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Airplanes are great. Airlines used to be great when there was competition. But we've ignored the merit of competition law, and allowed too much conglomeration i
by cmurf 10y ago
Airplanes are great. Airlines used to be great when there was competition. But we've ignored the merit of competition law, and allowed too much conglomeration in the name of profits. And the airlines are very profitable, but they are not competitive in particular on service and customer satisfaction.
The last few mergers shouldn't have been permitted.
- AndrewKemendo 10y agoI'd argue that it was competition that made the circumstances you see today - first class of today resembles standard class in the 70s for about the same relative price. Airlines increasingly wanted to grow the flying population, by lowering prices. More people have access to airplanes now, and so they have turned into what was traditionally the service and experience of a bus.
- MagnumOpus 10y agoNah. The experience in a bus: Nobody asks for your ID. You can pay cash. Nobody frisks you when boarding. Nobody irradiates you to watch nude images of you. You don't need to unpack your luggage half the time. You can stow your suitcase in half a minute, and can get it back equally fast. We would be so lucky if flying had the service and experience of a bus!
- AndrewKemendo 10y agoHa, fair point. If you upgrade enough to private then you can get the flying experience of the 50s: Small Planes, no security, walk on the tarmac. It's like paying more puts you further back in time.
- megablast 10y agoYeah, Airlines use to be great when they charged a lot more money. Funny that.
- roystonvassey 10y agoYes, the mergers can only make the customer experience worse. I don't live in the US but I remember when flying last year there were few sectors in which there was only one airline operating (if memory serves right, there was just United between Las Vegas and SF). So, even if I'm disgusted by the way United treats its passengers, I have no choice. The little that I've understood of airlines and their economics, I think the best way out is to nationalise all the airlines and let them be run as a public utility. Introducing capitalistic principles has either kicked off a race-to-the-bottom on prices, miles and treating customers like cattle.