The industry lost the much-taken-for-granted freedom which made it exhilarating from both the professional and the pax angles. Whilst 911 most certainly had an impact on travel in general but especially from/to and within the USA, I believe this coincided with a general downturn in the economy coupled with years of poor management. Had 911 not happened travel may have been more buoyant but the writing would still have been on the wall for some of the U.S. majors.