[danaris]

Relying on "voting with dollars" for something like this is not going to work, because that requires an idealized free market.

Air travel is not an idealized free market. Frankly, nearly nothing in our current circumstances even comes close to acting like an idealized free market, because one thing that requires is enough disposable income for all parties that paying more for something preferred is not likely to cause significant financial hardship. (And before anyone says "but it's only an extra $12 for premium economy" or whatever, it's not just this specific choice—it's about the mindset that you have to adopt when your purchasing power is so constrained, to consider every decision and try to be frugal.)

[readthenotes1]

I just abandoned paying about $12 more to get more legroom on a flight. The flight itself was an unexpected $200 hit and I didn't want to pay more than I had to.

In the US it seems there is not enough competition and as well their are significant barriers to entry for new airlines.

[danaris]

> In the US it seems there is not enough competition

You can just stop there and you'll be accurate about a major part of the source of almost any of our current problems.

[readthenotes1]

Which problem goes back to not regulating greed well enough. I need other greedy bastards to jump out of bed with a new idea on how to make a buck, i just don't want them to take $1.10 when they do it...