The Sindex: Price of Audio Equipment Rises 12 Percent Under Trump Tariffs
The Reason Sindex tracks the price of vice: smoking, drinking, snacking, traveling, and more.
Airlines
America's Longest Government Shutdown Shows Why We Must Free Air Traffic Control from Politics
Nations that moved air traffic control out of politics have better tech, no shutdown chaos, and stable funding. Congress keeps choosing dysfunction instead.
Fate of Flight Attendant Who Accused Army Vet of Trafficking His Daughter Is Now With Virginia's Supreme Court
The teen began to cry when the plane hit turbulence. He comforted his daughter—and aroused the suspicions of flight attendant Cheryl Thomas.
ICE Agent Who Took Upskirt Photos of Flight Attendant Says It Wasn't a Crime Because He Was Sneaky
Um, no, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit says, upholding his conviction.
Spirit Airlines May Go Out of Business Because of the Justice Department
The DOJ blocked Spirit's merger with JetBlue in 2024 over concerns about market consolidation, but markets also consolidate when failing firms go bankrupt and exit.
Why Does the Government Run Air Traffic Control?
Air traffic control is simply too important to leave up to the politicians.
How Airline Miles Turned Into a Multibillion Dollar Currency
How a fringe marketing idea became the backbone of airline profits—and a gateway to global luxury travel
Nathan Fielder's 737 Stunt Involved Elaborate Workaround of Ridiculous 1,500-Hour Rule
In order to perform his famous 737 stunt, Fielder had to navigate around flight-hour requirements that critics say don't improve safety but do cause a shortage of pilots.
Is REAL ID Actually Happening?
The law was passed 20 years ago, and enforcement finally looms.
Thank Jimmy Carter for Cheap Airfare
And also smartphones and FedEx, all of which were made possible by his push to abolish bad regulations.
Jimmy Carter, 'The Great Deregulator,' 1924–2024
Nobel-winning economist Vernon Smith says the 39th president radically improved air travel, freight rail, and trucking in ways that still benefit us immensely.
Abolish the TSA
The agency has not made air travel safer but it has made it costlier and more time-consuming to fly.
Abolish Amtrak
Why should the federal government run a transportation corporation?
The Sindex: Airfares Have Fallen Below Prepandemic Levels
The Reason Sindex tracks the price of vice: smoking, drinking, snacking, traveling, and more.
Should Airliners Be Forced To Fly Through War Zones?
Rep. Ritchie Torres (D–N.Y.) claims that airlines are engaging in discrimination and enabling price gouging by canceling flights to the Middle East without government permission.
Federal Aviation Administration
How Political Meddling in New York and New Jersey Causes Airline Delays in the Entire U.S.
Congestion and slowdowns in the airspace around New York City account for up to 75 percent of all airline delays, yet efforts to depoliticize its management remain stalled.
Biden and Trump Are Both Disastrously Wrong About Tariffs
Yes, cheap imports hurt some American companies. But protectionist trade policy harms many more Americans than it helps.
Biden Keeps Blaming Others for His Economic Mistakes
The president has tried to shift blame for inflation, interest rate hikes, and an overall decimation of consumers' purchasing power.
Congress' FAA Reauthorization Is Good for Remote Towers, Bad for Travel Agents
The legislation is largely a status quo bill that doesn't take up longstanding calls to reform air traffic control, airport funding, and more.
Remy: It's Raining Men (Boeing Parody)
Boeing throws conventional wisdom out the window, among other things.
Argentina, Once One of the Richest Countries, Is Now One of the Poorest. Javier Milei Could Help Fix That.
The new libertarian president believes in free markets and the rule of law. When people have those things, prosperity happens.
Let Foreign Airlines Serve Domestic Routes in the U.S.
Argentina is opening domestic air travel to foreign airlines for the first time. The same trick has worked wonders for Europe.
Lawmakers and Unions Defend Burdensome Airline Regulations With Bogus Statistics
The world's largest union of pilots says this requirement is necessary for safety and not unduly burdensome, but its data are misleadingly cherry-picked.
Airlines Ask FAA To Regulate Competitor Out of Business
American Airlines, Southwest Airlines, and the largest union of pilots want the government to change regulations that allow a smaller competitor to operate.
How Florida Beat California to High-Speed Rail
One company is betting that it can run a commercially viable passenger rail service without massive federal subsidies.
Southwest Airlines Falsely Accuses Mom of Trafficking Biracial Daughter
Plus: Backpage trial pushed back, Bidenomics doens't resonate, and more...
Government Ruins Yet Another Holiday Travel Weekend
Phantom thunderstorms scotch thousands of flights, because the FAA sucks.
Appellate Court Dismisses Case Challenging CDC Transportation Mask Mandate Because it has Become Moot
A case that began with a bang ends with a whimper. The issue of whether the CDC has the power to impose mask mandates remains unresolved.
Senate Democrats Say Modernizing Airline Pilot Training Requirements Will Kill People
If a proposal to let pilots do more of their training on flight simulators passes, supporters will have "blood on your hands," says Sen. Tammy Duckworth.
France's Ban on Short-Haul Flights Will Kill People
You're 2,200 times more likely to die when traveling by car as opposed to by airplane.
You Are Not Free to Move About the Country
For better air travel in the U.S., it’s time for Congress to open the skies to international competition.
Vernon Smith: Adam Smith's Relevance, Jimmy Carter's Deregulation, and the Fed's Biggest Mistake
"The greatest thing that ever happened to me was to be born in a free country of modest means and to have opportunities," says the Nobel Prize–winning economist.
Are These Obscure FAA Regulations Putting Babies in Danger?
Restrictions on baby carriers during takeoff and landing are based on a single study from 1994 that didn’t even study these types of devices.
America Needs a Better Kind of Capitalism
Big corporations and entire industries constantly use their connections in Congress to get favors, no matter which party is in power.
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.
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.
