There is a VERY fine line between regulation and free market that hasn't been in sync for quite awhile. There does need to be some government regulation to ensure that the airlines are playing safely, maintaining their planes well, taking well thought out steps to stifle terror tactics, and keeping pilots from flying too much. There should also be a consumer protection portion of regulation, an agency with some teeth to investigate consumer complaints and allegations of mistreatment.

On the other hand, the industry must have the leeway to run a corporation that is efficient, and profitable.

We have swung from one side of the line to the other in the past 20 years, we need to find a middle ground. We need an FAA that is better funded, a new set of restrictions and fines the FAA can lodge against an airline, and a FAA is not so chummy with the airline industry. We also need to repeal a few of the freedoms that were given to the airlines by the feds a few years ago.

I for one would rather a ticket price go up by 50% than get nickeled and dimed to death. I have yet to get a satisfactory explanation of many items on an airline ticket, things like fuel surcharges, destination charges, and the like. I used this example a few weeks ago, but a Taxi doesn’t add a charge to come to the curb, an extra fee for the gas burned, and then a charge to pull up to your destination, why should the airlines?

Don't get me started on checked bag fees.