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Air Plane seats

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Replies

  • Posts: 4,855 Member
    CSARdiver wrote: »

    Note that profits are at a relatively high point due to decreased fuel cost. In the last decade increased operating costs have lowered profits to under 1 USD per passenger carried.

    Good point. They aren't rolling in $. Assume in the leaner years would have lost money without the baggage fees.
  • Posts: 4,855 Member
    edited November 2017

    A heavily consolidated market in which the few competitors can get away with not telling you the true price of their product before you purchase it and actually aren't selling you anything -- that ticket you buy doesn't actually give you the right to fly or a seat on the flight -- is clearly a broken market. Don't blame the consumers when a broken market doesn't work.

    Do you know the % of people denied the right to fly due to bumping? You pretty much have the opportunity to fly on your flight if you have a ticket for the flight (assuming no mechanical/weather issues).

    Excerpt:
    "If you look back, you’ll see the U.S. airline industry has reduced the denied boarding rate almost in half in the last 15 years,” says Engel. “In 1999, 0.2 percent of passengers were denied boarding. Last year, it was under 0.1 percent. And only 1/10th of those were 'involuntarily denied boarding,' where passengers did not choose to take a different flight” in exchange for a voucher or incentive."

    Source:
    https://www.marketplace.org/2015/04/27/business/ive-always-wondered/why-world-do-airlines-overbook-tickets

    Would you prefer a model where there we not changes/refunds once you bought the ticket?

    Also read up on revenue management. It's practiced in many industries and why the ticket prices change. When you buy the ticket you have the freedom of choice to accept or reject the price offered at the time.
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  • Posts: 7,122 Member
    edited November 2017
    @NorthCascades

    Just because I am curious about your opinion on this how would you feel if instead of a commercial airline it was a city bus paid for by taxes?

    How would you feel about the number of total seats being reduced on buses (effectively increasing the cost per individual) in order to put in physically larger seats to accommodate people who are morbidly obese?

    Is your reason for thinking an airline should accommodate obese individuals more to do with them being a commercial entity or do you think such accommodation should occur everywhere even in situations where it is funded by tax dollars?
  • Posts: 7,122 Member

    That's not what I believe at all, and if that's what my argument sounds like I'm either on shaky footing or doing a terrible job of explaining myself. If a person thinks violence is a good way to solve problems, I'm all for society putting that person away where they can't cause harm.

    My argument isn't about feelings, it's about interests.

    You have an interest in paying as little as possible for a seat, which means you have an interest in seats being small. Obese people have an interest in being accommodated. It's in many peoples' long term interest to lose weight but that's not true of everyone, even of all obese people. (Some should keep the weight on while they're in chemo, others for various other reasons.). Also, dieting is a multi billion industry, the people it employs are part of society too. Speaking of industry, mobility is in everybody's interest, somebody born in New York can go innovate in Silicone Valley. Etc. So you can't just say social pressure for bigger airline seats undermines society's interests, it will undermine some and serve others; whether it's a good or bad thing on balance has to consider all of that and more. It's not as simple as we'd like it to be.

    Well alright put like that I don't disagree. I mean honestly I doubt we really disagree on much, maybe a few things. We are just being nitpicky...not that I mind, I clearly like discussion. How people interact with one another has a lot to do with what enviornment they are in and we are currently on an anonymous internet forum so yeah, to be expected we nitpick the hell out of eachother. If we were on a hike together I doubt we'd be arguing about airline seat sizes :smile:
  • Posts: 10,968 Member
    Well I'm glad we got to the same page. I don't think it's a great point, I just couldn't figure out what I was saying wrong to express it.
  • Posts: 30,886 Member
    edited November 2017
    jdlobb wrote: »

    I love flying, I travel every opportunity I get. I honestly have a harder time understanding people who seem to think airline travel is so terrible.

    Also, Amtrak? Yeah, maybe if you love in the north east. When I lived in New York I took the train to Baltimore, DC, and Philly a lot, it was quicker than flying once you factor in time at the airport. But now I live in dallas, and literally nowhere is faster by train, including factoring time at the airport.

    My opinion, people make flying worse on themselves by telling themselves how bad it’ll be. It’s a self fulfilling prophecy.

    I don't care for flying much, but it beats Amtrak.

    It also beats having to spend the time to drive from Chicago to Portland (where I am going tomorrow morning, for example).
  • Posts: 1,232 Member
    Aaron_K123 wrote: »
    I only travel by jet ski. If it doesn't have an inlet, a canal or a fjord it isn't worth going to that is what I say.

    This is an entirely reasonable rule
This discussion has been closed.