When economist Alfred Kahn spearheaded the deregulation of the airline and trucking industries during the Carter administration, both were sclerotic bureaucracy-bound disasters well past their useful heyday. Few could foresee the benefits, then only theoretical. As a result of deregulation, airfares have dropped, more airlines opened, and air travel has become commonplace. (Remember the Pan Am ads with passengers in business clothing?) No one mourns the demise of the rate-setting functions of the Civil Aeronautics Board or Interstate Commerce Commission.

But competition has a not-so-hidden dark side, such as pressure to reduce overhead to meet low-price airlines, which has at times allegedly led to quality control and maintenance shortcuts, as well as fees for baggage and other incidentals that previously had been free. Without a strong, fully financed Federal Aviation Administration and similar transportation safety agencies, passenger safety can be at risk. So-called junk fees are not only annoying, they add to inflation and arbitrarily increase the costs of travel; plus last minute or hidden fees tend to distort consumer choice and reduce competition.