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FEBRUARY 23, 2023
Meyerson on TAP
Biden Cows United
He called out the airlines for making parents pay extra to sit next to
their kids. Presto chango, United announced it won't do that anymore.
Successful State of the Union addresses can accomplish various
things-lay out the president's agenda, boost his or her standing in
the polls by a couple of points-but one thing they don't do is
compel corporations to forgo a revenue stream from which they've long
made money. At least, that was one thing they didn't do until Joe
Biden delivered his SOTU earlier this month.
In it, he took aim at the junk fees that businesses inflict on
unsuspecting customers, calling out in particular the airlines'
practice of charging passengers extra for booking adjacent seats so
their children can sit next to them during the flight. As even the
richest airlines couldn't pay a lawyer enough to mount a plausible
defense of the practice, none came forward to defend separating kids
from their parents unless the parents ponied up some extra bucks.
Last week, one of the big four airlines actually threw in the towel.
United announced
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it would no longer charge parents for kid-adjacent seating. The other
three-American, Delta, and Southwest-released mumblings about how
they don't really do that except in exigent circumstances, which
isn't quite the same as repudiating the practice altogether.
Biden wasn't just speaking to the airlines, of course; he was also
speaking to Congress and his own administration. Last week, some
Democratic senators introduced the Families Fly Together Act, which
would compel airlines to seat children 13 and under with an accompanying
adult free of charge. For its part, the Department of Transportation
began suggesting back in July that airlines should do just that, but
Pete Buttigieg's suggestions haven't seemed to carry much weight
with the companies that convey Americans and freight across the land.
That Biden's proposal, and his larger war on junk fees, won't
encounter any serious opposition from any quadrant of the public is no
guarantee that Congress will turn it into law. House Republicans, if
sufficiently motivated by discreet promises of airline largesse, could
quietly dispose of such legislation in committee. If they do, of course,
they hand the Democrats one more issue to beat them over the head with,
but they can always counter that charge by upping their attacks on
transgender drag queens.
It's this back-and-forth that makes American politics so rewarding.
~ HAROLD MEYERSON
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Congressional Crypto Defenders Accidentally Sparked an SEC Crackdown
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Emboldened by claims that he needed to do more to stop crypto meltdowns
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DAYEN
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Who Wants to Teach in Florida?
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Gov. Ron DeSantis's culture warmongering has helped produce the
highest teacher vacancy rates in the country. BY LUCA GOLDMANSOUR
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