Ticket prices originally used to be fixed by the goverment, which made airlines try to offer the best experince as a way to attract customers. But then lobbyists chanted “deregulation” enough times and airlines could set their own prices. Which of course started a race to the bottom where the way to attract customers was now to slash costs. It’s a big reason how back in the 50s being a commercial airline pilots or flight attendent was prestigious profession, became today where most of a flight crew, pilot included, qualify for SNAP.
I’m not exactly a deregulation fan, but this race to the bottom also democratized access to air travel. When the prices were fixed, they weren’t exactly fixed at anything near the cheap prices we have now (when adjusted for inflation).
Yeah exactly, people talk about how flying used to be so glamorous like it’s somehow not the same as international first class is today. I walked through the first class section on a transatlantic flight once and they had fully reclining lazy boy style seats with blankets and nice food/booze. All the seats were staggered so they could fully recline and had privacy screens you could draw shut. But those tickets are thousands of dollars, like $1000-$1500/hour of flight time at minimum, if you want to spend 20k USD you can basically cross the ocean in a flying hotel.
Ticket prices originally used to be fixed by the goverment, which made airlines try to offer the best experince as a way to attract customers. But then lobbyists chanted “deregulation” enough times and airlines could set their own prices. Which of course started a race to the bottom where the way to attract customers was now to slash costs. It’s a big reason how back in the 50s being a commercial airline pilots or flight attendent was prestigious profession, became today where most of a flight crew, pilot included, qualify for SNAP.
I’m not exactly a deregulation fan, but this race to the bottom also democratized access to air travel. When the prices were fixed, they weren’t exactly fixed at anything near the cheap prices we have now (when adjusted for inflation).
Yeah exactly, people talk about how flying used to be so glamorous like it’s somehow not the same as international first class is today. I walked through the first class section on a transatlantic flight once and they had fully reclining lazy boy style seats with blankets and nice food/booze. All the seats were staggered so they could fully recline and had privacy screens you could draw shut. But those tickets are thousands of dollars, like $1000-$1500/hour of flight time at minimum, if you want to spend 20k USD you can basically cross the ocean in a flying hotel.