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A comment on How United Airlines Went from “Friendly Skies” to Throwing People Off Flights. Parent comment

Re:How United Airlines Went from “Friendly Skies” to Throwin... by mindcrime on Thursday April 13, 2017 @03:59PM (#14110432)
I'm a little iffy on this idea that there is any monopoly on air travel in the US in any general sense. Maybe for specific routes, but if you look at the big picture, you have:

4 "major" carriers - American, Delta, United, Southwest

1 "mid major" / borderline major in Alaska Airlines

1 "not a major, but not exactly a regional carrier" in Jet Blue

and a bunch of regional outfits like Frontier, Porter, Spirit, etc.

That's not to say that more competition wouldn't be nice, but it's hardly the case that there is no competition. Heck, as far as that goes, Peter Thiel uses airlines - and their razor thin profit margins - as the prototypical example of why "competition is for losers"[1] in his talks.

[1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Fx5Q8xGU8k

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Re:How United Airlines Went from “Friendly Skies” to Throwin... by droopyEyelids on Friday April 14, 2017 @11:41AM (#14115080)
With air travel the routes are the product. If there is a monopoly on the route, there is a monopoly. And a cartel situation with the carriers agreeing not to compete with each other on that route.
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