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From what I can tell of the passenger airline business over the last few decades, lots of people will say that they would never fly in such an aircraft because

From what I can tell of the passenger airline business over the last few decades, lots of people will say that they would never fly in such an aircraft because of those things, and it wouldn't be true. Lower cost - they'll fly. Over and over and over, lower cost? They'll fly. Here's Forbes on it back in 2015; https://www.forbes.com/sites/airchive/2015/01/14/actually-airlines-are-giving-customers-exactly-what-they-want/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/airchive/2015/01/14/actually-ai... , and here's someone else on it in 2016; https://www.businessinsider.com.au/scandinavian-airline-sas-ceo-2016-3 https://www.businessinsider.com.au/scandinavian-airline-sas-... , and someone else in 2017 https://www.marketwatch.com/story/heres-what-us-airline-passengers-care-about-most-when-flying-hint-its-not-service-2017-08-05 https://www.marketwatch.com/story/heres-what-us-airline-pass... Price. Price. Price. That's what passengers show they care about through their actions. They like to pretend, we all like to pretend, but the evidence is clear.

big_chungus 7y ago
It's to the consumer's advantage to tell his buddy about how terrible such-and-such-an-airline's new cuts to foot room are and how he wouldn't fly and neither should anyone else. That could possibly lead to better policies. It's not to his advantage to skip flying or to by a more expensive ticket. People are acting according to their best interests, nothing to see here.
- EliRivers 7y ago
  I disagree. If the consumer convinces everyone else not to fly on those cheap flights, the cheap flights discontinue and the consumer is left paying more. How's that to the consumer's advantage?
tuna-piano 7y ago
I disagree that people will for sure choose price over uncomfortable aircrafts. The most clear thing to look at is turboprops vs regional jet aircraft. Turboprops cost less to buy and burn less fuel(on shorter routes) and take roughly the same amount of time for hourlong trips. But yet, at least in the US, turboprops have been almost completely replaced by regional jets. This is because passengers prefer the small jet experience to the small turboprop experience, even though the turboprop is cheaper.
- EliRivers 7y ago
  I have heard the alternative conclusion that the expense and reduced inter-changeability of airframes in a mixed fleet of turboprops AND jets, outweighs the costs of just jets, and furthermore the US domestic market has seen a reduction in demand for the short flights that turboprops excel at. Put another way, the jets are cheaper, even though they individually cost more and burn more fuel. That the turboprops have been phased out of larger airlines that both run long distance flights and would benefit most from the economics of just jets in their fleet, while turboprops are still in use at smaller airlines who would not benefit as much from a single airframe fleet and serve a higher proportion of short distance routes, does seem suggestive.
  - tuna-piano 7y ago
    Interesting theory, and I'm no expert, but it doesn't feel correct to me. Of course United flies only jets, but it has a variety of regional partner airlines that also fly only regional jets. In a slightly similar way, FedEx operates only jets but for small cargo routes seems to operate only propeller planes (along with its large FedEx feeder partner feelts)[1]. This could be for a variety of reasons, but it seems most logical (to me) to assume that props are more economical and of course cargo doesn't care about comfort. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FedEx_Express#Fleet https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FedEx_Express#Fleet

big_chungus 7y ago

It's to the consumer's advantage to tell his buddy about how terrible such-and-such-an-airline's new cuts to foot room are and how he wouldn't fly and neither should anyone else. That could possibly lead to better policies. It's not to his advantage to skip flying or to by a more expensive ticket. People are acting according to their best interests, nothing to see here.

EliRivers 7y ago
I disagree. If the consumer convinces everyone else not to fly on those cheap flights, the cheap flights discontinue and the consumer is left paying more. How's that to the consumer's advantage?

tuna-piano 7y ago

I disagree that people will for sure choose price over uncomfortable aircrafts. The most clear thing to look at is turboprops vs regional jet aircraft. Turboprops cost less to buy and burn less fuel(on shorter routes) and take roughly the same amount of time for hourlong trips. But yet, at least in the US, turboprops have been almost completely replaced by regional jets. This is because passengers prefer the small jet experience to the small turboprop experience, even though the turboprop is cheaper.

EliRivers 7y ago
I have heard the alternative conclusion that the expense and reduced inter-changeability of airframes in a mixed fleet of turboprops AND jets, outweighs the costs of just jets, and furthermore the US domestic market has seen a reduction in demand for the short flights that turboprops excel at. Put another way, the jets are cheaper, even though they individually cost more and burn more fuel. That the turboprops have been phased out of larger airlines that both run long distance flights and would benefit most from the economics of just jets in their fleet, while turboprops are still in use at smaller airlines who would not benefit as much from a single airframe fleet and serve a higher proportion of short distance routes, does seem suggestive.
- tuna-piano 7y ago
  Interesting theory, and I'm no expert, but it doesn't feel correct to me. Of course United flies only jets, but it has a variety of regional partner airlines that also fly only regional jets. In a slightly similar way, FedEx operates only jets but for small cargo routes seems to operate only propeller planes (along with its large FedEx feeder partner feelts)[1]. This could be for a variety of reasons, but it seems most logical (to me) to assume that props are more economical and of course cargo doesn't care about comfort. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FedEx_Express#Fleet https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FedEx_Express#Fleet