First, with carrier's profits at respectable levels, it's difficult to justify not paying flight attendants for pre-boarding. Likewise, it's hard to make a case for not investing in the kind of infrastructure that will ensure every bag reaches its destination on time. The only reason this hasn't happened is that the CEOs calling the shots would rather use the money they save to make their earnings goals and take home a bigger bonus check. In other words, they're greedy. Now greed, to paraphrase Wall Street's fictional villain Gordon Gecko, can be good.
Money offers an incentive to work harder.
But there's a downside to our free market system. And the airlines are deregulated, capitalistic monopolies. On a wider level, the carry-on crisis is evidence of our government's failings to contain the airline industry. It is a testament to the success of the powerful airline lobby and a message to passengers and crewmembers alike that reregulation may be the only solution. Christopher Elliott's column appears on Thursdays.