US airlines since de-regulation have carefully crafted what amounts to the carve up of the airline market, through massive "fortress hubs", which create effective monopolies. They fight any effort to amend the deregulation legislation and against giving the states any power to enforce basic consumer rights against airlines. (They have a specific exemption from state enforcement). They are also exempt from anti-trust legislation. This massive imbalance between consumer rights and the rights of these corporate monoliths does indeed mean they don't care, nor respond to, consumer threats to "never fly with them again". This is because they know that they have such a grip on the schedules of specific markets, the consumer has little choice. All the legacy carriers do this, and this fortress hub model is high anti-competitive. Until congress acts to re-regulate the industry and control this, airlines will not respond to consumers. They are acting exactly the way the "robber barons" acted before regulation at the end of the 19th Century and will continue to do so, until congress takes action. They pay millions in lobbying fees to prevent this. It seems you can bribe your way to keep monopoly powers in the US.
|