All three Las Vegas airports will charge a $3,000 landing fee during F1 races

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MountainDude

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MountainDude
This should really be illegal. AOPA should be objecting and rallying the pilots to raise hell. It prevents common people from having access to the public airports. I am becoming a fan of @FlyingMonkey
 
Stewartb said:
Just watched the F1 final in Austin on Sunday. One and done for me. I’m happy to have crossed it off my list but I won’t go again. The race is better on TV. And everything inside the gates is obscenely expensive. Cool cars, though.
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I went for my 50th birthday (9 years ago), and paid for some of the more expensive perks, but the weekend (minus airfare and hotel) was <$1000 at the track. I think the same experience would cost $5K at today's prices - Netflix has done great things for the economics of F1, but it has wrecked the economics for the real fans. I fear it'll be like NASCAR one day where the hardcore fans left, were replaced by bandwagon and corporate types, who quickly faded away. And the hardcore fans never came back...

An F1 enthusiast buddy and I were discussing things the other day and concluded that it is probably less expensive to fly to Europe to watch F1 than to catch a race at the US tracks...
 
11 minute video for the author to discover the concept of "congestion pricing". It's not a hurrevac, it doesn't fall under price gouging laws.

It's always amusing to watch upper middle classers get pikachu face when reminded they're part of the poors after all too. 3K fee and now they want class solidarity? That ship has sailed, flat-billed homey.
 
If the ramps are empty because of that fee, cry foul, if not, don’t imply that those who can afford to pay the fee are “not real fans.”

If you're willing to dump $3K on it, I'm pretty sure you're a genuine fan.
 
All three.
The exact same time.
The exact same amount.

No, Mr.FTC - no collusion, no price fixing here sir.
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
All three.
The exact same time.
The exact same amount.

No, Mr.FTC - no collusion, no price fixing here sir.
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Is it collusion when gas stations are all essentially the same price? And airplane parts? Can't shut the whole world down...
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
All three.
The exact same time.
The exact same amount.

No, Mr.FTC - no collusion, no price fixing here sir.
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The three airports HND, LAS and VGT are all owned and operated by Clark County, Nevada.
My note to the county airport manager has gone unanswered for a few weeks now. I told him I believe this pricing violated federal grant assurances that the airport needs to be open to the public without discrimination.
Also asked AOPA why they aren't making a lot of noise about this...haven't heard back from them either.
The video does no contain at least one obvious error. Any quotes from Atlantic and Signature for ramp fees would be in addition to the $3000 county fee. So the "bargain" $1500 facility fee he cited at Atlantic LAS (plus parking, plus handling if not fueled) is not a bargain. FBOs at HND and VGT are county-run rather than private. As far as I can tell Boulder City NV BVU is not extorting pilots for those times, so for the cost of a Lyft or Uber you can still go there. I may use BVU exclusively in the future just on principle.
Jon
 
Martin Pauly said:
Supply and demand.

I may not like those prices, but I like do like the self-regulating ways of supply and demand. So I shouldn't cry foul when on occasion this seems to work against me.

- Martin
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If the airports did not take US taxpayer funding, you might have an argument for this type of pricing.
But they do take taxpayer funding, and that comes with a responsibility to be open an non-discriminatory to all users.
Jon
 
4CornerFlyer said:
If the airports did not take US taxpayer funding, you might have an argument for this type of pricing.
But they do take taxpayer funding, and that comes with a responsibility to be open an non-discriminatory to all users.
Jon
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3k for EVERY aircraft seems pretty non discriminatory.

It sounds like it's a county fee. The whole thing is a boondoggle between F1 and the county/city, which as of 2 months ago were still negotiating who was going to pay for the improvements the City had to make to get the race in the first place. City repaved the course. They want F1 to pay the full 80 million it took...which until recently nobody knew what the total cost was going to be. F1 wants the county to pay half that. F1 argued the infrastructure improvement will remain there long after F1 is gone. F1 was wanting a $1500 per head licensing fee to every hotel or club for any spectator watching the race Verstappen is going to win anyway.

This is a money grab by the county to bilk the F1 support staff and entourage to offset their own cost
 
hindsight2020 said:
11 minute video for the author to discover the concept of "congestion pricing". It's not a hurrevac, it doesn't fall under price gouging laws.

It's always amusing to watch upper middle classers get pikachu face when reminded they're part of the poors after all too. 3K fee and now they want class solidarity? That ship has sailed, flat-billed homey.
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Thank you for pointing this out and in the most hilarious way possible lolol. I'm going to steal this line in the future.

I had this same debate with a well-to-do friend who always justified obscene lift ticket and ski lodging prices as making sure it keeps the plebs out and the lift lines manageable.

Well, the first season his bonus check was a bit more lean than expected -- the ski ticket prices became unconscionable price gouging from evil corporations that locked out "the average American"!

It was an amusing evolution
 
I was just in HND for NBAA. Flew in.

There was a sign at the desk that said “if you don’t have PPR/reservation, there was a $3k landing fee.”

But, getting a reservation/PPR number was a simple email….. seems like an unnecessary hurdle.
 
I’ve been to three F1 races; one of them in the “hybrid” engine era. I won’t attend in person until I can again hear a V-10 accelerating down the straight. Bah humbug…LOL

Nothing like sound of unburned fuel exploding in the red hot headers during the ignition cut on the upshift….absolutely nothing.
 
robin ardoin said:
I’ve been to three F1 races; one of them in the “hybrid” engine era. I won’t attend in person until I can again hear a V-10 accelerating down the straight. Bah humbug…LOL

Nothing like sound of unburned fuel exploding in the red hot headers during the ignition cut on the upshift….absolutely nothing.
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This.

F1 peaked in the 90s and I haven’t watched since KERS came to be.
 
RyanShort1 said:
Is it collusion when gas stations are all essentially the same price? And airplane parts? Can't shut the whole world down...
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If they colluded, yes. If it’s a result of getting their prices close enough to the other guy so as to attract customers, no. A good ol’ fashioned gas war is as ‘murican as mom and apple pie.
 
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I think 3,000 is too cheap. I say charge 10k for these bozos to land. They are still going to go and write the whole thing off. Might as well make as much as you can off of them. I'm going to be flying in for the race so I have a dog in the fight. Maybe if they charged 50,000 to land I might actually get a weekend off and wouldn't have to fly.
 
robin ardoin said:
I’ve been to three F1 races; one of them in the “hybrid” engine era. I won’t attend in person until I can again hear a V-10 accelerating down the straight. Bah humbug…LOL

Nothing like sound of unburned fuel exploding in the red hot headers during the ignition cut on the upshift….absolutely nothing.
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Saw this somewhere...

V12- a miracle sound that echos to infinity
V10- a beautiful melody made by an angel
V8- a sound so beautiful you can never forget
V6- vacuum cleaner.
 
Racerx said:
Saw this somewhere...

V12- a miracle sound that echos to infinity
V10- a beautiful melody made by an angel
V8- a sound so beautiful you can never forget
V6- vacuum cleaner.
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I always loved Porsche’s 12 cyl boxer motors… a la 917 era…
 
Contrasted with the AUDI R 10 TDI LeMans LMP-1 coming into the valley at turn 5 in Road Atlanta. Near ZERO engine sound and you could hear the clinking of the transmission on downshifts them a hum as it accelerated off the apex……then a loud BWAAAHHH as the right side tires tracked out to the rumble strips at the top of the corner. A different type of music unique at that time.
 
You all know there are ramp issues most weekends in Vegas? LAS typically wants a reservation at the FBO, North Vegas has its own space issues.

The ramp space hasn't kept up with the growth.

As for the race itself, $3k landing fee is the least of your issues.
 
ja_user said:
You all know there are ramp issues most weekends in Vegas? LAS typically wants a reservation at the FBO, North Vegas has its own space issues.

The ramp space hasn't kept up with the growth.

As for the race itself, $3k landing fee is the least of your issues.
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My guess is that the $3K is pretty carefully calculated to be just enough to be painful for a "low density" arrival taking up ramp space, and also low enough to incentivize them to fill those jets up. $3K divided by 10 or 12 PAX isn't really that much, but for 2 people in a bug smasher, it's a lot more per seat.
 
I'm always dubious of "solutions" that result in a windfall for the people proposing the solution.
 
Imagine spending that money to go watch something that's so predetermined that even Vince McMahon has to tip his hat.

That said, if you think ramp fees are bad I bet hotels, rental cars, etc are worse.
 
luvflyin said:
45 degree V2 - pure sex
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90 degree V2 - much better

AOPA lawyers should be hot on researching the obligations placed on these airports based on their receiving Federal funding. One can easily see that with all LV airports having common ownership there is a monopoly situation in play, and that the airports are essentially being closed to the general public in support of an essentially private business plan.

A first come, first served reservation system with no extra fees would IMO be consistent with their obligations to FAA.
 
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My wife was just interested in going, until she heard the tickets were $1500. WTF is that? How many takers will they get at that price?
 
dans2992 said:
My wife was just interested in going, until she heard the tickets were $1500. WTF is that? How many takers will they get at that price?
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All of them. They wouldn’t put the price that high if they weren’t sure that they’ll sell. Heck, look,at football. Super Bowl tickets start at four grand for the nosebleed seats.
 
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I’ve been an F1 fan for decades. Been to maybe six races at COTA. The Drive to Survive show on Netflix, combined with social media, has really turned F1 into a s__tshow. I miss the days where the conversation in the paddock was about the powertrains versus which driver was dating which other driver’s ex-girlfriend.
 
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