It appears that airport security measures are reaching new paranoid heights. Ticket prices are also climbing. I just don't feel like flying anymore. If I can drive I will. If there's a train I will take it. At this rate, ocean liners will be making a come back because I'd almost rather travel more pleasantly than be treated like cattle: searched, prodded, herded, and questioned at every turn.
I would gladly assume the risk of a suicide bombing and take an airline that doesn't subject me to this nonsense. Of course, legally that's impossible, and I can't really imagine that the insurance cost would make it worthwhile even absent government regulation. Market regulation could be just as stringent or worse.
The problem is that the risk of terrorism makes the cost of airline travel rise regardless of how it rises, through inconvenient screening and/or through higher insurance rates passed on to the consumer.
A market in security regulated by insurance rates would have the advantage of creating a large profit opportunity for providers of security technology capable of improving screening procedures and wait times and comfort at airports. I confess that I do not know whether government take over of airport/airline security blunts this monetary incentive but I suspect that it does. I suspect that if the "price" of travel were not measured in passenger time and indignities, but instead in money, the incentives for improvement would be larger. It remains to be seen whether anyone could take advantage of these incentives, but at least the opportunity would be there.
