Pre deregulation, the US government set the routes and prices, and even if an airline could exist. Eg. Southwest Airlines was forbidden to fly outside Texas. Prices were way higher and flight routes restricted. Very different today... Affordability and availability way up, overall enjoyment... that’s up to the traveler...
Southwest couldn’t fly outside of Texas because they chose to use Love field as their base. Love was cheap for them to get into because flights from there had already been restricted in an attempt to shift commercial flights to the fledgling D/FW international airport. Two airports in Fort Worth were similarly restricted and shifted entirely to general aviation.
Southwest back then was a very different airline vs. today; they acted more like a bus service between the major Texas cities than an airline- cheap fares, departures every 20 minutes to each destination, tickets generally available on extremely short notice without a markup.
They had to change their operating model significantly after 9/11 because of the new security measures. For example, They were exclusively using at-gate checkin, with reusable boarding cards that you gave back when you got on the plane.
That’s the origin of their first to checkin is first to board system; it originally reflected the order people physically arrived at the gate. And with the frequent departures, the first boarding card generally went to someone who had just missed the previous plane; there was no upcharge or hassle for getting on an earlier plane than you had a ticket for, so long as there were seats available.
Southwest was founded before deregulation and planned to fly exclusively intra-Texas routes to avoid federal route & fare planning. Obviously they also saw a market for the shuttle service they were running.
Separately, as part of the plan to build DFW all operating airlines at Dallas and Ft Worth signed agreements to move all service to the new airport once it opened. Key word: operating, Southwest wasn’t flying yet when the agreement was signed.
Between the agreement and DFWs opening Southwest started flying their shuttle service. Knowing that wouldn’t work from DFW, and since they hadn’t signed the agreement to leave, they planned to stay at Dallas-Love.
This sparked a bunch of lawsuits and other fights but the end result was the Wright Amendment which heavily restricted flights from Dallas-Love. The restrictions were a response to Southwest, not an initial factor in their plan. They were also another form of regulatory capture, since the incumbent airlines used their connections in the federal government to get a law passed restricting their competition.
Good regulation is good, and necessary. Bad regulation is bad, and should be adjusted or removed. Deregulation as a policy only addresses 1/3 of the above insights. Basically, it's lazy.
It's lazy because voters don't know or care about "common carrier" and "first to file" and arcana like that.
The alternative is to let all the folks who know the meanings of those sorts of things make the rules. Note that they will not be representative of the country as a whole. In particular they will be overrepresented by special interests andoneyed, entrenched incumbents.
One of the arguments for deregulation is that we just aren't good at fair regulations sometimes and no regulations is at least even-handed.
Hand waving all that as 1/3 the insight lacks quite a bit of nuance... and the lack of nuance is really why "good regulation" is so hard to come by.
Practically every position is nuanced. We all have complex reasons for why we believe things.
Would you say that your attitude describes typical de-regulation as a policy? I have a hard time believing that it's a nuanced view if instead of trotting out specific examples that you care about and will specifically address, you say "de-regulation" so your constituency cheers. (Not you, specifically)...
While most political positions are at least coming from a place of truth, what I think of when I hear de-regulation is not "some regulation is overreach and should really be peeled back because it's not fair xyz, here's what's not fair", it's the "government has no business injecting itself between me and the money I could make by introducing untold externalities into a free market system."
Good regulation is hard to come by, I think, because we don't like to maintain things. We see a problem, let's make a rule. Now the rule is a problem. Let's remove the rule. How about you decide if the problem would exist in the same or another form without the rule and try to adjust it to match the new problems?
> ...government has no business injecting itself between me and the money I could make...
Prepare again for more nuance. My position wasn't about rights but about competency. And it's not niche for folks with libertarian leanings. Reagan famously said the nine most terrifying words are "I'm from the government and I'm here to help" when criticizing government overreach.
I think part of the problem is that your mental model of problem solving presumes individual actors can have a lasting impact in complex and bureaucratic contexts.
It's not the same getting a committee of folks to think through problems the same way and to maintain the same rational approach over time. Keep in mind that these folk are biased (maybe unconsciously) in different ways, particularly in favor of competant lobbyists and potential corporate employers.
So it might be simpler to presume simple mechanisms, even doing nothing, might be the sanest and most democratic approach. Often problems, like lack of progressive pricing, should just be solved directly, through minimum incomes for instance.
Are you truly proposing doing nothing for critical domains like flight safety and food safety ? How many thousands of people will need to die before you change your position ? Are you even aware of the history of the formation of agencies like the FAA and FDA ? The FAA was formed after the Grand Canyon mid-air collision at the end of a series of air accidents. The FDA was formed after a truck-load of food adulteration and deaths. Please read up on Wikipedia on the conditions that resulted in their creation. You might possibly be enlightened.
Southwest back then was a very different airline vs. today; they acted more like a bus service between the major Texas cities than an airline- cheap fares, departures every 20 minutes to each destination, tickets generally available on extremely short notice without a markup.
They had to change their operating model significantly after 9/11 because of the new security measures. For example, They were exclusively using at-gate checkin, with reusable boarding cards that you gave back when you got on the plane.
That’s the origin of their first to checkin is first to board system; it originally reflected the order people physically arrived at the gate. And with the frequent departures, the first boarding card generally went to someone who had just missed the previous plane; there was no upcharge or hassle for getting on an earlier plane than you had a ticket for, so long as there were seats available.