Why do they have to plan for two classes of passengers? Why can mass transit providers not treat people as people instead of caste members? Why can the business models not charge everyone the same fare and give us all the same basic decent accomodation?
Save the herding of cattle into pens for the ranchers, and leave the pampering of the rich to the hoteliers.
We subsidize the airline industry. We should not subsidize this class strata.
Warren Buffet statements over the years on the airline industry:
Takeaway: Buffet has been alerting investors to the risks of airlines for more than 25 years. "The near-term reward for skill in the airline business is simply survival, not prosperity."
Everything you need to know about the pricing of airline seats:
How much money does an airline make on a typical flight in the various classes of service? On some flights, revenue from first &
kottke.org
Takeaway: Premium Economy, Business and First Class seats subsidize economy seats.
The 1978 Airline Deregulation Act partially shifted control over air travel from the political to the market sphere. The Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), which had previously controlled entry, exit, and the pricing of airline services, as well as intercarrier agreements, mergers, and consumer...
www.econlib.org
Takeaway: Adjusted for inflation, the average airline ticket is 44.9 % lower in real terms today than it was in 1978, the year the airlines were deregulated. Why do you think airports are so crowded, and the tourist capitals jam packed with people every month of the year other than in the dead of winter? Cheap flights encourage--inspire--people to fly.
While the FAA and air traffic control are run by the federal government, the airlines are assessed fees to support those agencies. Airports may be built by the government, but airlines are likewise assessed fees to operate in them and pay to build-out their individual spaces. The airlines pay for the security measures which were added after September 11. Besides, now that major airports have become shopping centers, they are big money-makers. Sure, the government threw money at the airlines when government imposed Covid restrictions tanked the business. But the government threw money at just about everyone and everything during that period.
I'm all for the airlines making as much money as they can when they can because the good times never last for them. (See Warren Buffet.) As most travel is discretionary, they're amongst the first businesses to suffer during a recession.
My partner, by the way, is flying LAX to Heathrow today on a 777 British Airways flight, the economics of which is discussed in the video. He's paying $6,500 round trip on a ticket purchased six weeks ago, 10x greater than what an economy ticket would have cost.
robbreport.com
