It'd be cheaper for Uncle Sam to call an Uber rather than pay for some federally subsidized flights

Traveling is stressful. First there’s the traffic, then the hassle, and finally the crowds. Lorraine Beauparlant can’t even and so she prefers instead to fly out of a little rural airport. “That’s what I like about [Hagerstown Regional Airport],” she told the Washington Post recently. “I can avoid all of that.”

Taxpayers from Tulsa to Sacramento to Tallahassee, however, can’t avoid the cost of Lorraine’s ticket. The federal government heavily subsidizes her travels and millions of her fellow passengers through a program called Essential Air Services.