Acidus wrote:

The Obama administration took aim Monday at tarmac horror stories, ordering airlines to let passengers stuck in stranded airplanes to disembark after three hours.

With its new regulations, the Transportation Department sent an unequivocal message on the eve of the busy holiday travel season: Don't hold travelers hostage to delayed flights.

Under the new regulations, airlines operating domestic flights will be able only to keep passengers on board for three hours before they must be allowed to disembark a delayed flight. The regulation provides exceptions only for safety or security or if air traffic control advises the pilot in command that returning to the terminal would disrupt airport operations.

This is another example where the mantra of "Let the market regulate itself" utterly fails. What are you going to do? Not fly on American? If its business travel you might not have that choice at all. Few competitors, enormous barriers of entry (both capital as well as access to new markets/airport gates) = shitty giants.

I'm beginning to see a pattern. The farther a market is from a perfect market the more companies can abuse the consumer. In fact, most abuse seems to happen in industries where the interests of the shareholders are orthogonal to the interests of the consumer: Transportation. Energy. Health Care.

This behavior is a consequence of a search-oriented airline market: only the base ticket price matters. In the face of rising energy costs, in a market which is quite likely to kill one or two of the majors, airlines cut all other aspects of their service to the point that they imprison their customers.

I dunno if that has a broader... point. But - can a more efficient market actually encourage this kind of behavior? It seems to be.

Acidus wrote:

The Obama administration took aim Monday at tarmac horror stories, ordering airlines to let passengers stuck in stranded airplanes to disembark after three hours.

Frankly, I wonder why it is no one's bothered to claim a kidnapping charge against an airline for keeping them stuck on a plane for hours on end, without being allowed to just say "to hell with it" and leave. I know if I had been one of the poor people who sat on the tarmac for more than eight hours recently I'd have flipped my phone back on and made that call at about hour four.

Dagmar wrote:

Acidus wrote:

The Obama administration took aim Monday at tarmac horror stories, ordering airlines to let passengers stuck in stranded airplanes to disembark after three hours.

Frankly, I wonder why it is no one's bothered to claim a kidnapping charge against an airline for keeping them stuck on a plane for hours on end, without being allowed to just say "to hell with it" and leave. I know if I had been one of the poor people who sat on the tarmac for more than eight hours recently I'd have flipped my phone back on and made that call at about hour four.

On flyertalk, people claimed to have insisted on leaving the plane or they would have a 'medical emergency' and they turned the plane around and took it to a gate.

Acidus wrote:
This is another example where the mantra of "Let the market regulate itself" utterly fails.

Is air travel really a free market? If you regulate almost everything about an industry can you call it free? Where is the competition? I can't buy a Cessna tomorrow and start charging for ride to Charlotte. The largest expense someone has now for starting an airline isn't the plane or the fuel its for the lawyers to fill out every form the government requires. And lets not forget the cost of insuring ongoing compliance with TSA and FAA regulations.

This is another example where the mantra of "Lets regulate an industry till it can barely function then blame it on the failure of the free market" utterly gets chanted like a hippie mating call at a pro peace bonfire.