- American, JetBlue and Alaska have all raised baggage fees this year.
- Carriers have changed the price to check a bag depending on whether travelers pay for it in advance or at the airport.
- Airlines and other companies have been grappling with how to grow profits while reining in costs, such as new labor contracts.
And that’s the problem. It’s not enough to be profitable, you have to be more profitable year over year, forever.
Infinite growth is unsustainable. How long before it collapses?
- Ticket prices constantly fluctuating, pricing structures deliberately designed to game customers and milk them for as much money as possible
- Random fees for bags, random fees for where you sit, random fees for how you board, random fees for your fees, more fees depending on when you pay your fees, and always rising all the time
- A minefield of hidden gotchas and fine print, clauses on top of clauses that declare the airline isn’t at fault for anything even when they’re totally at fault for all of it
- Stand in line to get hassled and have your 'nads fondled by belligerent TSA whackers
- Sit around the terminal for hours getting coughed and sneezed on by roughly 45% of the world’s population
- $8 for a bottle of water past the security checkpoint
- Oh, and the door might just fly off of your plane because Boeing
Yeah, and people wonder why if I’m traveling domestically I’ll just drive or ride. Fuck all of the above, plus when I get wherever I’m going I’ll already have my motorcycle with me.
How does it make any sense that you have to pay extra to put something in a vehicle you’re traveling in? Is it for security? Is the gremlin on the airplane wing going to steal someone’s Louis Vuitton suitcase?
More weight = more fuel.
True about any vehicle. But only planes charge extra for it.
Your car charges extra for it via gas consumed
I’m not an expert but I think the extra amount of fuel a plane uses to do it is going to be more expensive than a bus carrying an extra bag.
I’m also not an expert, but I think a plane ticket costs significantly more than a bus ticket.
Depends on where you need to go honestly. Per km traveled planes are actually unreasonably cheap.
Cheaper than the same distance by bus? I find that difficult to believe unless you’re talking about budget airlines that don’t allow you to check luggage at all anyway.
Maybe the convenience of speed as well? A plane will get you coast to coast in just hours vs a bus or train.
Boston to Portland. I chose cities at random.
Greyhound:
- 1 adult. Includes one carry on and one stored. Takes 5 days. Service fee of $4. Total comes to $375 with tax.
Delta:
- 1 adult. Includes one carry on. Stored is extra at $30. Takes 9 hours. Total comes to $300 with tax.
Flying between major cities in the EU can be cheaper than taking multiple busses / trains to get there if you buy the tickets way ahead
If there is a direct touring bus that’s still cheaper.
It’s a don’t care fee for those that make the airline money. Most of the economy travelers are once a year leisure travelers with zero brand loyalty and only buy based off of the cheapest fare, sometimes coupled with convenience.
The $5 fee doesn’t impact their purchase because it’s not in the base price. And if they’re truly cost conscious, they’ll do carryon, board in Group 4, and have it gate checked for free.
The 2023 numbers from Q4 agree with the consensus. For United it’s about the same as the other’s in the Big 3 (United, Delta, American). 12% of the passengers are business class (domestic “first” since US carriers don’t have first class) and they make between 75% and 80% of the revenue. For a 100 seat plane, which is like an Embraer that means the 12 butts up front make 80% of the money for United while the 88 butts in steerage class make 20% of the money. That’s 6.6% of flight revenue per business class passenger and 0.23% per economy pax.
The business class passenger is therefore 28x more valuable to United just on revenue. The business class passenger also will usually have more brand loyalty, they will choose a flight even if more expensive or worse routing, to fly with the airline because. Maybe just because. Maybe perks. But it doesn’t matter to United.
If you fly United business class you get 2 free bags. It doesn’t affect those United cares about.
Within the economy sections 20% of revenue over 10% of those are basic economy super duper cheap fares that are zero bags, also doesn’t affect them.
And additionally, the Big 3 airlines aren’t airline companies anymore. They are credit card banks that operate flying buses. That’s the most profitable and the most valuable asset (literally) that they have. It’s what the airlines even borrowed against during COVID as guaranteed collateral. If you sign up for the United credit card, you become valuable to United, and guess what?! No checked bag fees!
So all in all, this is a nothing burger that affects very few people, and United doesn’t give a crap if it does. If you want to be treated better, cough up the dough.
“Capitalism breeds innovation”
And this is why I’ll continue to fly Southwest. Which gives me cheap tickets, and doesnt try to fuck me in the ass on luggage.
Yet
I haven’t flown in years. It’s simply too expensive.
If you factor in the amount of time wasted waiting around to get through security, waiting to get on the plane, waiting on the plane to take off, waiting at the gate after landing, waiting on your luggage, waiting on transportation from the airport, flying isn’t much faster than driving.
Gas may be expensive, but the buttfucking you get at the airport just isn’t worth it anymore.
Really depends on how far you travel. I hate the air travel process in general, but there really aren’t great alternatives to go across the country (U.S.). Need high speed rail, but the politics for that to be approved is soooo slow and complicated.
Yep.
Long distance rail right now in America is slow, full of gaps that require LENGTHY bus rides between connections, and costs about 4-8 times more than just taking a plane.
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I fucken hate flying.
Taylor swift laughs
