Monopoly® is a very fun game, and one of my favorites. However when it is put into operation in a real life situation, no one treats it like a game. U.S. and European law states that monopolization (monopoly is when a company dominates a certain commerce) is illegal. It is liable to happen anywhere such as: fast food, airlines, real estate, you name it. In the U.S. , the airline industry is a key part of the economy, so monopolizing it means the economy is harmed for the gain of a few.

Monopolization affects individuals, and the economy in general. As the number of businesses in an industry decreases, the most well off enterprise(s) will have more power in the industry, meaning prices will change drastically in a short amount of time. If there are many enterprises in a trade, prices will only raise if two thirds of the enterprises raise theirs prices as well. With less enterprises, prices will be up to that sole business. In this case you, the client, would end up paying double or triple the amount of something you could easily afford before. That way, with prices raised, people won't be able to afford and put to use items previously in their reach.

One airline’s price and quality standard sets the standard for many. When that happens, prices go up, comfort, service, and quality standards decrease, and many things besides. When I have flown on United, American, Delta, (etc.) I have found that instead of each airline being unique and having services that bring people to that airline, they are (for the most part) the same, such as charging baggage and not offering complementary, good meals, or even any meals. That way, people don't care who they fly with, only with the lowest cost carrier. However that "lowest cost carrier" is the lowest of the Legendary Carriers (meaning that you won't really save). If you book your tickets via any travel website and you pay attention to the prices, the difference between the tickets is around $100 and less. Meaning that $100 is the most you will save. If only there were more options to choose from, there would be a true difference.

What always surprises nations and individuals the most are the hidden facts. For example, big companies try to hide things from you but are shared within the general industry. Legendary Carriers (the biggest airlines that have flown for at least 20-30 years...) don't compete on prices. They just raise them and in doing so make smaller airlines raise their prices to stay in the competition. When airlines do compete on price they use high quality services combined with "low priced" tickets to entice customers and raise the demand for them. Non-price competitors (they don’t compete on price) use low quality services for high prices. Not a good pair. Also what's the point of owning an airline if you don't make money on the flights?

People think the obvious. Airlines make money with each flight. That’s what they want you to think. Do you know about, or even have one of those “Sky Miles” Credit Cards from Visa, or American Express? Well those cards are the only reason Legendary Carriers make money. You would think that with their huge aircrafts and their hundreds of routes daily they would make a lot of money. However, that’s not the case. Visa and American Express buy up each mile you “earn” for insanely high prices. And then they use those miles to give you “rewards,” or $10 for every 2000 miles. Some people have the miles credit cards from not only one airline, but from all of them to increase their skimpy prize gain. Then they just choose a low cost carrier, pay less (by $100), and fly on whoever. The airlines sacrifice quality for quantity and put their profit in front of their customers.

This problem has already been brought to the attention of the U.S government. When American Airlines and U.S Airways started their merge, the U.S government said, "If you [American and US Airways] go ahead with the merger, the 100+ landing spots that we have selected, will be opened up so other airlines will be able to start and/or expand ..." In their opinion, that would have been a temporary solution, of around 20 years. However, other monopolizers (United, Delta) instantly brought up the landing spots so it was cancelled out.

On that happy note, we can also associate monopoly to capitalism. I'm not saying capitalism is a negative thing, on the contrary, it lets people have liberty of choice. However, if monopoly is allowed to reach its full potential, people will no longer have liberty of choice. That means that we will actually be more communist than capitalist in that one specific area. The entire idea of capitalism is choices. In that case we should choose the best choices for the economy and the general public.

Now you readers, you can do more than just chose between the lowest cost carrier. Chose between the smaller airlines because their quality is usually better. Chose them so they can grow, and the economy can grow. You can strive to make a change, because in this country, the power is in the people, and you are the people.