Best Crisp Air. For when it really is better in the air up there.

Congress is talking about bringing back air regulation. I wish that I could say that I was surprised, but looking at the epic climbs and falls of the airline industry, I am not even merely startled. Huffington Post Congress talking dereg is derailed.

Re-regulating the airline industry is something that is needed, but what are the issues/areas that need to be regulated? That is where the grand debate is. What parts of the airline industry need to be monitored and which ones need to be left free. What did deregulation do?  It changed the way that the airlines were allowed to price, the routes that they were allowed to run, and entry onto the plane.

I remember as a much younger person, sitting in the back section of the plane so that my mom could smoke her world famous Winston cigarettes. Once, I even asked the stewardess if I could move the little portable placard that denoted where the smoking section started forward a couple of seats so that mom could take drags off her precious smokes. It was a done deal, and there were no shrieks or yells from other passengers. It was simple and quick.

In 1991,  Smoking was outlawed on planes, and there were protests, but, like everything else, people became used to the change, and we all now understand that you do not smoke on planes. Okay. Most of us understand that you do not smoke on planes, but there are those who insist on trying to beat the system so that they can have one more puff while on board. Smoking is actually allowed still in some places on their flights. 

Now, there is a place where citizens can express their opinions on all of the air events that are an occurrence. There is even a small movement that is looking to ban peanuts in the air because of the severe allergies that can be life threatening for those affected with this disorder.

With deregulation, many things changed in the airline industry. Airline rates were allowed to climb and fall, and there were many other changes that happened. Some of them were good, and some of them were bad..

One of the bad issues of deregulation is that to create traffic flow to their airports, many small airports did nothing to attract multiple carriers to an airport once they had one carrier. This allowed for exorbitant fees to be charged to many of these rural connections, with the reflection being seen in very high ticket prices. To get an idea of this pricing strategy, look at smaller cities in your state that have an airport. A prime example of this is Elko, NV. Check out the pricing from Elko, NV to anywhere, and then, check the same pricing from Salt Lake City, UT. The difference can be staggering in the pricing. To drive to Salt Lake City from this small city in Nevada is only 2 hours (appx) so, I am sure that a good many of the residents there make the drive in order to save several hundred dollars. Deregulation allowed this to happen, by not forcing another carrier to grab a line there in the city, so Frontier has Elko at their mercy. I am sure that there are many other cities out there with the same situation happening, I just happen to have friends in Elko, and they have told me of the airline pricing situation.

I think that as we Americans look at deregulation versus regulation, there needs to be a long hard look at what is working, and what is not, and, if it is working, then leave it alone.