John Oliver wrote:
There are niche airlines that cater to people with "special needs". You
could choose to fly an airline with bigger seats, more space, etc. You
don't. Why not? Because it "costs too much". That boils down to, it
isn't worth it to you.
They don't go where I need to go reliably enough, generally.
I would indeed be willing to pay more. I quite often bought first class
tickets on United and American--until they started canceling my flights
when they weren't full enough.
Uh, no. You promised to get me there by time X. I understand that
weather, repairs, etc. all may change that, but I still expect you to
get me there within some useful time window around time X. If you do
not, I will not fly your airline again. Southwest has *never*
voluntarily canceled a flight on me (even when there were only 4 people
on the plane--that route didn't last long though) and often worked very
hard to reroute me around those that were canceled by weather.
So, I shove myself into tight Southwest seats instead of paying far more
for comfortable ones on American, United, etc. Maybe American and
United have changed. I have no desire to test it, however.
Everybody has some characteristic that is unprofitable for the
corporatocracy. Be very careful about providing the power to
discriminate based upon it.
I am far more afraid of a society that commands me that
I must provide an equal service to everyone, regardless of the costs
borne by me, than I am of a society where I might be expected to pay
more when I want more of a good or service.
One of the major problems with your argument is whether the free market
is at work with airlines. It is not. They hold a privileged monopoly
due to the particulars of airspace navigation, FAA licensing, and
airport allocation.
If you hold a public monopoly, you have to have some level of equal
access. That's just how it goes.
If the free market were allowed to work, all the incumbent airlines
would be out of business almost immediately. I know that I *pay* to fly
out of an airport that didn't have all the useless security theatre.
-a
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