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Why Flying Is Miserable: And How to Fix It
Why are the airlines always in a crisis?
Everyone has a horror story about air travel—cancellations, delays, lost baggage, tiny seats, poor service. In this day and age, there is no reason that flying should be this bad. In Why Flying Is Miserable, Ganesh Sitaraman, a law professor and policy expert, explains how this It was a conscious choice made by Washington in the 1970s to roll back many forms of regulation that began during the New Deal, in the name of unimpeded capitalism and more competition. Today, the industry is an oligopoly, with only four too-big-to-fail airlines that have received billions of dollars in taxpayer bailouts and still can’t offer reliable service.
Miserable air travel is the perfect symbol of the type of unregulated capitalism that America has unleashed. But there are ways to fix airlines—and, by extension, many other sectors of industry—because, after a half-century run, people are sick and tired of the turbulence that deregulation has brought to our economy.
Everyone has a horror story about air travel—cancellations, delays, lost baggage, tiny seats, poor service. In this day and age, there is no reason that flying should be this bad. In Why Flying Is Miserable, Ganesh Sitaraman, a law professor and policy expert, explains how this It was a conscious choice made by Washington in the 1970s to roll back many forms of regulation that began during the New Deal, in the name of unimpeded capitalism and more competition. Today, the industry is an oligopoly, with only four too-big-to-fail airlines that have received billions of dollars in taxpayer bailouts and still can’t offer reliable service.
Miserable air travel is the perfect symbol of the type of unregulated capitalism that America has unleashed. But there are ways to fix airlines—and, by extension, many other sectors of industry—because, after a half-century run, people are sick and tired of the turbulence that deregulation has brought to our economy.
172 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 14, 2023
21 people are currently reading
426 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
March 3, 2024
Either I'm just easily influenced and airline regulation is the latest thing I've been radicalized about, or this genuinely was a well-researched and conducted argument. Or maybe both!
This book walks through the earliest years of commercial flight (had no idea the Post Office was so involved those early days), the 40-year stretch of a regulated industry, the lead up and aftermath of deregulation in 1978, and multiple potential policy changes that can be enacted in the future to tackle the issues we're dealing with today. Nice, straightforward and concise layout that any schmuck who has zero experience learning about public policy (i.e., me) could follow.
I did learn a lot about this industry that typically goes right over my head (*dodges tomato*), like how pre-1978 the Civil Aeronautics Board would license out routes to private airlines such that popular routes between larger cities would turn such a profit that they would internally subsidize less-profitable routes between smaller, more rural cities. This ensured access throughout the country equally, rather than the literal "flyover country" we have today where state capitals like Cheyenne, Wyoming have to pay private airlines to service them. I also appreciated how "recent" it felt as well; as of the time I'm writing this, the book has been out for just shy of four months.
There were some questions I thought of while reading this, like how do other geographically-large countries with lots of internal domestic flights like Brazil or China approach regulation? Is the current "hub-and-spoke" model of airport routes better for the environment than a "every city has direct flights to every other city" approach? These and others were only mentioned in passing and weren't addressed enough to satisfy me, but for the length of book that this is, it was still very informative. I look forward to reading more from this books series if they're all written with this level of research and quality.
This book walks through the earliest years of commercial flight (had no idea the Post Office was so involved those early days), the 40-year stretch of a regulated industry, the lead up and aftermath of deregulation in 1978, and multiple potential policy changes that can be enacted in the future to tackle the issues we're dealing with today. Nice, straightforward and concise layout that any schmuck who has zero experience learning about public policy (i.e., me) could follow.
I did learn a lot about this industry that typically goes right over my head (*dodges tomato*), like how pre-1978 the Civil Aeronautics Board would license out routes to private airlines such that popular routes between larger cities would turn such a profit that they would internally subsidize less-profitable routes between smaller, more rural cities. This ensured access throughout the country equally, rather than the literal "flyover country" we have today where state capitals like Cheyenne, Wyoming have to pay private airlines to service them. I also appreciated how "recent" it felt as well; as of the time I'm writing this, the book has been out for just shy of four months.
There were some questions I thought of while reading this, like how do other geographically-large countries with lots of internal domestic flights like Brazil or China approach regulation? Is the current "hub-and-spoke" model of airport routes better for the environment than a "every city has direct flights to every other city" approach? These and others were only mentioned in passing and weren't addressed enough to satisfy me, but for the length of book that this is, it was still very informative. I look forward to reading more from this books series if they're all written with this level of research and quality.
August 5, 2023
An excellent and transgressive short history of airline regulation, from the rise of the Civil Aeronautics Board in the 1930s to deregulation in the 1970s. There has been a fortress placed around this whole topic, insisting that regulation was bad and deregulation was good for everyone involved. Sitaraman ruthlessly cuts through this spin and exposes the purveyors of this narrative. It's short, readable, and picks up on how the airline industry is a good model for what has happened to the entire economy in the neoliberal era.
June 17, 2024
This was a very interesting and quick read about the current state of air travel in America, how we got here and Sitaraman's ideas to fix it. I agree with everything he said! He gave several solutions but the one I agree with the most is nationalization (or at least a public option for flying). Most Americans don't even realize that air travel doesn't need to be the awful way that it is and that we did this to ourselves! Great read.
October 31, 2024
By the 2010s, airlines were increasingly subject to horizontal shareholding. That is, shareholders owned stock in multiple, rival airlines. Seven shareholders together had 60 percent ownership of United Airlines between 2013 and 2015. But they also owned 27.5 percent of Delta, 27.3 percent of JetBlue, and 23.3 percent of Southwest. Economic research has shown that horizontal shareholding means higher prices—some 3 to 10 percent in the case of airlines. As Harvard Law School professor Einer Elhauge explains, “[T]he reason is that firms maximize profits by competing only when the profits from taking market share away from other firms exceed the interest in keeping marketwide prices high.” For the airlines, it’s better to keep market prices high, rather than competing with each other. Importantly, keeping industry profits high does not require communication or explicit collusion. Airline CEOs no longer feel the need, as Crandall did, to propose jointly raising prices. It is in their shareholders’ interest—and therefore theirs—to keep prices high. To the extent the airline industry was already an oligopoly, it is now further concentrated through these “common owners.”
Notes: Clearly and simply lays out the issues with flying, their causes, and possible solutions — a snappy read and worth mailing a copy to your member of Congress.
January 2, 2025
I read this for book club at work. So boring.
December 3, 2023
Even if you disagree with the author, you will at least agree that he has thought through the problem and his proposed solutions. It doesn’t mean he has thought through it thoroughly, but the book is significantly better than other public policy proposal books in that his proposals are more detailed than general. That is my first praise for the book: it is detailed in its analysis and proposals. My second praise is that it does not sacrifice readability for detail. It is a balanced mixture.
Having said all that, I have two problems with the book. The first is not really a problem I have with the book specifically, but one which I have with people who propose sweeping public policy changes in key areas of the economy and politics. There is a difference between intentions and results. It is a mistake to assume that laws and regulations act as bridges between intentions and results. Laws and regulations are intentions while results are always unknown. What this means is that what we have in common between the government (which is usually described as the good guys) and the private sector (which are the bad guys) is the fact that both sectors are composed of human beings. Laws do not bridge intentions and results; they create constraints and incentives to which human beings in both the public and private sectors react against or adapt to. This is the only lens through which to read the author’s proposals. As long as you do not see them as fixes, but as new sets of incentives and constraints to which people will react, you will be fine. That way you can reason your way through them by assuming how well-intentioned proposals can be corrupted.
For example, a law that says that,
”With these dynamics and goals in mind, we can identify three principles for fixing flying. 1. No More Flyover Country. Air travel is critical to commerce and opportunity. We need air service to be available all across the country, including in mid-sized and smaller cities. 2. No Bailouts, No Bankruptcies. We need a stable, reliable, resilient, and innovative airline industry that doesn’t suffer from boom-andbust cycles. We need it to work all the time, not just when the economy is good. 3. Fair and Transparent Pricing. We need a pricing system that achieves both of the above goals—and that doesn’t push airlines to create complicated fare structures with hidden conditions or tackedon fees. Importantly, if we keep these principles in mind, we’ll also achieve a range of other goals. A stable industry is good for workers. Coupling that with fair and transparent pricing is good for improving the passenger experience. If we get the structure of a new national airline policy right, we can fix flying—without a lot of complicated regulations for the industry and without a miserable experience for passengers. So how do we turn these principles into public policy?
might actually create a situation that is worse than what we have now. How? Airlines might begin to creatively shift their costs to the areas that are regulated.
My second issue is that even if all the proposals advanced are implemented, it will not remove other sources of misery from flying. It may fix the financial operations of the airlines, maybe lower ticket prices, and maybe connect more cities, but a lot of the things that make flying miserable will still remain. None of the proposals will cause airlines to increase leg room for passengers, decrease the cost of items at airports, shorten wait time during searches, check-in, baggage check, and (at some airports) getting rides. It won’t improve the conditions of chaotic and improperly maintained airports (I’m looking at you LAX). I am saying this not as a sort of criticism, but just to manage expectations which might be unduly broadened by the title.
Having said all that, I have two problems with the book. The first is not really a problem I have with the book specifically, but one which I have with people who propose sweeping public policy changes in key areas of the economy and politics. There is a difference between intentions and results. It is a mistake to assume that laws and regulations act as bridges between intentions and results. Laws and regulations are intentions while results are always unknown. What this means is that what we have in common between the government (which is usually described as the good guys) and the private sector (which are the bad guys) is the fact that both sectors are composed of human beings. Laws do not bridge intentions and results; they create constraints and incentives to which human beings in both the public and private sectors react against or adapt to. This is the only lens through which to read the author’s proposals. As long as you do not see them as fixes, but as new sets of incentives and constraints to which people will react, you will be fine. That way you can reason your way through them by assuming how well-intentioned proposals can be corrupted.
For example, a law that says that,
”With these dynamics and goals in mind, we can identify three principles for fixing flying. 1. No More Flyover Country. Air travel is critical to commerce and opportunity. We need air service to be available all across the country, including in mid-sized and smaller cities. 2. No Bailouts, No Bankruptcies. We need a stable, reliable, resilient, and innovative airline industry that doesn’t suffer from boom-andbust cycles. We need it to work all the time, not just when the economy is good. 3. Fair and Transparent Pricing. We need a pricing system that achieves both of the above goals—and that doesn’t push airlines to create complicated fare structures with hidden conditions or tackedon fees. Importantly, if we keep these principles in mind, we’ll also achieve a range of other goals. A stable industry is good for workers. Coupling that with fair and transparent pricing is good for improving the passenger experience. If we get the structure of a new national airline policy right, we can fix flying—without a lot of complicated regulations for the industry and without a miserable experience for passengers. So how do we turn these principles into public policy?
might actually create a situation that is worse than what we have now. How? Airlines might begin to creatively shift their costs to the areas that are regulated.
My second issue is that even if all the proposals advanced are implemented, it will not remove other sources of misery from flying. It may fix the financial operations of the airlines, maybe lower ticket prices, and maybe connect more cities, but a lot of the things that make flying miserable will still remain. None of the proposals will cause airlines to increase leg room for passengers, decrease the cost of items at airports, shorten wait time during searches, check-in, baggage check, and (at some airports) getting rides. It won’t improve the conditions of chaotic and improperly maintained airports (I’m looking at you LAX). I am saying this not as a sort of criticism, but just to manage expectations which might be unduly broadened by the title.
January 15, 2024
nice history but Ganesh wants to convert airlines into a utility
As an aviation journalist, I really appreciated the deep dive into the history of US Commercial Aviation and deregulation. I will likely refer to this book in my future writings for the history.
However, the urging for public ownership of airlines at the end is not something most 2020s Americans would campaign for. Nor do I think we want a public option for airlines, which will provide at best Southwest or Ryanair service, at worst Aeroflot. Gone will be the days of adorable Alaska Airlines.
Ganesh does also suggest of transparent pricing, which is something the USDOT is working on. Ganesh also suggests requiring a rainy day fund, which is reasonable for most economic downturns. But Covid19 was an outlier.
As an aviation journalist, I really appreciated the deep dive into the history of US Commercial Aviation and deregulation. I will likely refer to this book in my future writings for the history.
However, the urging for public ownership of airlines at the end is not something most 2020s Americans would campaign for. Nor do I think we want a public option for airlines, which will provide at best Southwest or Ryanair service, at worst Aeroflot. Gone will be the days of adorable Alaska Airlines.
Ganesh does also suggest of transparent pricing, which is something the USDOT is working on. Ganesh also suggests requiring a rainy day fund, which is reasonable for most economic downturns. But Covid19 was an outlier.
November 13, 2023
I read this excellent book on a miserable flight. It provides a great explanation of the shaky economic, social, and political grounds underlying the case for deregulation of airlines. It then closes with inspiring ideas for thinking about reforms and the role of democracy in regulating capitalism.
January 24, 2024
I thought this would be a story, but its very informative. I work in the airline industry and its all interesting. However, i understand this is all USA based research how about the rest of the world?
January 2, 2024
I'm not sure what I was expecting from this book but a focus of regulations from the 1930s to the 1970s wasn't quite what I expected from a book with this title.
January 13, 2024
A little repetitive, but a nice brief narrative. The book seems to present a balanced history, and only expresses his solution in the final 10 pages.
August 11, 2025
I’ve heard and read a lot of words about today’s flying experience. Good is seldom one of them. Flying today involves standing in line after long line, sitting in uncomfortable seats, dealing with exhausted or indifferent airline employees, and keeping you fingers crossed that bad weather or scheduling problems don’t delay or cancel your flight altogether. The prices appear to be relatively reasonable, until you add in the fees for all the amenities that used to come with your ticket. What happened to airline travel, and what can be done to improve it? That’s the question behind “Why Flying Is Miserable (And How To Fix It)”. Economist Ganesh Sitaraman reviews the history of over 100 years of government policy towards the airline industry, how it led to our current situation, and discusses possible solutions for improving the airline experience.
In the 1920s, the American airline industry was in its infancy. Government officials recognized that they needed to take steps to keep passengers safe and support and to grow the industry, but also recognized that they didn’t want to create either a national airline under government control or let a private oligopoly dominate routes and control fares. After several attempts, the government set up a regulatory framework that managed competition, regulated fares, and authorized airlines to fly routes.
Government regulations helped the airline industry to expand and thrive after World War II; since airlines couldn’t compete on price, they competed against each other on services and amenities like food and inflight entertainment. But government regulation also guaranteed high fares, stifled innovation, and discouraged new airlines. By the late 1970s, politicians and economists pushed for deregulation of the airline industry, arguing that it would lead to lower fares, more flights, and better ways of doing things.
Deregulation did lead to new airlines competing and cheaper fares - for a while, anyway. As time went on , though, many new airlines were bought out by existing ones, major airlines lowered fares to stifle competition, and employee unions were made to make concessions on wages and benefits to keep airlines solvent. Airlines made profits in the good years, which they sunk into stock buybacks; when business went bad, as in after 9/11 or during the COVID pandemic, American taxpayers had to bail them out.
Ganesh makes a compelling case that the airline industry as it stands isn’t sustainable, and offers several possibilities for change. He feels that nationalization of the industry still isn’t the answer, and so offers some ideas that would allow for a more resilient industry dedicated to providing the public a vital service. Whether any of these suggestions can and will work will depend on us, since the first step will be for the public to demand better than the status quo from a government more inclined to listen to big donors than to the voters.
Ganesh takes on what could be a complicated subject and explains it in terms accessible to the layperson. For the complexity of the topic, the book is a quick read, and provides some interesting insights and possible solutions. The biggest takeaway from “Why Flying Is Miserable” is that Americans have always been innovative, and that spirit of innovation will be the key to come up with a better flying experience for everyone.
In the 1920s, the American airline industry was in its infancy. Government officials recognized that they needed to take steps to keep passengers safe and support and to grow the industry, but also recognized that they didn’t want to create either a national airline under government control or let a private oligopoly dominate routes and control fares. After several attempts, the government set up a regulatory framework that managed competition, regulated fares, and authorized airlines to fly routes.
Government regulations helped the airline industry to expand and thrive after World War II; since airlines couldn’t compete on price, they competed against each other on services and amenities like food and inflight entertainment. But government regulation also guaranteed high fares, stifled innovation, and discouraged new airlines. By the late 1970s, politicians and economists pushed for deregulation of the airline industry, arguing that it would lead to lower fares, more flights, and better ways of doing things.
Deregulation did lead to new airlines competing and cheaper fares - for a while, anyway. As time went on , though, many new airlines were bought out by existing ones, major airlines lowered fares to stifle competition, and employee unions were made to make concessions on wages and benefits to keep airlines solvent. Airlines made profits in the good years, which they sunk into stock buybacks; when business went bad, as in after 9/11 or during the COVID pandemic, American taxpayers had to bail them out.
Ganesh makes a compelling case that the airline industry as it stands isn’t sustainable, and offers several possibilities for change. He feels that nationalization of the industry still isn’t the answer, and so offers some ideas that would allow for a more resilient industry dedicated to providing the public a vital service. Whether any of these suggestions can and will work will depend on us, since the first step will be for the public to demand better than the status quo from a government more inclined to listen to big donors than to the voters.
Ganesh takes on what could be a complicated subject and explains it in terms accessible to the layperson. For the complexity of the topic, the book is a quick read, and provides some interesting insights and possible solutions. The biggest takeaway from “Why Flying Is Miserable” is that Americans have always been innovative, and that spirit of innovation will be the key to come up with a better flying experience for everyone.
April 12, 2024
Well the title is misleading as he doesn’t go into why flying is miserable today, at least not much but how it got that way and thee history of the airline industry, which is very well described along with the policies, regulations, and rules that have been changed or thrown out altogether with deregulation. The book is a history and then a very good theory on how to fix what went wrong with possible fixes by the government, not how we can fix it. Other than a letter to congressmen to ask for regulated capitalism for the airlines.
Here there is not much we as travelers can do. He sees a change in congress going in the right direction for regulations, antitrust, and labor protections but they ultimately must move from neoliberalism free market capitalism back to a regulated capitalism especially in the bailed out industries that are essential and too big to fail, that make great profits during booms and then get hand outs of US tax payers by the government when the tough times come. He suggest a few different ways to do that in the last 1/3 or quarter of the book.
The reason I give this 4 1/2 and bump it up as it is first for the history lesson of the airline industry which I knew a bit about but not close to how much the government was involved and supported the new but need industry. Along with that is that is another needed conversation of another big business that has been taking advantage of the US tax payers and government, along with the big pharma, big banks, big internet (which is now pretty equivalent to the phone system of old, hence data in your pocket and TV). TV, telephone, airlines, banks, pharma, had been much more regulated and worked better for the majority of people, now the government has fallen down and allowed the banks, airlines, etc… to fail, the internet/phone to become megalopolies, and Boeing has turned our last producer of aircraft into a for profit and not safety stock seller. So this book is worth the read for the history alone but the politics is a good refresher for when the government sells its soul for greed.
Here there is not much we as travelers can do. He sees a change in congress going in the right direction for regulations, antitrust, and labor protections but they ultimately must move from neoliberalism free market capitalism back to a regulated capitalism especially in the bailed out industries that are essential and too big to fail, that make great profits during booms and then get hand outs of US tax payers by the government when the tough times come. He suggest a few different ways to do that in the last 1/3 or quarter of the book.
The reason I give this 4 1/2 and bump it up as it is first for the history lesson of the airline industry which I knew a bit about but not close to how much the government was involved and supported the new but need industry. Along with that is that is another needed conversation of another big business that has been taking advantage of the US tax payers and government, along with the big pharma, big banks, big internet (which is now pretty equivalent to the phone system of old, hence data in your pocket and TV). TV, telephone, airlines, banks, pharma, had been much more regulated and worked better for the majority of people, now the government has fallen down and allowed the banks, airlines, etc… to fail, the internet/phone to become megalopolies, and Boeing has turned our last producer of aircraft into a for profit and not safety stock seller. So this book is worth the read for the history alone but the politics is a good refresher for when the government sells its soul for greed.
April 28, 2025
Really disappointed though perhaps that was my expectations.
With a fun cover and a click bait title, I expect the book to be a fun, light-hearted read. Instead it's a lengthy history of the US airlines industry and regulation and deregulation that feels like a history book. And the solutions are crammed into half of the last chapter and really focus on what Congress could do to fix it, not anything that practically concerns the reader. The author introduces some complex business and regulatory models that are theoretically good, but are a million to one to ever be implemented.
There's a great history lesson here, but if you're looking for hope or practical solutions to improve air travel, you're likely to be disappointed.
With a fun cover and a click bait title, I expect the book to be a fun, light-hearted read. Instead it's a lengthy history of the US airlines industry and regulation and deregulation that feels like a history book. And the solutions are crammed into half of the last chapter and really focus on what Congress could do to fix it, not anything that practically concerns the reader. The author introduces some complex business and regulatory models that are theoretically good, but are a million to one to ever be implemented.
There's a great history lesson here, but if you're looking for hope or practical solutions to improve air travel, you're likely to be disappointed.
December 5, 2025
As someone who has been a fairly frequent flyer since the late 1970s, I enjoyed learning more about the changes that created the situation with the airlines we find ourselves in today. I remember when deregulation happened but never really understood its far reaching effects. That being said, the title is a bit misleading as the author provides little detail about what could be done now. The book just ends with a recap of earlier points and a call for returning to where we were prior to 1978. But it is not 1978 and much has changed since then, in and outside of the airline industry. I would have expected a more detailed analysis taking that into consideration.
February 7, 2024
Informative history of airline regulations and a short 4 hour audiobook, but I think I would have preferred a breakdown of the psychology/sociology of airplane travel.
Airlines are miserable because of middle seats, no leg room, delays, cancelations, losing taste in the sky, oxygen levels, it’s always freezing, crazy people who demand impossible things, other people in general, bomb treats, undressing in the TSA line, jet lag, and the list could go on and on. Where is that version of this book?
Airlines are miserable because of middle seats, no leg room, delays, cancelations, losing taste in the sky, oxygen levels, it’s always freezing, crazy people who demand impossible things, other people in general, bomb treats, undressing in the TSA line, jet lag, and the list could go on and on. Where is that version of this book?
June 5, 2024
This is a wonderful book on why flying domestically is about as fun as going to the dentist's office. Ganesh Sitaraman does an excellent job in explaining how deregulation screwed up the airline industry. I actually read this book while flying from San Francisco to Houston, so it really resonated with me. The only thing I disagree with the author about is the fact that he thought the piano bars that appeared on airplanes before deregulation were a little excessive. Man, what I wouldn't give to be able to enjoy a piano bar instead of being crammed between eight people on a flight!
July 18, 2023
I enjoyed this book. Sitaraman writes using clear, uncomplicated language and takes clear positions, nothing ambiguous. Sitaraman is great at highlighting problems and offering solutions. And happily, Sitaraman gives enough background that I was able to start from almost zero. Thank you to Edelweiss and Columbia Global Reports for the digital review copy.
December 11, 2023
A solid and concise entry in the growing genre of “It was NOT always this way. It doesn’t have to be this way in the future.” Whether you agree with the conclusions or not the history worth knowing and recognition that the debate around the societal license to operate is changing is critical.
December 31, 2023
only got to 55% and saw no point in continuing! Nothing new, just analysis of issues which most people already know.
January 16, 2024
Enjoyed the history of the industry. Found the solutions and current trends to be less realistic and not much of a solution.
January 28, 2024
OK, this is more an article than a book - basically, how de-regulation screwed everything up in air travel, and the goliath task of reeling it back in.
February 11, 2024
written more for a policymaker—rather than passenger—audience
March 24, 2024
Very interesting, in depth look on the airline industry. Starting with regulation and then de-regulation into what we have now, a shit show.
May 13, 2024
A bit technically complex for me as a layperson but also very validating and hopeful for a person who flies in airplanes
September 13, 2024
Interesting. Kinda dry. Needed more term definitions cuz I'm not into economics that much.
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews