Flight Bullying Should Be Stopped Now

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/11/opinion/fear-of-flying-for-good-reason.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-left-region&region=opinion-c-col-left-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-left-region&_r=0

On April 09, 2017 security officials at Chicago's O'Hare airport violently removed a passenger off a United flight just because the airline needed the seat for its employee. The whole episode was captured on videos that was set the internet ablaze with outrage. It is truly a shame for the United airline. Mr. Munoz, the CEO of the airline apologized on April 10, 2017 for having to make re-arrangement for these customers (there are four passengers who were asked to give their seats) but not for mishandling of the passenger, a doctor who was bleeding from the mouth when he was forced to leave the flight. Even more outrageous, Mr. Munoz called the doctor was "disruptive and belligerent". On April 11, 2017, two days after the fiasco, the stock price of the United dropped. Mr. Munoz saw that warning light and issued a statement saying that "no one should ever be mistreated this way."

For years, flying was kind of inconvenient for customers. The ticket price soared due to high oil price between year 2005 and 2015. Since 2016, the oil price has dropped significantly, however the ticket price didn't follow the trend. In recent years, the airlines tried their best to squeeze the space to accommodate more passengers. They also charge fees for early boarding, legroom and even the right to stash bags in overhead bins. The quslity of customer service has been steadily decreasing over the last 10 years according to a report. The reason behind this is lack of big competition among the four big airlines: United, Delta, American, Southwest. These big four take roughly 70% of the domestic air-travel market. Because of the big four's delicate arrangement, the actual options for passenger are only one or two when booking flight, resulting in virtual oligarchy. The management knows that the disgruntled customer complains only for moment. When they don't fly, they don't care that much. Since the demand for the air travel didn't decline, the airline raked big profits.

The flight bullying happened on Monday and the handling of the matter should alarm government to take steps to protect customers. Tight regulation and more competition within the industry may be a good solution to  problems like this ultimately. Luckily, there are many petitions around the country filed to voice their support for the doctor who was bullied. I hope this will never happen again. This is 2017, are we heading back to many years ago in terms of ethics?