cool story bro.
whats your point?
First, regardless of what you think about the big three airlines, America's air transportation system is second to none and the main reason is because the hub and spoke airline model is so efficient at moving passengers from point to point and the larger a hub is the more points it can connect. For example, Atlanta and Dallas which are cash machines for their respective airlines.
Second, the airlines that were created after the recent airline consolidation are enormous and their hub systems make them incredibly competitive even if the airlines themselves don't seem very competent.
Take for example the incident were the Asian Doctor was dragged off the United airplane. How do you think United's passenger volume has fared since then? Answer, it's gone up. Why, because they added more flights to three of their busiest hubs, Chicago, Denver, and Houston.
Gate access at airports is a huge deal for airlines with gates at busy airports like London Heathrow selling for millions of dollars. Yet the number of gates controlled by the big three airlines at their hubs is staggering.
I also view the hubs as a perfect example of cooperation between the state and business. Look at the cozy relationship between Atlanta and Delta, Dallas and American, or United and Chicago. The result has been a truly astounding transportation system that benefits the City, state and country as well as the companies involved and their employees.
