Air Travel in the U.S., From Semi-Luxury to Discomfort and Misery 

Please bear with me while I reminisce back to the time when I was a naïve 21-year-old and began what I believed would be a long career. After attending the charade which was “Weaver Airline School” in Kansas City, Missouri, I was hired by Bonanza Airlines in 1967 to work at LAX.

Bonanza was a small airline, serving just four western states. Our most lucrative and popular destination was Las Vegas. I loved my job until the mergers began and with time additional changes began the demise of the entire airline industry.

The biggest changes happened in the early 1970s.

First, after a number of “skyjackings” for profit, the airlines and the Department of Transportation began taking airport security seriously. I was working the departure or “gate” area. I arrived at work one morning to see 10-foot walls preventing passengers from accessing the gates without having their carry-on bags hand searched. Metal detectors had been installed on the doors leading out to the aircraft. Air Marshalls were available by phone whenever needed. It was very efficient and cost-effective. On that first day, only minor delays were experienced and no one was inconvenienced unless we gate agents “profiled” possible skyjackers.

The second change is the reason why airlines are the least efficient and unprofitable businesses in America today. Every time our nation faces a financial crisis, taxpayer money has been used to bail them out of financial ruin, including 9/11 and the Covid-19 pandemic.

In 1978 President Jimmy Carter signed a bill deregulating the entire industry. In the very beginning, air travel became more expensive. Fares were increased, baggage charges became common, and amenities during flights slowly disappeared.

This led to the disaster airline travel has become today. Another huge mistake made by an incompetent and corrupt government allowed the airlines to merge into what they are today. The limited competition resulted in increased fares, fewer flights to major destinations, excessive baggage charges and restrictions, and reducing the size of seating making planes similar to “cattle cars.”

This week, like every other holiday weekend, flights are suddenly canceled causing serious inconvenience for the traveling public, and little compensation is given to disgruntled passengers.

I and my bride will never fly again. The industry, which was once a joy to those of us who worked for the airlines and the passengers we served, is now a miserable and uncomfortable necessity for most. Only first-class, which is unaffordable for 99 percent of all Americans is tolerable.

Together, our government and the incompetent operators of today’s airlines have ruined an entire industry. For example, during the pandemic, the airlines offered early retirement and other incentives which resulted in a situation today where an insufficient number of pilots, flight attendants, and ground personnel are available to allow the airlines to function. I have no doubt that government will once again save these failed corporations from financial ruin.

Our government is complicit with a growing number of failures. A similar situation happened with the FAA. There is an extreme shortage of qualified air traffic control employees.

I remember what customer service meant in the late 1960s and 1970s, and it is non-existent today.

Op-ed by James Turnage, Novelist

Sources:

Mother Jones: Complaining About Air Travel Is a No-Brainer for Democrats
Vox: Why flying in America keeps getting more miserable, explained

Top and Featured Image Courtesy of Max Benidze‘s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
Inset Image Courtesy of Raul Pacheco-Vega‘s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License