Why Flying Is Miserable | Ganesh Sitaraman | TMR

Live-streamed on February 26, 2024

Ganesh Sitaraman, law professor at Vanderbilt University, discusses his recent book Why Flying Is Miserable: And How To Fix It.

Ganesh discusses how the system for airlines that began in the 1930’s in the U.S. came about, and how it differed and was similar to other public entities like the U.S. Post Office. Ganesh expands upon how Congress struggled with implementation of the airline industry and whether over or under-regulating the industry would lead to too much or not enough competition. Sam asks Ganesh if, as per the Constitution in how it enumerates capabilities for the Post Office, whether lawmakers could have invoked that authority in the Constitution to reflect on air travel, a “Post Office of the skies” if you will. Later, Ganesh gets into how airports and ticket pricing factored into the development of U.S. air travel, and how quality of travel precipitously declined after deregulation took effect on the industry in the late 1970’s. This then led to, in the 1980’s, many mergers and bankruptcies in the sector, and a return to how the industry was constructed in the 1930’s, only without any robust regulations to guardrail anything. Ganesh makes the case for a “public option” for airlines to reinstate some competition as well as to discourage any future bailouts of the industry, as well as why he believes in that option more than re-regulating the industry entirely.

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