Airlines | Reason Archives (original) (raw)
Abolish the TSA
The agency has not made air travel safer but it has made it costlier and more time-consuming to fly.
Robby Soave | 11.14.2024 6:00 AM
Abolish Amtrak
Why should the federal government run a transportation corporation?
Jason Russell | 11.14.2024 6:00 AM
The Sindex: Airfares Have Fallen Below Prepandemic Levels
The Reason Sindex tracks the price of vice: smoking, drinking, snacking, traveling, and more.
Jason Russell | 10.28.2024 6:00 AM
Should Airliners Be Forced To Fly Through War Zones?
Rep. Ritchie Torres (D–N.Y.) claims that airlines are engaging in discrimination and enabling price gouging by canceling flights to the Middle East without government permission.
Matthew Petti | 9.3.2024 4:04 PM
Federal Aviation Administration
How Political Meddling in New York and New Jersey Causes Airline Delays in the Entire U.S.
Congestion and slowdowns in the airspace around New York City account for up to 75 percent of all airline delays, yet efforts to depoliticize its management remain stalled.
Robert Poole | 8.23.2024 11:59 AM
Biden and Trump Are Both Disastrously Wrong About Tariffs
Yes, cheap imports hurt some American companies. But protectionist trade policy harms many more Americans than it helps.
John Stossel | 7.10.2024 9:50 AM
Biden Keeps Blaming Others for His Economic Mistakes
The president has tried to shift blame for inflation, interest rate hikes, and an overall decimation of consumers' purchasing power.
Veronique de Rugy | 6.13.2024 12:01 AM
Congress' FAA Reauthorization Is Good for Remote Towers, Bad for Travel Agents
The legislation is largely a status quo bill that doesn't take up longstanding calls to reform air traffic control, airport funding, and more.
Christian Britschgi | 5.16.2024 2:05 PM
Remy: It's Raining Men (Boeing Parody)
Boeing throws conventional wisdom out the window, among other things.
Remy | 3.29.2024 11:00 AM
Brickbat: This One Is Just Right
Charles Oliver | 2.29.2024 4:00 AM
Brickbat: Grounded Already
Charles Oliver | 2.22.2024 4:00 AM
Argentina, Once One of the Richest Countries, Is Now One of the Poorest. Javier Milei Could Help Fix That.
The new libertarian president believes in free markets and the rule of law. When people have those things, prosperity happens.
John Stossel | 1.31.2024 12:30 AM
Let Foreign Airlines Serve Domestic Routes in the U.S.
Argentina is opening domestic air travel to foreign airlines for the first time. The same trick has worked wonders for Europe.
Eric Boehm | 12.26.2023 4:00 PM
Lawmakers and Unions Defend Burdensome Airline Regulations With Bogus Statistics
The world's largest union of pilots says this requirement is necessary for safety and not unduly burdensome, but its data are misleadingly cherry-picked.
Joe Lancaster | 10.23.2023 11:00 AM
Airlines Ask FAA To Regulate Competitor Out of Business
American Airlines, Southwest Airlines, and the largest union of pilots want the government to change regulations that allow a smaller competitor to operate.
Joe Lancaster | 10.9.2023 1:05 PM
How Florida Beat California to High-Speed Rail
One company is betting that it can run a commercially viable passenger rail service without massive federal subsidies.
Natalie Dowzicky | 9.20.2023 11:00 AM
Southwest Airlines Falsely Accuses Mom of Trafficking Biracial Daughter
Plus: Backpage trial pushed back, Bidenomics doens't resonate, and more...
Elizabeth Nolan Brown | 8.7.2023 9:39 AM
Government Ruins Yet Another Holiday Travel Weekend
Phantom thunderstorms scotch thousands of flights, because the FAA sucks.
Matt Welch | 6.30.2023 2:15 PM
Appellate Court Dismisses Case Challenging CDC Transportation Mask Mandate Because it has Become Moot
A case that began with a bang ends with a whimper. The issue of whether the CDC has the power to impose mask mandates remains unresolved.
Ilya Somin |The Volokh Conspiracy | 6.23.2023 2:26 AM
Senate Democrats Say Modernizing Airline Pilot Training Requirements Will Kill People
If a proposal to let pilots do more of their training on flight simulators passes, supporters will have "blood on your hands," says Sen. Tammy Duckworth.
Christian Britschgi | 6.16.2023 3:20 PM
France's Ban on Short-Haul Flights Will Kill People
You're 2,200 times more likely to die when traveling by car as opposed to by airplane.
Veronique de Rugy | 6.1.2023 12:01 AM
You Are Not Free to Move About the Country
For better air travel in the U.S., it’s time for Congress to open the skies to international competition.
Jordan McGillis | 5.15.2023 3:00 PM
Vernon Smith: Adam Smith's Relevance, Jimmy Carter's Deregulation, and the Fed's Biggest Mistake
"The greatest thing that ever happened to me was to be born in a free country of modest means and to have opportunities," says the Nobel Prize–winning economist.
Nick Gillespie | 5.10.2023 11:00 AM
Are These Obscure FAA Regulations Putting Babies in Danger?
Restrictions on baby carriers during takeoff and landing are based on a single study from 1994 that didn’t even study these types of devices.
Liz Wolfe | 4.6.2023 11:53 AM
America Needs a Better Kind of Capitalism
Big corporations and entire industries constantly use their connections in Congress to get favors, no matter which party is in power.
Veronique de Rugy | 3.9.2023 3:30 PM
Southwest Is Already Paying Billions for Screwing Up Your Travel. What About the FAA?
The airline will either clean up its act or go out of business. Meanwhile, the government plods along.
Nick Gillespie and Danielle Thompson | 2.1.2023 11:00 AM
Aviation Groups Have Complained for Years About the Outdated FAA Alert System That Crashed Today
Critics say the NOTAM system creates safety hazards by overloading pilots with hard to read and superfluous information while failing to alert them to real hazards.
Christian Britschgi | 1.11.2023 4:30 PM
What the Southwest Meltdown Means for Airline Policy
Re-regulating the airline industry won’t help prevent massive service disruptions in the future.
Robert Poole | 12.30.2022 1:20 PM
Politicians Who Supported $54 Billion in Airline Bailouts Now Pose as Industry Critics
Political criticism of Southwest's mass flight cancelations mask a cronyist relationship between government and the passenger airline industry.
Christian Britschgi | 12.28.2022 5:05 PM
Real ID Enforcement Has Been Pushed Back. Again.
The Real ID Act was passed in 2005. 17 years later, it's worth asking if it's finally time to scrap the law.
Emma Camp | 12.7.2022 10:15 AM
Biden Declares War on 'Junk Fees,' but There's (Thankfully) Not Much He Can Do About Them
Plus: Lessons from the recovered memory movement, Texas fights to keep young adults from owning handguns, and more...
Elizabeth Nolan Brown | 9.28.2022 9:30 AM
Flying Is a Mess Right Now, but Elizabeth Warren Is Wrong To Blame Airline Mergers
Why does Elizabeth Warren think that JetBlue buying Spirit Airlines will be bad for consumers?
Liz Wolfe | 9.20.2022 10:32 AM
Brickbat: Flying High
Charles Oliver | 9.14.2022 4:00 AM
How To Waste $1 Trillion
Why should we believe that this boondoggle will produce better results than hundreds of other corporate welfare programs?
Veronique de Rugy | 8.18.2022 3:30 PM
After a $54 Billion Airline Bailout, Elizabeth Warren Thinks She Gets To Make the Rules
More airline workers and more flights—not bailouts and restrictions on mergers—is the better policy.
Veronique de Rugy | 8.4.2022 12:20 PM
Elizabeth Warren Wants To Stop Airline Mergers, Despite Evidence That They Lower Airfares
The senator urged the Department of Transportation on Monday to regulate airline consolidation and levy heavy fines for canceled flights.
Emma Camp | 7.26.2022 4:25 PM
Bernie Sanders Wants To Force Airlines To Refund Passengers for Flights Delayed Over 1 Hour
Sanders' frequent cries for heavy-handed federal government intervention should be opposed whenever they crop up.
Liz Wolfe | 7.5.2022 5:20 PM
This Man Says He Spent 17 Days in Jail After American Airlines Wrongly Fingered Him As a Shoplifting Suspect
Michael Lowe is suing the company in Texas, saying its negligence led to a life-changing ordeal.
Jacob Sullum | 6.7.2022 7:55 PM
Brickbat: Come Fly with Me
Charles Oliver | 4.25.2022 4:00 AM
Fauci Says CDC Mandates 'Should Not Be a Court Issue'
That's a fundamentally anti-democratic attitude.
Eric Boehm | 4.22.2022 12:40 PM
Even If the CDC's Mask Mandate Made Sense, That Would Not Make It Legal
The decision against the rule hinged on whether the agency had the power it asserted.
Jacob Sullum | 4.20.2022 12:01 AM
CDC Removes All Countries From COVID-19 'Do Not Travel' List
Though travel isn't completely back to normal, this change is an overdue acknowledgment that we can't always view COVID-19 transmission as catastrophic.
Fiona Harrigan | 4.19.2022 5:43 PM
21 States File Lawsuit Against CDC Mask Mandate For Public Transportation
The lawsuit raises some of the same issues as earlier successful challenges against the CDC's eviction moratorium. But, in this case, the federal government has a stronger legal rationale for its policies.
Ilya Somin |The Volokh Conspiracy | 3.30.2022 4:44 PM
The TSA's Mask Mandate Is Just As Logical As All Its Other Arbitrary Impositions
The same agency that brought us security theater continues to enforce a rule that never made sense.
Jacob Sullum | 3.16.2022 12:01 AM
Great Moments in Unintended Consequences: Driving Days, Boat Taxes, Ghost Flights (Vol. 6)
Good intentions, bad results
Austin Bragg and Meredith Bragg | 3.9.2022 10:30 AM
Flight Attendant Unions Want Passengers To Wear Masks Forever
The unions' support for hygiene theater is of a piece with their support for security theater.
Jacob Sullum | 2.23.2022 12:50 PM
Lifting the Mask Mandate for Air Travel Would Do a Lot More To Cut Down on Unruly Passengers Than an Expanded No-Fly List
Delta CEO Ed Bastian asked U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland to create a special no-fly list for passengers convicted of creating onboard disruptions.
Christian Britschgi | 2.7.2022 3:50 PM
Justice Breyer, Democracy, and Expertise
His judicial philosophy emphasized promotion of democracy, a theme in tension with his emphasis on the need for deference to expertise.
Ilya Somin |The Volokh Conspiracy | 1.26.2022 5:31 PM