[jimworcs]

The fate of the banks and their impact on the world economy should give you some pause for thought as to what can happen when an industry is either de-regulated or ineffectivley regulated. Regulation of an industry does not necessarily require regulation of fares. The non-refundable ticket would not disappear and it is rarely effective to argue your case by inventing ridiculous "doomsday" scenarios for the catastrophic effects of legislative change. I am arguing for sensible balanced re-regulation of the industry to prevent the excesses, some of which are highlighted on here.

Re-regulation will increase air fares, and so it should. In fact, air fares need to increase for economic and environmental reasons. They are currently unecomonic.. and if you look at the balance sheets of the airlines, no sane person could argue otherwise. Furthermore, when air fares are set at unrealistically low prices, it encourages travel to such a degree that the infrastructure, such as time slots, runways, airports and demands on ATC can't cope, particularly when there is disruption due to weather, industrial action, etc. Higher prices will suppress some demand, which is ultimately good for the environment and the system itself.

Your argument for overbooking flights doesn't really work. If you booked a theatre seat, it is quite likely that the same family of four could have a flat tyre en route. The theatre calculates that 5% percent of theatre goers won't show up and so oversells it's tickets. You are happy to be turned away from a Broadway show even though you have booked tickets, months in advance, because it doesn't make sense to have empty seats? If not, why not?

The suggestion that the passenger doesn't fulfill their part of the contract by showing up is right... except in the vast majority of such instances the passenger doesn't get a refund, so the seat was paid for regardless of whether they travelled. In fact, the airline makes more money than it would if the passenger had turned up. The airline with 4 empty seats will use less fuel, and some of the airport fees are based on actual passenger numbers, which will be lower. It also has an opportunity to sell the seat twice with last minute airport sales.

ChrisH, I have news for you. The US airlines are certainly not fighting to have cabotage and "open skies" approved. Delta and Continental have both filed objections to the proposed BA/AA link up, and Continental are opposed to any foreign ownership of US airlines. 4 Majors filed objections to the original VirginAmerica submission to the FAA. I think you are sadly mistaken if you think the US airlines welcome competition from the outside. They are masters of deceit in this regard and vigorously oppose such measures via lobbyists sometimes whilst publicly presenting a very different face.

I think some of the airline defenders on this site could benefit from a more critical analysis of the BS the airlines pump out.