Did the 1978 Airline Deregulation Act Help Consumers?

The purpose of the Airline Deregulation Act (ADA) of 1978 was to get federal and state governments out of the business of regulating the economic aspects of the commercial passenger airline industry. (The FAA still regulates the safety of air travel.) Mark Perry, a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, has found that, despite a recent uptick,air fares have dropped dramatically (adjusted for inflation). He also finds that those hated fees -- for baggage and so forth -- are just a small part of what consumers pay.