how america ruined airlines
Works Cited:
Impacts of Airline Deregulation (2018) - Robert Peterson via TR News. https://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/trnews/trnews315airlinedereg.pdf
Airline Deregulation: The cost pieces of the puzzle (1995) - Badi H. Baltagi, James M. Griffin and Daniel P. Rich via International Economic Review vol. 36, no. 1, 1995, pp. 245–58. https://doi.org/10.2307/2527435
Air travel: terms and conditions of carriage (tariffs) via the Canadian Transportation Agency. https://otc-cta.gc.ca/eng/terms-and-conditions-tariffs
Is Air Travel Getting Worse? (2025) - Maxwell Tabarrok via Maximum Progress https://www.maximum-progress.com/p/is-air-travel-getting-worse
Total ancillary revenue in the airline industry from 2011 to 2022 (2025) via Statista. https://www.statista.com/statistics/788849/airline-industry-ancillary-revenue/
Why Flying is Miserable (2023) by Ganesh Sitaraman
Domestic passenger-fare investigation: January 1970 to December 1974 via the Civil Aeronautics Board pp. 665, 797. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b3907729&seq=803&q1=%22phase+8%22
Deregulation and Liberalization of European Air Transport Markets (2001) - Kenneth Button via Innovation: The European Journal of Social Science Research pp. 256. https://www.academia.edu/117918600/Deregulation_and_Liberalization_of_European_Air_Transport_Markets
Why the golden age of flying is never coming back – and it might not be a bad thing (2023) - Danielle Nerman via CBC News. https://www.cbc.ca/radio/costofliving/golden-age-air-travel-1.6726341
DOT Launches Rulemaking to Protect Passengers Stranded by Airline Disruptions (2024) via the U.S. Department of Transportation. https://www.transportation.gov/briefing-room/dot-launches-rulemaking-protect-passengers-stranded-airline-disruptions
How Cozy: Airlines Add an Extra Seat to Each Row (2016) - Brian Sumers via CN Traveler. https://www.cntraveler.com/stories/2016-03-10/airlines-add-an-extra-seat-to-each-row
Let the fast passengers wait: Boarding an airplane takes shorter time when passengers with the most bin luggage enter first (2024) - Sveinung Erland, Eitan Bachmat, Albert Steiner via the European Journal of Operational Research vol. 317, no. 3, pp. 748-761. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0377221722009754
A flight attendant says sickness and fatigue levels have gone 'through the roof' amid the current travel chaos (2022) - Grace Dean via Business Insider. https://www.businessinsider.com/travel-chaos-flight-crew-airlines-workers-sickness-fatigue-wellbeing-work-2022-8
Addressing the shortage of aviation maintenance technicians (2026) via McKinsey & Company. https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/travel/our-insights/addressing-the-shortage-of-aviation-maintenance-technicians
Future Flight: A Review of the Small Aircraft Transportation System Concept -- Special Report 263 (2002) via National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. pp. 55 https://doi.org/10.17226/10319/ https://www.nationalacademies.org/read/10319/chapter/5#55
Flight delays, cancellations reported at Toronto Pearson airport amid storm (2026) via City News. https://toronto.citynews.ca/video/2026/01/15/flight-delays-cancellations-reported-at-toronto-pearson-airport-amid-storm/
'Preventable' National Grid failures led to Heathrow fire, findings say (2025) - Muvija M. and William James via Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/fire-that-led-heathrow-shutdown-caused-by-substation-component-failure-energy-2025-07-02/
Airline Profitability Stabilizes with 3.9% Net Margin Expected in 2026 (2025) via the International Air Transport Association (IATA) https://www.iata.org/en/pressroom/2025-releases/2025-12-09-01/
Spirit Airlines shuts down, blames cost of fuel due to Middle East war (2026) CBC News via Reuters Wire. https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/spirit-airlines-ceasing-operations-9.7185446
Air Canada makes plea for government help as pilots demand wages it says it can’t pay (2024) - Fortune via AP Wire. https://www.fortune.com/2024/09/13/air-canada-plea-government-help-pilots-demand-wages-says-cant-pay/
Analysis-Air Canada labor deal may reshape pay for North American airline crews (2025) - Allisan Lampert and Rajesh Kumar Singh via Reuters https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/analysis-air-canada-labor-deal-193944951.html
Strong 2025 Passenger Demand Masks Ongoing Capacity Constraints (2026) via the International Air Transport Association (IATA) https://www.iata.org/en/pressroom/2026-releases/2026-01-29-02/
Analysis-Rising airfares boost profit outlook for airlines (2025) - Rajesh Kumar Singh and Joanna Plucinska via Reuters. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/analysis-rising-airfares-boost-profit-121144755.html
Why Airlines Don’t Fly to Your City and Other Problems Washington Caused (2023) - Ganesh Sitaraman via Politico. https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/11/14/airline-travel-washington-regulation-00126892
2026 flight costs pulled from Expedia on May 8, 2026. Distance calculated via AirMilesCalculator.com
Revenue from loyalty programs of selected airlines based in the United States in 2024 (2026) J. G. Navarro via Statista https://www.statista.com/statistics/1414210/airlines-loyalty-revenues-usa/#statisticContainer
Credit-card cash reshapes US airline loyalty — and profit (2026) Rajesh Kumar Singh via Reuters https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/credit-card-cash-reshapes-us-airline-loyalty-profit-2026-03-13/
Tony Fernandes: The Indo-Malaysian businessman who made flights affordable through AirAsia (2024) - Darshana Ramdev via the Global Indian. https://www.globalindian.com/story/cover-story/tony-fernandes-the-indo-malaysian-businessman-who-made-flights-affordable-through-airasia/
United to be first US carrier with economy seats that turn into couches (2026) - Kathleen Wong via USA Today. https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/airline-news/2026/03/24/united-couch-style-economy-seats/89306783007/#:~:text=The%20move%20makes%20United%20Airlines,All%20Nippon%20Airways%20and%20Lufthansa
U.S. Cargo and Passenger Airlines Lost 5,188 Jobs in January 2025 (2025) via the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. https://www.bts.gov/newsroom/us-cargo-and-passenger-airlines-lost-5188-jobs-january-2025
UAL, LUV, AAL, DAL Form 10-K. Reporting dates 2015-2025. EDGAR via Securities and Exchange Commission. https://www.sec.gov/search-filings
Inflation adjustment: CPI-U Calendar Year via MIT Institutional Research (accessed May 2026). https://ir.mit.edu/projects/cpi-u
Image Credits:
Amazing airline food from the 1950s, 1960s & 1970s: In-flight meals you won’t see nowadays via Click Americana. https://clickamericana.com/topics/travel-tourism/vintage-airline-food-in-flight-meals
TWA Ambassador Service advertisement in TIME Magazine, June 1971 via Trevor Kildow, Facebook (2025) https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=3467561846716080
Commercials:
1971 American Airlines "DC-10 LuxuryLiner" Commercial - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5vCEiWu3z8
1971 United Airlines "Party" Commercial - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvrdWkSWFGU
1979 Pan Am "Three Great Ways" Commercial - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYBLfV2QY8U
Peter Sellers TWA commercials 1975 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wy26PYeP4aY
American Airlines 747 The Coach Lounge 1970's TV Commercial HD - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKENjXZJ3yI
1971 American Airlines "Piano Bar" Commercial - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnimcgMPuXk
1971 American Airlines "747 Luxury Liner" Commercial - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJX80qQNy_I