Originally Posted by
Judge Smails
It was a combination of a naive judge and a malicious DOJ. The government has a bit of Dunning-Kruger effect when it comes to knowing what's best for the airline industry and consumers. I will never forget the smugness of Doha Mekki when she was interviewed on CNBC and the subject of Spirit potentially going bankrupt was brought up during the JB merger lawsuit.
Certain administrations are much worse than others. I remember Mayor Pete as SecOfTrans and wanting to require specific legroom for passengers, while also wanting to eliminate “junk fees” for seat assignments and ticket changes; and then fighting to stop the JBLU NK merger.
So NK has to have extra legroom, charge low fees, can’t charge for extras, and has to make money with this because they can’t merge to save their airline. What could go wrong?!
Meanwhile the FAA ATC centers can remain fully understaffed with inadequate technology, causing hundreds of millions of losses for the airlines, but no repercussions for that.