The European Union has a new EU-wide policy on paying compensation for flight delays. Patrick Crozier has a response that’s worth quoting from in detail:

Now we wouldn’t want to deny there is a downside to this. It means that flying planes will become more expensive for the operators. Which means that in some cases the fares will go up and in others the routes will be abandoned.



But don’t you worry your pretty little prole head about it. You might have thought you wanted budget airlines run by dynamic entrepreneurs finding new niches in the market. You might have thought you were prepared to take the risk of a wait if it meant getting a ticket at the right price. You might have thought that airline food was perhaps a luxury you could forgo.



But you were wrong.



Actually, what you really wanted was a uniform range of over-priced national carriers with a limited range of destinations.

With apologies to Glenn Reynolds, “read the whole thing.”