The problem with airport “sequestration” cuts is not “sequestration” but the hub and spoke system.   The hubs are packed with flights.  More flights than their host cities could possibly need on their own.  They are where problems for the rest of us begin.

Prior to the 1978 deregulation of the airline industry there was a rather strict system of airline international, national and regional routes.  While the airlines were growing during the 1920s to 1960s period it worked rather well.  The coming of the 1970s saw the airlines enter a phase where they started claiming that they were no making money.  They claimed competition would make them profitable and service would improve for the public. Congress and many of us bought into the argument and the airline industry was deregulated in 1978.

Since 1978  all the airlines went to a hub and spoke system.  Southwest Airlines the last hold for point-to-point routes has begun “transferring” passengers at Chicago Midway, Baltimore, Phoenix, Las Vegas, etc.  The competition airlines spoke of was an illusion.  Start up carriers were either  purchased or run out of business by short-term predatory seat pricing by the big boys.  Small cities lost flights entirely,  medium-sized carriers and some oldies (Pan Am) folded.

Competition dried up, leaving the United States with 4 major carriers each shuttling passengers through airports in which you must travel.  Those are the airports where your bags get lost.  Those are the airports where there are weather delays happen.  Those are the airports where the flight you were waiting for at home was cancelled because the plane did not arrive from some other hub airport.  And all the while the airlines continue to claim poor profits.  What a crazy system.

The Western New York media has been very vocal in mentioning that sequestration will not affect the operation at Buffalo-Niagara International Airport.  While that may be true for the airport, passengers flying out of BNIA pretty much is required to pass through a hub airport en-route to anywhere.  So hold onto your bags and hope for the best.  The hub and spoke system will be shown for what it is – convenient for the airlines, profitable for the hub airports but a real problem for the airline customer.

Flights From Buffalo, NY

Service from Buffalo, NY