Demand for air travel is booming this summer, but delays and cancellations are turning travel dreams into nightmares. This episode of What’s Ahead explains that bad weather and airline errors are not the fundamental culprits. The situation would be infinitely better today but for the incompetence of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the meddling of Washington politicians.

Inexcusably, the FAA is way behind the curve on technology and has let the shortage of air traffic controllers fester for years. A badly needed structural reform, adopted by scores of other countries, is also being ignored.