Show Notes
Longtime friend, firsttime caller Jon Oppenheimer finally joins my podcast to continue my tradition of not being quite topical by analyzing a months-old news thing: Southwest Airlines! December 2022 was far from the company's only meltdown that caused nationwide disaster. But Jon asked me to make this episode because we all had questions after the incident: why do we have so few choices of air travel yet so few consequences for airlines when they completely boof it? Who is in charge here? Is this how it's always gonna be? The history of commercial aviation in the US is actually fucking nutty, and the road to where we are now is paved with blood. This is a very dense and dry episode, which is kind of a fun twist for moi! Starting with the air mail scandal from the 30s through the airline deregulation act of 1978 through the present, this is a real highlight real of the relationship between the federal government and private airline companies. Also I whip out an incredible Lois Griffin impression about 42 minutes in. What's not to love?
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SOURCES:
- Mixed Emotions After Cemetery Near O'Hare Moved, Phil Rogers, NBC Chicago, April 2013
- Supreme Court allows mass grave exhumation to make way for O'Hare runway, Jake Griffin, Daily Herald, Jan 2011
- The Air Mail Fiasco, John T. Correll, Air and Space Forces Magazine, March 2008
- https://stjohnsfamilyassistance.com/
- You can find financial data on how much O’Hare charges airlines for rent by year here: https://www.flychicago.com/business/CDA/factsfigures/Pages/financial.aspx
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Mail_scandal_accidents_and_incidents
- A Tiny Line Takes On Braniff in a Price War, NYT Staff, 1973
- Southwest Airlines, Keli Flynn, Texas State Historical Association, 2022
- https://texasarchive.org/2010_00405 - Hostesses in Hot Pants Commercial
- Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger To Congress: My Pay Has Been Cut 40 Percent In Recent Years, Pension Terminated, JOAN LOWY and MICHAEL J. SNIFFEN, AP, Feb 2009
- The blizzard is just one reason behind the operational meltdown at Southwest Airlines, Jennifer Ludden and Scott Neuman, NPR, Dec 2022
- Flight fare prices skyrocketed following Southwest's meltdown. Was it price gouging?, Emily Olsen, NPR, Dec 2022
- Taxpayers spent billions bailing out airlines. Did the industry hold up its end of the deal?, Michael Laris and Lori Aratani, Washington Post, 2021
- How Southwest Airlines Melted Down, Alison Sider, Wall Street Journal, 2022
- Attorneys General complaint to Pete Buttegieg: https://www.attorneygeneral.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/2022-12-19-USDOT-NPRM-FINAL-34-AGs.pdf
- Southwest Investors complaint: https://rosenlegal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/SW-Complaint-Upload.pdf
- Southwest Airlines sued for outdated technology, Stefanie Schappert, Cyber News 2023
- Southwest Airlines to Revamp Crew Scheduling System, Alison Sider, Wall Street Journal, 2023
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airline_Deregulation_Act
