Airfares are off about 40% since the government deregulated the airline industry more than two decades ago, according to research by the likes of Consumers Union and the National Center for Policy Analysis. The most dramatic drop in prices happened in the last two years. Ticket prices slid by 8.5% in 2001, to an average fare of $131, according to the Air Transport Association. This year, they've plummeted another 12.3%.
So why do we feel so bad?
"There's been such a decline in service," says Matthew Bennett, who publishes a newsletter called Firstclassflyer.com. "It's fallen in tandem with deregulation, but in the last two years, it's really taken a hit. That's why business travelers want to sit in the front of the cabin."
It could also be because until very recently, we didn't benefit from the low fares. Early on, airlines figured out how to charge us up to four times as much for the same seat as a leisure traveler, as I pointed out in a recent column. Only recently have we started to take advantage of the lower prices.
It's an odd feeling, getting what you want but not wanting what you got. The whole idea behind deregulating the aviation industry was to increase competition and to lower airfares. But now that prices are bottoming out, many travelers are concluding that they don't like the result of deregulation. As if we could somehow turn back the clock.
The decline of air travel
Flight attendants today indiscriminately expel us from flights for second-guessing their absolute authority to rule the cabin. Innocent passengers such as Akiko Mitsui, Pamela Batch Garza and John Kish — all kicked off their flight for "crimes" that ranged from asking for a flight attendant's name to allegedly bringing too much luggage on board — now think twice before buying an airline ticket.
Is it any wonder that we have passengers prone to fits of air rage?
In a commentary for The Washington Post, I pointed out that only one major airline managed to escape the hard times that have befallen the industry, and wondered if it wasn't because they remembered a simple lesson: Air travel is supposed to be fun. On Southwest Airlines, flight attendants add comments like this to the safety instructions: "In event of a water landing, please remember paddle, kick, kick, paddle, kick, all the way back to shore." Pilots make announcements such as: "Weather at our destination is 50 degrees with some broken clouds, but they'll try to have them fixed before we arrive." Its current chairman, in fact, was once called "the high priest of ha-ha."
Since the commentary was published, I've heard from travelers who agreed that there's been a slow, steady decline in air travel. But they also correctly pointed out that if Southwest had been more than a tiny regional carrier in the 1970s, then it couldn't have competed with full-service airlines on routes such as Baltimore-to-Los Angeles. After all, would you rather eat peanuts while flying across the country in a tiny seat, or get more personalized service, not to mention a real meal?
Time to adjust our attitude
- We can't have it both ways. Even Southwest understands that it's unrealistic to expect low fares and high service levels. So when you complain that air travel isn't as much fun anymore — and I agree that it isn't — remember that in order for flying to return to its former glory, you'll have to pay a lot more. Probably more than you're willing to.
- The cut-rate trend must end. Airlines can't really cut their fares anymore. As I write this, two carriers — US Airways and United Airlines — are teetering on the verge of bankruptcy. One of the reasons they're doing so poorly is that airfares have fallen to historic lows, and it's just impossible to make any money. If ticket prices rise, could service make a comeback? Don't count on it.
- We have to adapt to the change. It is about as difficult to infuse the surviving airlines with a sense of humor as it is to reverse the downward spiral of airfares and service. We can't change; we have to adapt. That means we must lower our expectations. It seems unlikely that the federal government will ever re-regulate the airline industry — instead, it's up to us to revise our expectations.
Many critics, such as University of Portland finance professor Richard Gritta, believe deregulation didn't work. Gritta recently told me that the federal government was too laissez faire, leaving the airline industry to run itself into the ground. He's got a good point — a lot of things went wrong when the government loosened the reins on the airline business.
But we got exactly what we wanted: cheap tickets.
It's the other consequences of airline deregulation — the reduced service levels — we weren't prepared to live with. And now we have no choice.
We should have been more careful about what we asked for.
Christopher Elliott is the editor of Elliott's E-mail, a free weekly newsletter for travelers. You can e-mail him or visit his Web site.