But on the plus side normal people can use air travel now.
Comment on Why do we put up with this crap?
BigBenis@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Airliner ticket prices used to be regulated. So when all airlines had to charge the same price, they had to find other ways to be competitive in order to bring in customers. Deregulation in the 70s brought ticket costs down but that means ticket cost is now the primary point of competition between airlines and amenities now come at a steep premium.
x0x7@lemmy.world 1 month ago
BigBenis@lemmy.world 1 month ago
I’m not so sure that is a positive. Airplanes are huge emission drivers and our dependence on the convenience of air travel has caused us to cease investment and innovation in other more efficient and environmentally friendly methods of travel.
No doubt there’d be a lot more support for high speed rails if airplanes weren’t as accessible. IMO airplanes should only really be used for intercontinental travel.
Bytemeister@lemmy.world 1 month ago
When you factor in the number of people the airplane carries, they are about 3 times more efficient than a car with one person in it.
jj4211@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Note they mentioned rail as the desired alternative, rather than cars.
aidan@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Seeing as I can see my family and not be homeless, I consider it a positive.
BigBenis@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Are you saying a high speed train to your destination wouldn’t also solve that problem? It would likely end up being cheaper to travel via rail considering the lower costs of maintenance and fuel, meaning further accessibility than we have today with our dependence on air travel.
SupraMario@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Yep, you can have it one way or the other…cheap flights or super luxury and only the rich can fly. Planes are not cheap to operate and fuel isn’t free.
No_Eponym@lemmy.ca 1 month ago
And CEO bonuses and shareholder dividends must always be high-flying.
x0x7@lemmy.world 1 month ago
But even with that margins are tight, so 99.5% of why your flight is expensive is that planes are not cheap to operate and fuel isn’t free. But we can pretend it’s all the other thing to maintain slave morality.
dan@upvote.au 1 month ago
Delta is paying a dividend of $0.15 per share this quarter. Southwest is paying $0.18. Spirit used to pay $0.10 but I don’t think they do any more.
No_Eponym@lemmy.ca 1 month ago
So tight! Can barely afford to keep the plane in the air what with all the stock buybacks.
NauticalNoodle@lemmy.ml 1 month ago
Lately most airlines are making insane profits from their banking-skymiles partnership deals and less from actual ticket-holders
MirthfulAlembic@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Frankly for short haul flights it makes sense. Would it be worth paying double or triple for a three hour flight just to get a full meal? Anyone who truly wants a taste of old time flying can get that with a first class ticket, both in terms of cost and quality.