Southwest Is Already Paying Billions for Screwing Up Your Travel. What About the FAA?
The airline will either clean up its act or go out of business. Meanwhile, the government plods along.
Airlines
Aviation Groups Have Complained for Years About the Outdated FAA Alert System That Crashed Today
Critics say the NOTAM system creates safety hazards by overloading pilots with hard to read and superfluous information while failing to alert them to real hazards.
What the Southwest Meltdown Means for Airline Policy
Re-regulating the airline industry won’t help prevent massive service disruptions in the future.
Politicians Who Supported $54 Billion in Airline Bailouts Now Pose as Industry Critics
Political criticism of Southwest's mass flight cancelations mask a cronyist relationship between government and the passenger airline industry.
Real ID Enforcement Has Been Pushed Back. Again.
The Real ID Act was passed in 2005. 17 years later, it's worth asking if it's finally time to scrap the law.
Biden Declares War on 'Junk Fees,' but There's (Thankfully) Not Much He Can Do About Them
Plus: Lessons from the recovered memory movement, Texas fights to keep young adults from owning handguns, and more...
Flying Is a Mess Right Now, but Elizabeth Warren Is Wrong To Blame Airline Mergers
Why does Elizabeth Warren think that JetBlue buying Spirit Airlines will be bad for consumers?
How To Waste $1 Trillion
Why should we believe that this boondoggle will produce better results than hundreds of other corporate welfare programs?
After a $54 Billion Airline Bailout, Elizabeth Warren Thinks She Gets To Make the Rules
More airline workers and more flights—not bailouts and restrictions on mergers—is the better policy.
Elizabeth Warren Wants To Stop Airline Mergers, Despite Evidence That They Lower Airfares
The senator urged the Department of Transportation on Monday to regulate airline consolidation and levy heavy fines for canceled flights.
Bernie Sanders Wants To Force Airlines To Refund Passengers for Flights Delayed Over 1 Hour
Sanders' frequent cries for heavy-handed federal government intervention should be opposed whenever they crop up.
This Man Says He Spent 17 Days in Jail After American Airlines Wrongly Fingered Him As a Shoplifting Suspect
Michael Lowe is suing the company in Texas, saying its negligence led to a life-changing ordeal.
Fauci Says CDC Mandates 'Should Not Be a Court Issue'
That's a fundamentally anti-democratic attitude.
Even If the CDC's Mask Mandate Made Sense, That Would Not Make It Legal
The decision against the rule hinged on whether the agency had the power it asserted.
CDC Removes All Countries From COVID-19 'Do Not Travel' List
Though travel isn't completely back to normal, this change is an overdue acknowledgment that we can't always view COVID-19 transmission as catastrophic.
21 States File Lawsuit Against CDC Mask Mandate For Public Transportation
The lawsuit raises some of the same issues as earlier successful challenges against the CDC's eviction moratorium. But, in this case, the federal government has a stronger legal rationale for its policies.
The TSA's Mask Mandate Is Just As Logical As All Its Other Arbitrary Impositions
The same agency that brought us security theater continues to enforce a rule that never made sense.
Great Moments in Unintended Consequences: Driving Days, Boat Taxes, Ghost Flights (Vol. 6)
Good intentions, bad results
Flight Attendant Unions Want Passengers To Wear Masks Forever
The unions' support for hygiene theater is of a piece with their support for security theater.
Lifting the Mask Mandate for Air Travel Would Do a Lot More To Cut Down on Unruly Passengers Than an Expanded No-Fly List
Delta CEO Ed Bastian asked U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland to create a special no-fly list for passengers convicted of creating onboard disruptions.
Justice Breyer, Democracy, and Expertise
His judicial philosophy emphasized promotion of democracy, a theme in tension with his emphasis on the need for deference to expertise.
Airport Security Measures Are Popular, But Pointless
The bumbling TSA and performative mask requirements are ineffective air-travel hassles.
Fauci Wants To Kick the Unvaxxed Off of Airplanes
Should the no-fly list include another 70 million Americans?
With Ports Clogged, Some Retailers Are Looking for Alternative Supply Chains
Plus: Columbus Day vs. Indigenous Peoples Day, the Biden administration prepares to regulate cryptocurrencies by executive fiat, and more...
Could Mandating Vaccines for Air Travelers Cost More Lives Than It Saves?
TSA security screenings led to more driving and thus more auto deaths. Mandating vaccines on airplanes could have a similar effect.
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill Shows That Republicans Love Big Government Just as Much as Democrats
We don't have a gridlock problem. We have a spending problem.
United Airlines Wants To Bring Back Supersonic Air Travel. Will the FAA Let It?
The company has agreed to purchase 15 supersonic airliners from Denver-based aerospace startup Boom.
Why Is the TSA Making Vaccinated Air Travelers Wear Masks?
The agency's rule, which it recently extended until mid-September, makes no sense as a safety measure.
CNN Says 10 Percent of Vaccinated Air Travelers May Catch COVID. That's Completely Wrong.
Plus: Tyler Cowen on libertarianism now, inflation fears, and more...
Get Ready To Show Your Vaccine Passport Everywhere
It's too late for health passports to make a difference, but the damage could be immense.
Immunity Passports May Liberate Us From Lockdowns or Invite New Privacy Invasions
The idea is looking less like a Get Out of Jail Free card and more like a hall pass.
$75 Billion in Band-Aids Won't Cure Ailing Airlines
Airlines keep claiming they need a second bailout to bring back 35,000 furloughed employees. Don't buy their argument.
Airlines Can Treat Emotional Support Critters Like Pets Instead of Service Animals
Plus: No Section 230 repeal in defense bill, Pelosi nixes Amash amendment on cannabis bill, New Mexico teen sues over wrongful arrest, and more...
$75 Billion in Band-Aids Won't Cure Ailing Airlines
The grants and loans Congress has approved for the airline industry aren't about saving jobs.
As Airlines Begin Layoffs, Nancy Pelosi Promises Bailout
House Democrats are working to extend another round of emergency aid to airlines in a stand-alone bill after the passage of a larger coronavirus relief package stalled in the Senate.
A Second Round of Airline Bailouts Would be Bad for the Industry and Consumers
Passenger airlines are demanding another $25 billion in taxpayer support to prevent mass layoffs.
Airlines Are Asking for a Second Bailout. Congress Should Say No.
The federal government has already made $32 billion available to distressed airlines. The industry wants another $25 billion.
American Airlines Reportedly Accused a Black Social Worker of Kidnapping the White Child In Her Care. Now She's Suing.
Never mind the court order showing the child as a dependent in her care.
Fun Travel May Mean Road Trips for the Foreseeable Future
Unless you are especially dedicated to seeing the world and willing to run a gauntlet of hassles to do so, travel is poised to become a more local activity.
United Airlines Received $5 Billion From Taxpayers to Protect Employees' Paychecks. Now It's Cutting Hours for 15,000 Workers.
Lawmakers who voted for the $50 billion bailout of the airline industry are just shocked at these companies' behavior.
Did the $50 Billion Coronavirus Bailouts Effectively Nationalize America's Commercial Airlines?
The CARES Act gives the federal government the power to take large ownership stakes in the airlines and dictate much of their operations.
The Federal Government Is Spending $60 Billion To Keep Mostly Empty Commercial Planes Flying Over the U.S.
Pending minimum service rules would require airlines to keep operating a certain number of flights, regardless of how little demand there is for air travel.
Airlines Make Out Like Bandits in $2.3 Trillion Coronavirus Aid Bill
A lot of industries and individuals are suffering right now. A select few corporations are getting big bailouts.
Another Multiracial Family Falsely Accused of Sex Trafficking While Flying
Plus: Juul targeted for smoking cessation claims, federal budget deficit tops $1 trillion, and more...
TSA Admits Coke Bottles Shaped Like Fictional Weapons Aren't a Threat, Will Allow Them on Planes
It took the TSA multiple weeks to complete its review and conclude that Coke bottles are not a tool of terrorism.