people
from canceled flights.
So it was a disaster - but it may not all be Southwest’s fault.
Many of the problems facing the company are widespread, and in some ways the industry
has still never recovered from the massive shutdowns caused by Covid-19.
Air traffic massively decreased during the pandemic, with people not wanting to be stuffed
in a flying tube with dozens of other people unless they absolutely had to.
With leisure travel shut down, many people working in the industry started to rethink
their career paths, and the airlines have found it difficult to keep everything from
the security personnel to the pilots fully staffed.
Prices have gone up, heavily due to inflation, and it seems like everything about the flying
experience is just getting more and more miserable.
But the thing is, it doesn’t have to be this way.
Just about any airline you fly in the United States, you’ll experience the same problems.
They all fly through the same airports, and unless you upgrade, you’ll likely experience
the same level of customer service on board.
That is, unless you fly one of the budget airlines like Spirit or Frontier, where things
get much worse!
But you might have a completely different experience if you fly foreign - because most
people report that foreign airlines deliver a much better experience in just about every
area, for a roughly equivalent price!
So why is the US so bad at flying?
For those who fly transcontinental, they’ll usually be served full meals and have slightly
more room even in standard classes.
Of course, given that you’ll be spending a good eight hours or more to travel to Europe
in the air, it makes sense - those conditions in economy on a standard flight in the United
States are barely bearable even for three hours.
But for a good example of the difference in flight quality for foreign airlines, you just
have to look north.
O, Canada - why are your airplane rides so much better than the United States’?
It’s not just that old fashioned Canadian niceness.
Air Canada is designed as an international airline, and makes frequent flights both between
the US and Canada and across the vast country.
Many of its flights are longer than the average, so it has many of the amenities of international
flights including better food available for purchase.
And yes, this might mean you’re spending the flight next to a guy who can’t get enough
of the Chicken Bacon Ranch sandwiches on the in-flight menu - but it also means you won’t
be going hungry or getting crushed up against him!
And that’s just the start.
Many foreign airlines still look like the luxury experience that flying was back at
the dawn of the aviation age.
All Nippon Airways, the Japanese airline known for its five-star service, is famous for a
meal program that looks more like something out of an elite Japanese restaurant.
Meanwhile, on German airline Lufthansa, you’ll be dining on hearty continental treats and
lighter fare as you sail above Europe.
Your fare will differ depending on which class you’re flying in, as well as on how long
your flight is, but it’s likely to be a memorable meal in a good way.
It all sounds great, and a throwback to better days of flying - so why are Americans on the
outside looking in?
A big part of it is a series of laws designed to lock down the US airlines and keep them
from falling under foreign control.
Part of it is security concerns, but other elements come from good old-fashioned protectionism
- and that’s left US flyers stuck in a quagmire of our own making.
And the roots of these laws go back quite a bit.
It all dates back to 1958, when President Eisenhower signed the first major law creating
a federal regulatory agency covering the airlines - the Federal Aviation Act.
This created the Federal Aviation Administration, and let them oversee safety in both civilian
and military aircraft.
This was a good step that would eventually lead to flying being as safe as it is today.
But it also came with some side effects.
The act prohibits foreigners from owning more than 25% of a US airline, which has frozen
out many foreign investors - including celebrity billionaire Richard Branson, whose British
airlines are well-known.
Additionally, the Fly America Act passed later requires all travel funded by the US federal
government to be conducted on US airlines, unless the US has a pre-existing agreement
with the country like it does with the European Union.
This meant that once Great Britain left the EU, it was thrown out of the agreement!
So long, British Airways.
But that might not be the main reason that you’re not flying in style.
Foreign airlines are prohibited from flying domestic routes in the United States, and
that locks out many of the best airlines from the biggest market in the world.
If they had the choice, there’s no doubt that Emirates Air, Lufthansa, or others could
make a killing offering their style of flying to customers who were able to pay up.
But the government’s laws are designed to protect US businesses, and while international
airlines do operate extensively in the US, they’re limited to the small percentage
of flights headed abroad.
But it’s all in the name of protecting American industry, right?
Not quite - because competition is dwindling, and fast.
Anyone here remember riding Continental Airlines as a kid?
How about Pan Am, for the grandmas and grandpas out there?
Those are long gone - and so are many other airlines, all folded into massive mergers.
Right now, there are only three old-school legacy airlines left - United, American Airlines,
and Delta.
Combined with newer mid-priced carrier Southwest, they each transport over a hundred million
people a year on flights - usually more than five times the number that any other US Airline
carries.
It might not be a monopoly, because they’re competing with each other, but they’ve largely
conquered the competition.
And that means they have very little reason to cater to the customer.
Most people don’t book a flight because they want to - they book it because they have
to.
Business travelers and people moving cross-country usually don’t have much of a choice in how
they travel.
Leisure travelers have more options - but any of the other options will take a much
bigger chunk out of your vacation time.
Flying from New York to Orlando, one of the most popular vacation routes, takes a little
over three hours on most airlines if everything goes well.
Taking an Amtrak train, the next fastest route, will usually take around 24 hours if there
are no interruptions.
Meanwhile, a Greyhound bus route - the budget options - will take around a day and a half
with an included transfer!
Which is why many people are asking - is it time for a change?
Right now, when people browse for the right flight, they’re usually just looking at
prices.
They may also look at on-time percentage and other practical factors, but they’re probably
not looking at amenities - because there are few of them left.
All the major airlines have crammed people in as tight as they can fit, they’re all
charging for added comfort, and few of them are offering meals except on longer flights
now.
Delta has the best reputation when it comes to food, but even that is a far cry from the
competition abroad.
So it’s no wonder that the airlines don’t want the added competition.
But what about the people?
People rarely have anything good to say about the flying experience anymore, but after the
utter collapse of the system over the holidays, they were angrier than ever.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg faced many calls for his resignation - even though
experts said there was little he could have done to avoid the crisis Southwest Airlines
caused - and the beleaguered airline reported massive stock losses in the weeks after the
crisis.
The government isn’t usually responsive to customer service complaints - but this
time might be different.
So what would it look like if the market actually opened up?
Three airlines would immediately be the biggest beneficiaries of an open US airline market
- Air Canada, along with Volaris and Aeromexico, the top two Mexican airlines.
All three rank in the top twelve airlines in the United States, thanks to how many short-haul
flights across North America they conduct.
While Volaris is a low-cost airline along with Interjet and VivaAerobus for the country,
Aeromexico is Mexico’s flag-carrier airline.
Both Air Canada and Aeromexico could compete in regional markets - the southwest for Aeromexico,
and both the Northwest and Northeast for Air Canada.
The question is, would anyone else dare to enter the market?
Many of the largest airlines in the world are unlikely to make their entry into the
US domestic market if they were allowed.
Three of the top five airlines in the world are all owned by China, and the heavy government
involvement makes it likely that even if foreign airlines were allowed, security risks would
put the kibosh on any deal.
Relations between the US and the People’s Republic of China are only getting chillier,
and right now Chinese airlines only serve two destinations in the US for direct flights
to China.
And in 8th place worldwide is RyanAir, the ultra-low-cost Irish carrier known primarily
for ferrying people from Dublin to London and back.
The US has no shortage of budget airlines, and it’s unlikely that RyanAir would want
to bother coming across the Atlantic to compete.
So it’s likely that the Big Four will continue to dominate, with an extra presence for Mexico
and China - but it’s not all about being the biggest.
In recent years, there has been a lot of nostalgia for the old days of flying, with people looking
at those pictures of luxury fliers on Pan Am and going “Why did we ever give that
up?”.
And the answer is - it probably wouldn’t be you flying that route, it would be celebrities
and millionaires.
But that doesn’t mean that there isn’t a market for those who want their trip above
the clouds to be less of a shuttle and more of an airborne retreat - and that would be
a big opening for companies like Lufthansa and Emirates to create their own market.
Right now, the only option for those who want a more luxurious experience but aren’t private-jet
rich is to fly first class or business class - but while those are more comfortable, the
amenities are still sort of limited on shorter flights.
But foreign airlines could upend that.
If word starts getting around about the better service from foreign airlines, traffic will
slowly start to drift to them.
And that means the worst thing possible to a major company - slightly declining profits.
The market demands constant growth, and cutting costs isn’t always possible when dealing
with a complex service like flights.
So the only option to make up the shortfall may be to improve service - which could end
the race to the bottom that the big four airlines have been engaged in for more than a decade.
But not everyone would be happy with this.
The biggest opponents would be the domestic airlines, of course, which don’t want anyone
horning in on their domination of one of the world’s biggest markets.
The unions are also fiercely opposed, as they believe this would endanger American jobs
as the global airlines bring in their own crews.
And members of the government want to appear pro-American by keeping the competition out
- pointing out that some of these companies might be subsidized by their governments and
be able to undercut US prices.
This is all true - but the benefits to the US flyer might outstrip that.
So is this likely to happen anytime soon?
It might not happen across the board, but there is some movement - the EU has been pushing
for the US to open its skies as part of a general increase in trade between the two.
As problems with US airlines mount, the public demand for change will only get bigger.
Then all it would take is for the government to sit down, come up with a plan that people
can agree on, and put it into effect efficiently.
So yeah, probably better to plan on dealing with the joys of the current airport routine
for a bit longer.
Want to know more about just how good it could be?
Check out “What Does the Most Expensive Airplane First Class Actually Look Like”,
or watch “How Teen Mailed Himself From Australia to Britain” for a look at just how lax airport
security used to be!