Dr. Dao Was Brutalized By Deregulation

A couple of readers asked why I did not include in my column, “A Government of Morons,” the violence used against the medical doctor Dao removed from his confirmed seat on a United Flight as a result of airline overbooking. The 69-year old was beat senseless by goons. A few days later United Airlines removed a bridal couple on the way to their wedding from a flight only partially filled. No explanation was given, but the couple wary of the beating that might be heading their way complied with the order.

Clearly United is an airline you want to stay far away from. Clearly, the flight attendants have no sense or judgment. Clearly “security” means the opposite. The answer to the readers’ question is that I was writing a column, not a monograph or a book or a long essay. One doesn’t need endless examples in order to make a point. Yes, the treatment of Dr. Dao is a good example that America’s only solution is violence, but so is two cops shooting down a 12-year old kid playing in a public park.

Thinking about Dr. Dao’s brutalization by United Airlines, I have concluded that it follows from airline deregulation. Those whose experience of airline travel is limited to the deregulated era have no idea how superior the experience was under regulation. What deregulation has done is to force everything down to the bottom line. Nothing else is important. In the regulated era, flights were not overbooked. Flights are overbooked today because the airlines want every seat filled and assume that some passengers won’t show up. When they all show up, there is a problem...