I genuinely don't understand how not paying flight attendants isn't wage theft. I was shocked when I learned that they are not paid for sooooo much work.

The root cause, of everything terrible in the world, is ALWAYS GREED!

Great summary of what's wrong with not only airlines, but the whole economy.

I was raised as an "airline brat." (Both my parents worked for United Airlines.) Mid 60's through the 90's Until the 80's, when we traveled on their flight benefits as a family, we had to wear our best clothes as a matter of employee policy. In the early days, flying was sexy - and fun! The 747-400 was amazing! Once in flight, the "stuards" would come by and ask if we kids would like to take a look at the upstairs lounge - and occasionally even visit the pilots in the cockpit (*sigh - pre 9/11*) Generally speaking, there was lots of room, pillows, blankets, meals, a movie and even a deck of playing cards (and toys!) on request. Heck, the attendants would just offer them. All of it free! And we would occasionally laugh at the meals, but they were really great (by comparison to today). United even maintained its own food service division back then. These days, I take the train if I have a choice.

"Try to be a little nicer to service workers and your fellow passengers - on planes and in life. After all, we're all on this journey together." -- Robert Reich Amen to that Professor.

I was an avid flyer for most of my life. i loved flying when i was little, and never dealt with any fear. Even served in the USAF, worked on planes, and got a few rides in them. A few years ago i decided not to fly anymore. Not commercial anyway. it is too expensive, too inconvenient, and now, too unreliable. I'd rather drive or take the train, and I'm not alone. trains that used to be sparsely ridden are now frequently full, and reservations are becoming mandatory, and further in advance. We need to stop subsidizing profitable corporations (welfare queens), and invest in public transport infrastructure. Amtrak should be everywhere, all the time.

The airlines refer to it as 'calculated misery.' So if you're uncomfortable, then you will be willing to pay more for 2 inches of extra legroom. They make you as miserable as possible so that you'll pay for relief. By the time I'm done booking my flight, the total cost is close enough for me to go first class. The cost of a bag, the privilege of being able to choose your seat, the cost of interacting with someone at the ticket counter, the cost of printing the damn ticket, etc. So I scrap the economy ticket and upgrade to first class. Sometimes the cost is about the same.

I knew it! When we have flown on foreign airlines, we’ve been treated so well it’s amazing! In flight meals, leg room, a little kindness…

Had a horror story just last month. I’m a manual wheelchair user, which makes flying challenging at the best of times. For those of you who don’t know, the Americans with disabilities act (ADA) mandates that there be a place onboard to stow a wheelchair, called a wheelchair closet, for planes above 30 seats I think. I was boarding a cross country flight on a plane with 200 seats, so there was indeed a wheelchair closet. I was a good disabled person and informed the airline that I was coming and would need the closet ahead of time and was told that it would be available to me, but when I got to the edge of the jet bridge a flight attendant took one look at me and said “Sorry, you’re going to need to gate check your chair because it won’t fit.” Now, I knew this was BS. I’d literally made the same flight on the same aircraft type six days previous and had stowed my chair in the cabin with no issues. Another important piece of information here is that my chair costs $3400 and wasn’t covered by insurance. The idea of it being manhandled in any way scares the crap out of me, and I’m not leaving my _crucial mobility device_ in the hands of baggage workers unless I absolutely have to. So I looked at this flight attendant, and looked at the wheelchair closet. It was, of course, full of flight crew luggage as it tends to be whenever there’s not a chair onboard. Ah. Mystery solved. I pointed at the closet (which had a wheelchair symbol on it) and said “This one?” She said yes and that she was sure I wouldn’t fit. I said “I made this flight a week ago on another aircraft of the exact same type, and it fit. Let me show you.” I stood up (yes I can stand, not all wheelchair users are paralyzed, I myself have a neurodegenerative disease) and began disassembling my chair. There was some grumbling while the luggage was removed, and I stowed all of my parts except for my seat cushion neatly in the closet. When I finished, I looked at the sour faced flight attendant, smiled, and thanked her for accommodating me while seething internally. What happened to me should never happen, but it happens to wheelchair users and mobility device users all the time. Flight crew, of course, need a place to stow their stuff, and the airlines need to do a better job at cabin design to make sure disabled people and hardworking employees alike all have space, not even to mention regular passengers.

I absolutely HATE flying. I am old enough to remember when it was a pleasure to fly. Now it's just downright PAINFUL.

I flew for TWA in the 70's and 80's . We weren't paid after we checked in initially for the trip. After the flight took off we were on the clock. The pay was very good, benefits were excellent, especially dental. (got to keep the smile looking good). There was a cap on hours flow per month/ per trip. Management was strict about weight, make up etc. No extreme hairdos. I didn't have any complaints about the job. I did struggle with jet lag flying overseas for a while. I was a zombie till i figured out what worked for me. You couldn't get me on a flight nowadays free.

Lack of competition.

I retired from American Airlines five years ago. When I was a kid a coast to coast ticket cost a months pay of the average worker. Deregulation led to a price war to the point where it is cheaper to fly than to drive. Then when they canned all the travel agents everyone searched the internet. The number one factor in making a ticket choice is price. That’s why they have all those add on fees. Your $30 ticket to Vegas winds up costing $300 in additional fees and the public just goes along with it. I don’t fly anywhere anymore even though I can do it for free. That’s how bad the industry has become. Excellent video and commentary on the state of our country. UNION FOREVER! I will never cross a picket line. Keep up the good work.

As a flight attendant myself for a big airline , I want to thank you for this lovely message on being nicer to each other. Yup...in my airlines , we haven't seen a pay raise in 13 yrs..and just think how much money the company is saving by not paying us during boarding , which is the hardest part of the job. Thank you for this wonderful video. 💖

Oh wow, I could join you on this video. I'm 45, flown a lot both commercial and small planes as a kid, and a lot of commercial planes as an adult. Flying used to be almost like the ultimate version of "the customer is always right", which has morphed into them yelling at us and dragging us off planes. I get that this is a two way street, but it went from being a king to being cattle, something has to give. I now have only flown twice in a decade, meanwhile I have over a hundred flights in the previous decade. Some of that is work, but my wife and I now actively avoid trips that would require flight.

Our wonderful Congress who are owned by lobbies YES ABSOLUTELY owned. Bought and sold!

I recently flew on Contour Airlines, a small company with government subsidies to run less-serviced routes. It was a plane with only 30 seats, and was the only option for Paducah, KY, to the hub of Charlotte, but the price was $69 each way. Flight attendants were funny and laid back but professional, and they had a full basket of all kinds of snacks offered to everyone, as well as drink service. The flight back was delayed because of a mechanical issue, and they were the only airline at that airport, with two daily runs to Charlotte -- that was it. If they didn't fix the plane, no one was going anywhere. We didn't have to ask what was going on -- they kept us fully informed the whole time, ordered pizza for everyone, plus snacks and drinks in the tiny airport. Then they pointed out to us that they were test flying the plane after the repair, and we watched them take off and land three times, before they were okay with making the flight. They were so good to us on there, and it was a great experience.

You're so correct. In a 42 year career I lived it. Started with the phone company, left after divestiture. Went to work for a regional airline that was merged twice. Started my own shop that I sold after nine years and it was merged. Retired from one of the four telecoms left after several more mergers and acquisitions. Glad to be out of the game. P.S., being a union steward saved me on several occasions.

Consolidated Airlines. True words were never spoken Robert. Thank you for this excellent video. I'm 64 years old and I remember the days when people would dress up just to fly. And more importantly, people were civilized to each other.

So well put! We all have horror stories. I live in Montreal, which was the home of the only Grand Prix Race in North America for decades. One year I travelled on business from Toronto to Montreal on Grand Prix Friday! What a mistake. With overbooking and near riots at the airport. The poor counter staff were trying to rebook people. Despite having purchased an assigned seat, I could not get on my 5pm flight and ended up getting home at 1am! I do not understand how selling a seat to 2 people is not fraud!!!!

I was flying from San Jose to Omaha with a layover in Denver. During the layover in Denver Southwest delayed my flight by 1 hour pushing the original departure time of 5pm to 6pm. They continued to delay the flight by 1 hour until midnight when they cancelled it completely, saying the next flight they could get me on to Omaha would be in 2 days (well after the family reunion I was trying to get to). I decided to just fly back to San Jose because I was going to miss the family reunion regardless of what I did. I found a flight back to San Jose that night (which I had to pay for) and was assured that my bags would make it back to the airport I flew out of. I get back to San Jose and they have lost my bags. At this point it is around 2am and there is no one in the airport to talk to about it so I decide to drive home and have them ship my bags to me. There is a mixup at the long term parking because they didn't expect me back so soon and it takes them an hour to find my car and it is a 1.5 hour drive home. I get home at 4:30am and go to sleep. I call Southwest in the morning and explain what had happened. They tell me it will be $100 to ship my bags back to me and deny any requests for compensation aside from 4 drink vouchers and no apology. In the end I ended up spending almost 3 times what I had paid for the original tickets, I didn't get to my family reunion and had one of the worst days of my life.

I think the biggest factor, across the entire economy, is the shareholder driven fantasy of exponential growth.

This is why I refuse to fly most of the time. It has to be a necessity or I cannot....

Thank you Robert for addressing a pet peeve of mine. I am old enough to remember a better flying experience on so many levels. Recently on my last flight, a TSA agent was yelling at 2 older people who were not doing something properly. It was very uncomfortable to hear her yelling and I could relate to the elders moving too slowly. Flying used to be an adventure, now it’s a nightmare. You have hit the nail on its head! THANK YOU!

The fact that he was able to summarize so much of what’s wrong with our economy and by extension our society right now in six minutes is amazing. Pay attention to those solutions he suggested and support businesses that are taking a better approach wherever you can.

Reagan broke the air traffic controllers union and replaced them with new people. In the past, air traffic control had a steady flow of new people coming in and old people retiring, so they had a mix of experience levels that the new people could learn from. By hiring new people all at once, Reagan created an age gap. People are retiring in droves with lots of new people coming in, who won't be able to learn from those who are more experienced. Yet another reason why Reagan was a disaster.

That’s just another reason why I prefer Amtrak. It may in most cases be the only choice for train travel in the US, but it’s not trying to pay stockholders, so the money goes into the operation. No charge for up to two checked bags, two carry-on bags plus a personal item allowed. Plenty of leg room, wider seats, nicely reclining seats, and leg and toe rests in coach. Of course, the main reasons are the scenery and the potential for chatting with others.

This summer, my wife and I were flying from Aruba to Asheville with a layover in Atlanta. An afternoon thunderstorm caused such a problem for the airline that our flight was canceled. We had to drop hundreds of dollars on cab and hotel accommodations which they wouldn’t reimburse us for because the delay was “weather related” despite other planes flying out that night. Long story short, they booked us on a second flight the next day which also got cancelled and we ended up driving the final leg of the trip. It took an additional 2 days after that to get our bags. Did we get any money refunded? Nope.

I appreciate that he uses something that people almost universally hate (flying) to point out similar problems in our entire economy.

My family was flying back from a trip to see relatives. The day before our return flight, I checked us in and confirmed the four of us were seated together and printed our boarding passes. The next morning, I went to the airline website to check that our flight was on time and see what terminal we were flying out of and discovered they had moved my family from our confirmed seats and stuck us in single seats all over the plane. My oldest is disabled and my youngest was around 7 at the time. I called the airline and they said "Sorry, we had to change planes and the seat configuration is different." I asked why they made ZERO attempt to seat a family with minor children who were all on the same reservation together and they didn't care at all. I went to the ticket counter at the airport and got the same "Whatever..." response. My husband said "We're just going to have to ask people on the plane if they will swap seats." So frustrating. And if you read Reddit subs dedicated to travel and flying, they are full of angry stories about "entitled Karens" who need to swap seats to be next to their children. Other people are blaming the families being "too cheap to buy adjacent seats" or "too stupid to plan ahead" when 99% of the time it's the airline's fault for making last minute switcheroo and forcing passengers to work out a solution.

Thanks so much for these facts. I was just telling my family recently that I didn’t understand why flying was so pleasant when I was younger and is a TERRIBLE experience nowadays. It all comes down to the twin ogres: greed ( airlines) and complacency ( customers). I’m going to follow your excellent suggestions about stopping both.

As a former airline employee, I love our new sprinter van. The problems we're seeing now on aircraft is absurd, yet it's a reflection of how quickly our society has declined. We no longer have any grace, tolerance or especially patience for others. Quick to anger over things that are truly minor. When flying so many no longer respect others personal space or have normal decency. People do bizarre things that you'd never hear of before, like the woman that wore 10 layers of clothes to avoid a checked bag fee. We've turned the fantasy of flight into a flying herd of dimwits too often these days

Robert Reich is a national treasure. We need HIM on cable "news" 24/7.

I worked as a flight attendant from 1990 through 2002 (and then took a leave of absence before I separated from the company in 2007). It was my dream job as a little girl, and I am eternally grateful for the many years of global travel I was able to do. It's a different job now, and I don't miss it at all, but I sure do miss the way it was.

We are so desperate for re-regulation of industry, blocking further mergers and stipulating what private industry can do with government monies...for a start. Thanks, Dr. R. for your valuable videos to raise awareness.

Flying the way Robbie refers to was in a highly subsidized industry back then. There was an entity called the CAB which he fails to mention that compensated airlines for unprofitable routes among other things helping to insure their bottom line. Ronnie Reagan did away with that and forced airlines to sink or swim. All of this ultimately creating our current state of airline travel.

The corporate greed is so sad. It’s soul-sucking!😣😩😡

My family and I were going on vacation and had tickets to fly into a regional airport. We had one stop to change planes. Got off the plane in Charlotte and found that the second leg was cancelled for no apparent reason. I asked the guy at the service desk what we were supposed to do and he held up his hands and shrugged. We had to rent a car and drive the last leg. They wouldn’t give us a refund or pay for the rental car, just gave us a voucher for a future flight.

Remember that small claims court can be a legitimate consumer option. I took United to small claims and won. They have to pay their lawyers more than the actual dispute often.

I remember when people used to dress up for flights, and the 747 (I think) had an upstairs lounge you could walk to and walk around in. Then they filled it with paid seats, then with more and smaller paid seats. Flying did improve in some ways, as they used to let people smoke away in the plane, and sold people more cigarettes in flight….so everyone’s clothes reeked of cigarettes after flying.

It's crazy to me that a flight attendant has to be at the airport like an hour before their flight, deal with 30-45 minutes of boarding passengers and don't get paid until the doors close. I do agree that people need to be kinder to each other. Flying is stressful for everyone these days.

It's like what happened at Boeing. Boeing used to be an engineering company that focused on excellent engineering, quality manufacturing and passenger safety. The workers were listened to and they had a say on how the company was run. Then the executives, MBA's, beancounters, financiers, business types and investors took over and turned it into an ATM machine. It's the same thing and its happening all over.

I enjoyed flying in the 1970s. Then everything got crowded and flying across country became complicated where you'd have to change planes twice. As far as the experience, when I could afford it I was able to fly first class twice. That was great. Anything less than first class is an ordeal. Airports have not been upgraded in 50 years. Airplanes have doors at the front and rear but gates are only designed to enter the front door of the plane. If both doors were used then entering and exiting planes would be quick and easy. But, no.....

In the States these days, I always travel by train. Yes it's slower and old fashioned, however, it is a very pleasant and convivial way to travel. You get to meet a lot of interesting people and see a lot of interesting places along the way. That more than makes up for the time.

I remember this one time when I was traveling home on leave. I got upgraded to first class because I was in uniform. I sat in the seats and thought, " wow this is pretty nice." A gentleman across from me noticed that I was impressed and asked if it was my first time in first class. I told him it was, and he said economy class used to be this. That first class had all these other luxuries that you can't get anymore. Ahh the Pan Am golden days I guess.

I hate to distract from the message about consolidation, but I just want to say this video is phenomenally well-produced. It looks very clean, you and your team make these topics super entertaining.

What an excellent video ❤! When I lived in the USA, i used to fly on Delta, TWA, etc. but now, I never travel with any American airline. I am lucky because I live in Japan. When I go overseas, my airline of choice is Singapore Airlines. Excellent service! Failing that, I will fly on either ANA or Japan Airlines, also great, but not as wonderful as Singapore. Last year I also flew Lufthansa in Europe. I have never ever encountered the horrible service and lack of customer courtesy I see on KZfaq, that American airlines have. Just awful and unbelievable! This video explains why the airline service industry in the USA is in the pits! Thank you for this!

I'm 60. In my younger years, I remember being treated like royalty by the airline staff. Even in the coach section.

Stuck on the tarmac in Vegas for hours, the heat on the plane was getting unbearable, nerves were fraying. I’m a bad flyer as it is due to phobia, this was my worst case scenario nightmare. They pack you in like sardines, and give you peanuts, and wonder why people are mad.

What a fabulous, accurate, informative video. It's a plesure to have found your channel and to be a new subscriber.

Thanks Bob, for speaking important truths in a way that's fun to hear and easy to understand! I'll be sharing your videos!

Speaking for all flight attendants; thank you for making this. I fly charter and this includes military as well. Our company is doing amazingly well, but it doesn’t trickle down to us or the pilots. The pilots still have some thing better than we do. After 30 years in the air, I’m grateful for the experiences, but saddened at what has happened to our industry.

I think the underlying issue is that we have allowed sociopaths to rise through the corporate ranks to become the executives of nearly every corporation. They also occupy most political positions, which is why the laws support the corporate greed and lack of empathy. This will not change until we, as a people, decide that empathy has value and that ruthlessness does not. I'm not holding my breath for this to happen in my lifetime...

I am so used to flying being a nightmare, but last summer I flew Turkish Airlines - it almost made me cry. WITH JOY! It was almost like it was in the good old days. At first we were looking for the menu in the seat pocket, but there were none. So we settled with not getting anything to eat and drink on the three hour flight. But then this wonder happened: the super friendly crew served food, beverages, desert, cake, coffee, tea - all very, very high quality, REAL cutlery, no plastic. No extra cost. It was AMAZING. I highly recommend Turkish Airlines.

I recently returned from a trip to Asia (my first vacation in 6 years) where I got horribly sick the first day I arrived. I was in bed (quarantined) for 10 days. Changed my flight home and paid $800 to upgrade to Premium Economy on a 16 hour flight to feel a little more comfortable. Except the unmasked passenger directly behind me coughed up a lung every 5 minutes. It's been 3 weeks since I got home and I'm still sick...no more trips for me.

This is SPOT ON! And it reminds me of another pet peeve. These days, many services (Dr.s appt, on-line or phone purchases, etc.) are followed by surveys asking me to rate my experience. I've even seen automated machines in public restrooms asking me to push a button to rate cleanliness, etc. What they really mean is "help us dominate the grossly underpaid worker who helped you." There is NEVER a question about the CEO or the company's policies. I either give a great rating or no rating at all. I don't work for the personnel department and I'm not going to help them keep their employees in line. They can do their own dirty work!

We can thank Ronald Reagan for encouraging monopolies.

Not only does it suck. The workers hate working there now. Any time companies have stocks, they start to suck.

Airlines were tightly regulated so they had to operate routes that were necessary but not profitable in order to get profitable routes. Most airlines ran at a loss, but a regular and predictable loss, so they were owned by businesses that were very profitable and needed to balance those profits against losses in order to actually keep more of their profits. Reagan undid all that.

I have chosen not to fly anymore! The experience is so dehumanizing that I just can't bear the discomfort anymore. I live in the southwest of this country and will drive to New York for the Thanksgiving holidays rather than face another degrading experience of a holiday crowd in an airport and an overcrowded plane! This country is full of wonderful people and they are very willing to be kind to strangers when you meet them in their natural habitat. When you get crammed into a too-small seat next to them the experience is very different. Thank you Robert for putting together such an amusing and to-the-point video!

When I was a kid there was actual food on planes. I was invited to tour the cockpit and even sat in the pilot's chair. Today it's like taking the Greyhound, I have to show up hours early to mitigate the airport's lack of organization, and even though I'm an honorably separated Army veteran, *every single time I walk into an airport* for the last twenty years, I get treated like a potential terrorist by someone with four weeks of education in security who looks like they couldn't get hired at the cable company. I don't fly anymore. Amtrak is a better deal and far less stressful. Yeah, I mean, when I travel for work, they have to pay me for two more days.. but they're saving a ton of money on the airline tickets I don't buy anymore. If that's what the big airline corporations' CEOs wanted, fine. Maybe they invest their dividends in Amtrak stock instead of their own companies to avoid the SEC's attention. What really hits me about all of this is how much it changed in half a lifetime. I hear stories about what flying was like in the fifties and wonder if they're understated so people won't immediately reject them as lies.

I'm an Aussie & have never flown with our national carrier QANTAS & never will. I have used their budget airline Jetstar & will never fly with them again either. When I go to see my wife & kids in the Philippines I fly Singapore Airlines. 30kg free checked baggage, 7kg carry on & meals, drinks & a hot towel before takeoff. All this in economy class. I have to have a layover in Changi Airport as I fly from Darwin. Not that much of a hassle as Changi Airport has plenty of areas where you can lay down & relax & sleep. Best airline & best airport in the world as far as I'm concerned. 😊😊😊😊

I admire this guy’s positive outlook. Especially when you look back like 20-30 years ago when he was literally preaching and warning what the country would turn into if we didn’t take what he said serious. And literally everything he warned came into fruition. Most people would be frustrated but he continues to just keep laying out the facts calmly.

I didn't know flight attendants don't get paid during the boarding process. Wow that is terrible. I remember being delayed on the tarmac for 2 hours. Yikes

I remember choosing an empty row in the back of the Red Eye and stretching-out for a nap as we flew across the continent. Flying used to be fun. For the last couple of decades, I've been driving my business trips instead of flying whenever possible; the time is often similar and I can carry my pocket knife, stretch, eat, and _whatever,_ pretty much when I want and in far more comfort.

I absolutely HATE flying. Visiting far away places is nice, but I don't think it offsets the discomfort of flying.

You have a lot of good videos out there and I show some of them to my friends to educate them. Thank you for educating us the economics of life.

In 2017 I had occasion to travel across the United States from Boston to visit Seattle, and I found I had a choice: air or rail. To fly to Seattle I could pay $1,700.00 for a first-class ticket on Delta, and deal with all the issues you describe so well. Or I could pay $1,700.00 for a first class ticket on AmTrak's Empire Builder line, and spend three days relaxing in a private compartment reading, thinking, or just watching America roll by, all while enjoying three delicious (free) meals a day, plus cheap and plentiful coffee and booze in the bar car, chatting with my fellow passengers. As I wasn't in any particular hurry, the choice was pretty obvious to me. The trip went more smoothly than any airline flight I've ever been on, going all the way back to my first flight in 1976. The only passenger-related incident was when the conductor halted the train in the middle of the night at a whistle stop somewhere in the deep wilds of Montana to put someone off, for the offense of smoking in the stairwell of the bar car. At this point I think the only justification for flying is either a) you're in a big hurry, or b) you're a masochist.

It took less than eight hours to fly from Amsterdam to Newark with United. Then it took me more than eight hours to get to my final destination of Rochester NY, because of several screwups in domestic air travel. Next time I'll take the train to Rochester.

Bob Reich has long been a great teacher. We need to be better students and put his lessons to work.

Its common for more arguments to occur when folks become more tightly packed. Its normal and predictable. Personal space is important.

Canadian. The federal government cracked down on poor customer service here. When I flew home from the US, in January/23,my flight was cancelled. I was rebooked the following day. Air Canada reimbursed me for my hotel and meals, plus they paid me$1000. for the inconvenience ( approximately $100/ hour, if the delay is caused by the airline, and is 3 hours or more).

You also forgot to mention the fact that there is no competitive ground. Options for travel such as high speed rail or a quality bus service.

Boarding is the most stressful time for flight attendants! Crazy!

United Airlines and American Airlines both canceled flights a few years back at my different business trips and cost me my job. They have no mercy.

Retired airline pilot here .. I take Amtrak nowadays. I have yet to encounter a single delay. I don’t have to go through the TSA checkpoint, I eat good food in a dining car like a restaurant, I have a private room and there is a shower available if I want. Write your congressional reps and demand more train service!

The one time I missed a flight was with United. I showed up to the airport more than 2 hours before the flight was scheduled to take off, but when I got to the airport, there was a huge line to check bags and *nobody* at the counter. After about 45 minutes, a single counter opened and by the time I got in the front, I had missed my flight. I literally missed a flight because United was so severely understaffed that it took over 2 hours to check a bag.

As an 80+ person, I started flying in the 50's. The planes were prop planes, many of them 2 engine. Yet there was leg room to stretch out and lounge back, almost double the width of seats, aisles with space enough to walk while an attendant was serving. And get this, the airfare included meals, and we had a choice of menu! Even into the 90's traveling on long flight destinations there was space in the rear to stand up and have conversations with others. Unfortunately, as Robert says, Americans have no choice if they need to travel, and the airlines know it.

If you remember, flying was extremely expensive back then. Flying was for the rich or very special occasions.

The worst I had recently was an American Airlines flight being delayed almost two and a half hours when I had a connection. There were 11 people on the same flight with the same connection and even though (most) people let us off first and we ran through the airport we all missed the flight. What was infuriating was that the connection was also American Airlines, so they knew we were coming, but also that the connecting flight left 10 minutes early. The gate attendants and customer service tried to tell me the flight did not leave early but I took pictures of the time they closed the door which was shown at the gate. We had to wait 11 hours for the next flight and “the best they could do” was one meal voucher per guest for the food court. It was a $10 credit which is barely enough to get a coffee in airports. I will never fly American again.

I like what you said about corporate monopolies getting us to blame each other for the excesses of rich companies and individuals. I also see people blame themselves for doing poorly in a rigged economy. I picture a sheltered workshop system that would benefit 3 populations: seniors who can’t afford to retire, the disabled who need special accommodations to be able to work, and single parents. All three of these groups could thrive (and by extension, increase our GDP, productivity, and individual prosperity). We need something like a sheltered workshop system (funded by the 15% corporate minimum tax), to insert prosperity at the bottom of the socioeconomic pyramid, and balance the poverty Out of society. Thank you for shining the light in the distorted places. 💙🦋☮️

I wish there were more journalists or just people in general were like you, Robert.

Captain Reich. You are the best.

Thanks Bob! The world is a better place with you keeping us informed.

American Airlines flat out stole $200. I accidentally booked a flight for October instead of September (senior moment) and didn’t realize the mistake until a couple of days laterlater. I cancelled and rebooked but no refund. When I called the customer service they said “you agreed to the terms and conditions. Since you didn’t notice the mistake within 24 hours there is no refund.” But I caught the mistake more than a month from when it was (accidentally) scheduled How is that not illegal? They have more than a month to fill the seat (and probably will)

I once had a chemistry TA named Kimberly Clark. It was disconcerting, because all of our lab wipes were provided by Kimberly-Clark.

As a tall guy, I now greatly prefer busing between Denver and Kansas City to flying. In a bus, the absence of knee pain allows me to actually get work done.

Thank you for relaying that 8” of length & 2” of width has been removed. On my flight back to the U.S. from Switzerland, I literally had to keep walking down the aisle & do stretches near the lavatory the entire flight because the cramped seating was so unbearable, especially if you’re tall.

I used to fly every three weeks for work from 97 to 2018 and I remember when they didn't charge for checking bags or a least one bag. Then 9/11 happened and slowly throughout the years things began to change like the things you mentioned in your video. One of the things that pissed me off the most was that sometimes I would get to the airport several hours early for my flight and in the past they would allow you to change your flight to an earlier departure time if there were empty seats available at the time. But they eventually changed that and wanted to charge you to change to an earlier departure time even if the flight had empty seats available. It never made sense to me that I was willing to fill an empty seat on their plane so that they could have more seats available on a later flight.

In a saner world this channel would be one of the biggest on KZfaq.

I'm a frequent traveler, mostly overseas. I used to be proud of Avianca, a Colombian airline. Now, they charge more and give nothing back. Not even WATER on an international flight.

Can confirm that we’re not imagining the seat shrinkage. Last year I flew on an old plane (How old? The armrests had ASHTRAYS) and it was like being in freaking business class. I’m a bigger guy, and other than the rare occasions I’ve lucked out on an upgrade it was the first time I’d been comfortable on a plane in decades

My airline horror story: Back in 2007, when I was a broke 19-year-old, I needed to make my way from New England back to my home in the Pacific Northwest on US Airways, with a stopover in Philadelphia. My flight to PHL was uneventful, but the flight out of PHL was overbooked...by quite a bit. They asked for volunteers to go on a flight the next morning, offering hotel and travel vouchers. But because I was broke and had a terrible job, I tried to stay on that flight so I could be at work the next day. I'm guessing that a lot of people were in a similar situation, because about a half hour later, I heard my name along with about 10 others over the PA. Lo and behold, I was kicked off the flight and put on the one the next morning. When I asked for my hotel and travel vouchers, they said they didn't have to provide them because I didn't volunteer to be bumped. I slept on the terminal floor that night because I literally didn't have enough money for a hotel room that day. By some miracle, I actually made it back to my home airport with maybe about an hour to spare before I had to clock in for work. I was stinky, tired, and I got an earful from the general manager because "I obviously pulled an all-nighter and didn't look professional." I tried tirelessly to get some kind of compensation from US Airways, but they went and got gobbled up by American a little while later. Good fkuicgn riddance. (I haven't flown American in well over a decade, but I can't imagine that they treat their passengers any better.)

RR is absolutely right. We've been convinced that 'competition' makes for a better and richer consumer experience. Meantime billionaires utilize a tax code that is rife with loopholes such that the "One Percent" have never been so rich. Down with 'trusts'.

What would we do without your pointed reporting? Your're priceless.

Canadian here. Not a Reagan fan. He destroyed PATCO. At the time, his decision looked brave. NOPE. It took 15 years for the industry to recover proper staffing of competent airline controllers.

I've been flying since 1969, and flew a lot from the 70's into the millennium........and yes, it was wonderful!!! And in all those years, I might add, I never saw bad behavior, or anyone wearing pajamas! I won't go near an airport now.

Would love to see gov't action on hidden fees. Last month scheduling flights for my upcoming trip, it wasn't until the checkout page in an obscure barely visible place it highlighted that there was a separate charge for carry-on bag (not checked, carry on) and then I had to dig around their website to see how much it was: $45 for a carry-on bag each way which made it more expensive than the alternative and wasted a ton of my time. Needless to say, I went with the alternative both to save a bit and on principle. Same nightmare trying to book hotels too--hidden fees galore making it take hours to find what's actually a deal and what's a scam in disguise looking to pounce an extra $100+ on you when you check in. It's just ridiculous. Robbing us all blind through obfuscation.

I love your work, Mr. Reich!

Consumers are faced with tiered services, from concert tickets to airline seats, etc etc