How a grand attempt to improve airline travel backfired — and ended up turning flying into a total nightmare

Tech Insider : Economy, Politics, Travel
aerial view of a plane with the top rolled open like a sardine tin to reveal a crowd of people inside
Shortsighted decisions that prioritized efficiency and price cuts over quality and comfort have made air travel and airline customer service a total mess.

Getty; Marianne Ayala/Insider

It all started with one dumb law

Passenger describes 'screaming' and 'praying' aboard United flight as it plunged within 800 feet of the Pacific Ocean

Tech Insider
United Airlines Boeing 777-200
Stock image of United Airlines Boeing 777-200.

Louis Nastro/Reuters

A United Airlines flight plunged within 800 feet of the Pacific Ocean on the same day severe turbulence injured 25 people, data shows

Tech Insider : Travel
United 777-300ER.

Ryken Martin/Shutterstock

Two United aircraft collided at Newark Liberty Airport and now the FAA is investigating

Tech Insider : Travel
United Airlines Boeing 787.
A United Boeing 787, like the one pictured, clipped the wing of a United Boeing 757 at Newark Liberty International Airport on Friday, February 2.

United Airlines

A bored hacktivist browsing an unsecured airline server stumbled upon national security secrets including the FBI's 'no-fly' list. She says what she found reveals a 'perverse outgrowth of the surveillance state.'

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TSA LAX
A TSA agent at LAX.

Brady MacDonald/Insider

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