Jumping off Amanda's post about the horrible way airlines treat their customers, I can't remember the last time I flew on a plane. My family used to fly at least twice a year to visit family; now we drive. It's simply more comfortable to drive 950 miles one way than it is to go through the pointless "security" circus and then get abused by a poorly-run corporation for several hours, only to arrive in El Paso, 100 miles away from my actual destination.
When I went to Netroots, 850 miles away, I drove again even though I went by myself - even though driving became more expensive than flying after adding in the hotel stay on the way there (I couldn't leave early in the morning) and the extra meals I purchased on the road.
This rational actor in the market has decided that his comfort and dignity are worth quite a bit of money.
Within 5 years or so, once we figure our son is old enough to get something out of the experience, my family will start taking trips outside the US at least once a year. When I book the flights, I will do everything in my power to get on a foreign carrier as soon as I possibly can - Chicago, Dallas, wherever I can hop on one I will. I will never fly an American-flag carrier outside the US again, a policy I started after one trip to and from Korea, and which I followed when I lived in Korea and we flew back and forth a couple of times a year.
American-flag airlines, with the possible exception of Southwest, are poorly-managed, failed corporations that continue to exist only because they receive constant and massive bailouts from American taxpayers. I may only be one person responsible for the booking habits of four people total, but I will continue to do my best to deny these failed companies my business and encourage others to do the same.
Capitalism, at least in the form we're currently experiencing, is a failed experiment. Not only does it not produce optimal outcomes in every situation, it is very close to producing, as a matter of design, suboptimal outcomes in every situation. It's time to reintroduce the heavy hand of regulation in every market, every industry. I'm tired of seeing crooks dressed in Brooks Brothers suits given free reign rein, dammit, to steal from me.
