agree, I flew with United this past month, long story short, my boarding pass got confiscated by ground crew, when I claimed i wasn't happy with their service for another matter, and only when I threatened with calling the police was it given back to me at the gate. I wrote to customer service but canned response was the best I got. Never flying them again. US airline industry needs a serious disruptions - end of story. Look at IRR on these companies, they have been relative disasters for investors. Most should have gone under a while ago... Too big to fail I guess...
Also don't forget that foreigners can't come in and shake things up either due to protectionism enforced by law. In the land of the free, this sort of nonsense happens a lot. For example car dealerships are also protected by protectionist laws. In most locations you couldn't open a hospital that saves people money due to certificate of need regulations that mean you can't reduce the profitability of existing hospitals!
