Record profits, terrible service: something’s got to give for US consumers

Experts say consolidation and market power have left consumers paying more for less How do people in the US describe customer service in 2026? When Delta Airlines charged Marie Duggan, an economic historian visiting Oaxaca, Mexico, $1,200 to change a scheduled flight to the United States, she was so angry she cancelled and booked a cross-border nighttime bus ride instead. Duggan thought Delta’s price increase to fly to Phoenix instead of San Francisco, at twice the price of a one-way flight to Phoenix, was an insult and a rip-off. So she took a $250 flight on Aeromexico to Hermosillo, in the north-western state of Sonora, and then a $59 bus across the Mexico border. Continue reading...

Heather Timmons · Wed, Jun 24, 2026, 4:00 AM
US news | The Guardian

Record profits, terrible service: something’s got to give for US consumers

Experts say consolidation and market power have left consumers paying more for less

How do people in the US describe customer service in 2026?

When Delta Airlines charged Marie Duggan, an economic historian visiting Oaxaca, Mexico, $1,200 to change a scheduled flight to the United States, she was so angry she cancelled and booked a cross-border nighttime bus ride instead.

Duggan thought Delta’s price increase to fly to Phoenix instead of San Francisco, at twice the price of a one-way flight to Phoenix, was an insult and a rip-off. So she took a $250 flight on Aeromexico to Hermosillo, in the north-western state of Sonora, and then a $59 bus across the Mexico border.

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