Not going to happen. No time soon, anyway. No politician is going to support legislation that would likely bankrupt the few remaining carriers that aren't in bankruptcy already and make base pay for a 747 pilot about the same as a bus driver. Even if those generalizations are false, that is how the politcal debate would be framed.

Also, you get into the whole "free trade" thing. How many countries allow US carriers to fly domestic routes in their countries? Many foreign airlines are subsidized by their governments, so letting them "compete" with US carriers poses some "fairness" issues, as well.

I'm all for competition, but realistically, there is no shortage of competition when it comes to domestic routes. That's why I was just able to buy roundtrip tickets from Milwaukee to Boston for $188 each.

One of the fundamental market issues here is that customers are not willing to pay more for better service. Some are, but most will buy the cheapest ticket they can get, even if that means flying on a bankrupt airline with a 50% on-time rate. Until customers start rewarding quality service with both loyalty and a willingness to pay for quality, we get what we deserve.

Chris

If there was an ENORMOUS difference in the Quality of Experience and the cost to adopt it was seen as not prohibitive -- I think that people would. Of course, I suppose they already do. It's called first class, but for average people that slight improvement is not worth the extra cost. At all. You still have to fly. And in fact is seen as sort the Airline trying to rip you off to pay for service you should get anyway. It doesn't help when discount carriers treat every customer as a valuable asset at a fraction of the cost. I recently flew from DSM to DCA and was shocked (well sorta) that the flight attendants didn't even say good bye as we left the plane. She sat their thumbing through a magazine!! I can tell you if I flew JetBlue or Southwest I wouldn't have been treated that way.

The other problem is that people have begun to realize that through bad government planning and deregulation (if not exactly in those terms) that airlines are the only mass transit way to travel out of many medium-sized cities and even those options are shrinking as the airlines cut back. Instead of investing in high speed rail to get from DSM to Chicago or Knoxville to DCA, we are forced to crowd into tiny airplanes that a 6' tall person can't even stand up in and be treated like cattle. That doesn't help the perception that we are being cheated.

So I can travel on NWA from MSP to DTT for anywhere from $579 to $779 advanced purch fare. Between two Hubs! And, I get a restricting contract that prevents me from flying any other flight, regardless of seat availability (unless I pay a fee), I get no food, maybe a coke, crabby attendents, high probability of being delayed or flat out late (if not canceled all together). So what happens when the fedex package you were expecting by 10AM arrives at 11:30? you'll demand and get a refund. oh, and walk me thru what you will do when I sit at the table next to you at Mortons and get my steak for $18.95 because I made my reservation 3 weeks ago, while you pay $62 because you made yours yesterday? (no the wild fluctuations in airline pricing is NOT price optimization, it's just taking advantage of customers). And if my appointment is at 10:30 and I find out all the other patients before me cancelled their appointment, do you think my doctor will still make we wait if i ask to move it up? No, this industry has a broken business model. that's why it doesn't make money. The demand is there. if these carriers go under because of international carrier competition, the demand will be filled. And as for our jobs....what? will JAL bring over hundreds, maybe thousands of Japanese to fill the jobs of their newly acquired couple hundred American domestic routes? Yeah, and all those people working at the Honda and toyota plants here are really just english speaking, funny looking Japanese. I think that consumers are finally getting savvy enough to understand what customer service really means and will soon allow our politicians to have meaningful dialogue about opening up air traffic competition here.

Kudos to DC1974 and Steven McKinney for supportive comments.

Re: Chris Kerns' contention that "customers are not willing to pay more for better service" - I agree to the extent that services in general are being commoditized; folks generally won't pay more for a mere service. But customers have clearly demonstrated a willingnes to pay a premium for experiences. Witness $4 cups of coffee at Starbucks (when it costs less to make on own from stre-bought goods, or get from a mere coffee-making service), hundreds of dollars spent for birthday parties (when cheaper to throw in-home event), the premium for a Geek Squad agent to make a house call.

The problem with many U.S airlines if s that their own behavior is so self-commoditizing.