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Wikipedia says about Concorde: > For example, in 1997, the round-trip ticket price from New York to London was $7,995 ($12.5 thousand in 2018 dollars), more th

by schoen 7y ago

Wikipedia says about Concorde: > For example, in 1997, the round-trip ticket price from New York to London was $7,995 ($12.5 thousand in 2018 dollars), more than 30 times the cost of the cheapest option to fly this route. I just did a search for this route in January in first class for comparison and saw various options mostly starting around $6000 (round trip), which is similar to your estimate. I'm sure there are reasons people would often pay more to fly that route in first class.

osivertsson 7y ago
There is always going to be a market of people wanting the very best and fastest stuff since it conveys status no matter how little sense it makes. And as an engineer I bet it can be a very satisfying environmemt to work in with less compromises for legacy and economic reasons. But the problem with long flights today is not the time on the flight which would make supersonic travel worth it. The real work should be put into optimizing the slowest step of my journey instead. Like being stuck in traffic to and from airport, the time it takes at the airport for security and to get passengers onboard, taxing to runway for 20 minutes, and waiting in queue of airplanes for take-off slot. Also even in business class or first class there is horrible noise that makes me super-tired and I am expected to mostly just sit around and feel that free booze will make up for the lousy environment. Give me an onboard gym, showers, less noise, proper air onboard, proper sleep compartments suitable for people being 2m tall and where I can shut myself in and not be disturbed by other pax or crew.
- ghaff 7y ago
  I guess opinions vary. Give me the best lie-flat seating that gives me undisturbed (and undisturbing) access to the restroom and I'm pretty good. Some 1st class configs also give a greater level of privacy. An 18 hour flight is long and boring and I suppose an old-fashioned 747 lounge would be nice but I really have no interest in a gym/shower. (And honestly gym options on a plane seem pretty problematic.) If I had that space to play with personally, it would definitely be a nice cocktail lounge/dining area rather than a gym. Maybe if this were something I was doing all the time but as a sometimes event, comfortable sleeping and entertainment options (which I can mostly handle by myself at this point) work pretty well.
- mantap 7y ago
  Wear good noise cancelling headphones and earplugs at the same time. I haven't noticed any crying babies for years. It's glorious.
ghaff 7y ago
That delta sounds exaggerated. As I recall, the Concorde was some premium (like 30%) over first class. Which was clearly a significant premium over coach. But 30x for a reasonable comparison seems very large. I can certainly believe a typical economy ticket being 2K in today's dollars given that it's often close to $1K now. (Yes, you can find cheaper flight but that's a pretty typical airfare on a major carrier today.)

by schoen 7y ago

osivertsson 7y ago

There is always going to be a market of people wanting the very best and fastest stuff since it conveys status no matter how little sense it makes. And as an engineer I bet it can be a very satisfying environmemt to work in with less compromises for legacy and economic reasons. But the problem with long flights today is not the time on the flight which would make supersonic travel worth it. The real work should be put into optimizing the slowest step of my journey instead. Like being stuck in traffic to and from airport, the time it takes at the airport for security and to get passengers onboard, taxing to runway for 20 minutes, and waiting in queue of airplanes for take-off slot. Also even in business class or first class there is horrible noise that makes me super-tired and I am expected to mostly just sit around and feel that free booze will make up for the lousy environment. Give me an onboard gym, showers, less noise, proper air onboard, proper sleep compartments suitable for people being 2m tall and where I can shut myself in and not be disturbed by other pax or crew.

ghaff 7y ago
I guess opinions vary. Give me the best lie-flat seating that gives me undisturbed (and undisturbing) access to the restroom and I'm pretty good. Some 1st class configs also give a greater level of privacy. An 18 hour flight is long and boring and I suppose an old-fashioned 747 lounge would be nice but I really have no interest in a gym/shower. (And honestly gym options on a plane seem pretty problematic.) If I had that space to play with personally, it would definitely be a nice cocktail lounge/dining area rather than a gym. Maybe if this were something I was doing all the time but as a sometimes event, comfortable sleeping and entertainment options (which I can mostly handle by myself at this point) work pretty well.
mantap 7y ago
Wear good noise cancelling headphones and earplugs at the same time. I haven't noticed any crying babies for years. It's glorious.

ghaff 7y ago

That delta sounds exaggerated. As I recall, the Concorde was some premium (like 30%) over first class. Which was clearly a significant premium over coach. But 30x for a reasonable comparison seems very large. I can certainly believe a typical economy ticket being 2K in today's dollars given that it's often close to $1K now. (Yes, you can find cheaper flight but that's a pretty typical airfare on a major carrier today.)