Congress Can Improve Americans’ Flying Experiences
Congress is investigating the setbacks that currently riddle the United States’ airline industry. This isn’t a new problem; it’s an ongoing one — one that I followed closely when I served on the House Infrastructure and Transportation Committee.
My colleagues and I proposed many pro-consumer reforms to increase airline competition, reduce costs, and end the common pattern of negative airport externalities faced by the country’s flyers. Some of them were implemented; some were not. Nevertheless, many of our reform solutions still possess merit today, and I hope that the current Members of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee will consider them during their present reform talks.
My colleagues and I supported legislation to create a passenger Bill of Rights — one that would impose minimum acceptable standards that the airlines must meet with respect to comfort, timeliness, and reliability or else face civil punishments and financial sanctions. Industry officials told us that legislation was not needed, but just a few years later, it is clear they were wrong.
Things haven’t gotten better for airline customers; they have gotten worse. Passengers are being ‘nickeled and dimed’ with fees — for baggage, seats, and flight changes, even if one uses frequent flyer miles. Flight delays, as we saw this past Christmas with the Southwest debacle, are as prevalent as ever. Fortunately, Congress began reconsidering implementing a passenger Bill of Rights just weeks ago, so perhaps consumers will finally receive the flight quality and assurances they have needed for decades.
That said, the floor implemented by a Bill of Rights should represent the bare minimum standards that consumers should receive when flying. The more competition the airline industry has, the less important this floor will become. Which brings us to perhaps the most important action that the federal government can take to protect airline consumers’ interests. That’s scrutinizing airline mergers and mandating more industry competition.
In the last ten years, the industry has consolidated further, giving consumers less choices and less competition than ever before.
Today, four airlines control almost 80 percent of the industry. On the net, these airlines don’t care about improving their customers’ experiences.
Of course, there are exceptions. For example, the courts overruling the Department of Justice to allow JetBlue — which the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has already demonstrated is a cost suppressor, not an increaser — to acquire Spirit Airlines will help in limiting the Big Four airlines’ marketplace dominance, hence improving the state of the industry overall. In fact, the data shows that JetBlue’s presence on nonstop routes has decreased legacy fares by an impressive 16 percent.
However, by and large, mergers — which typically involve the Big Four — present significant problems for airline industry consumers.
For example, when U.S. Airways proposed merging with United in 2013, the Government Accountability Office found that it would reduce competition in nearly 300 markets, leaving nearly 50 markets with just one airline, and eliminating consumer choice for over 4 million Americans. That represented a raw deal, not a good deal, for the American people, and yet the Department of Justice still allowed it to go through. The results were predictable enough.
According to a 2019 analysis from the University of Alabama, “where potential competition was eliminated, the results [were] consistent with significant price increases and output reductions.
Why does the government keep jetting down the same anti-competitive path?
For three decades, the airline industry has fought congressional efforts to increase accountability and competition. It’s long past due for more members to see through their false promises and assurances and get serious about addressing their abuses.
While Congress can’t solve all the airlines’ problems on their own, imposing minimum quality control standards and aggressively defending the competitive marketplace can help restore consumer trust and confidence in the industry following decades of neglect and abuse.
Consumers are tired of both the airlines and the federal government’s delays. The American people can’t rely on the former, but they can on the latter. It’s time for Washington to move forward.
Ryan Costello is a former member of Congress who served on the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.
