I still have to laugh...
...when Alfred Kahn said (paraphrased), 'with deregulation, now everyone will be able to fly'....
And, I, after almost 30 years of deregulation, ask, 'Yes, but should they?'
I remember the clientele before deregulation. Now, I see what we're carrying these days. Admittedly, a lot of the nonsense that we see on airplanes these days is due to changes in social culture...but a lot of it is due to people leaving their trailers and flying to Alabama. (Oh, I really love Alabama...just joking!!!!)
Back in the days of PeopleExpress (a.k.a. People's Distress), the fares were so cheap, welfare recipients would fly from state to state to collect welfare from several sources. (The sister of a good freind of mine is a honcho in the Justice Department...her office investigates this particular kind of fraud.)
Over the years, we've had in the cabin, fist fights, food fights, screwing, illegal drug sales, illegal drug use, sexual assault, ...well, the list goes on...
A classic (in my mind) was when some company vice president on some international flight (I think he was either drunk or on cocaine...maybe both.) became upset with the cabin service, jumped up on the serving cart, dropped his pants, squatted, and took a XXXX.
I and my crew were waiting at the gate for our aircraft...someone was there to pick up an arriving passenger (some relative) (pre-911), and he asked the gate agent when the plane would arrive. The agent told him the plane was going to be about 15 minutes early, because 'the plane had a tailwind'.
The man's reply, "The plane has a tailwind....You ought to put those tailwinds on all your aircraft!"
And, Alfred Kahn was right..... Now everyone DOES fly.
PantLoad