If Airlines were Honest....

I thought it was pretty good. Especially the part about saving a few nickels being the only thing most pax care about. In this unregulated US market that largely shapes the air travel experience.
 
Art VanDelay said:
I thought it was pretty good. Especially the part about saving a few nickels being the only thing most pax care about. In this unregulated US market that largely shapes the air travel experience.
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Remember "The Summer of the Bus People" ?
 
Art VanDelay said:
I thought it was pretty good. Especially the part about saving a few nickels being the only thing most pax care about. In this unregulated US market that largely shapes the air travel experience.
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I honestly tried to pay more for a flight early next year, but the number that the Magic Computer spat out for a seat that won't have me rolling around on the hotel room floor trying to unkink my neck and back, both the night of arrival, and once home on my own floor... looked like "Fly the 182 from Denver to the southeast coast" numbers to me.

You know it's bad when the thought of a butt numbing eight hour plus fuel stop flight in a 182 (eastbound anyway... westbound is gonna be a slog... winter... yay...) sounds better than four hours plus TSA feel-my-junk-time, in one of those seats that someone who designs CIA torture racks, drew up in their spare time.

Only one flight matched the fuel costs of the 182 for two adults in adult sized seats. And it wasn't a non-stop. The rest were all way higher. That is impressively bad. But I guess the airlines know folks usually don't have their own slow ass airplane with comfortable seats as an option.

Seriously considering using the 182.
 
denverpilot said:
I honestly tried to pay more for a flight early next year, but the number that the Magic Computer spat out for a seat that won't have me rolling around on the hotel room floor trying to unkink my neck and back, both the night of arrival, and once home on my own floor... looked like "Fly the 182 from Denver to the southeast coast" numbers to me.
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That's ok, perhaps now an airline employee will ride in that seat for free ! Most likely someone from the back will get upgraded but it does happen a few times a year for me. That's why I plan my European vacations in the early spring and late fall so I can get one of those seats.
 
Art VanDelay said:
That's ok, perhaps now an airline employee will ride in that seat for free ! Most likely someone from the back will get upgraded but it does happen a few times a year for me. That's why I plan my European vacations in the early spring and late fall so I can get one of those seats.
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I don't blame ya. They're good seats. Too bad they don't want to sell them below the cost of a two day trip in a 182. Haha.
 
My wife liked the video. We just spent the better part of the day booking flights from Juneau to Knoxville.....:(
 
denverpilot said:
I honestly tried to pay more for a flight early next year, but the number that the Magic Computer spat out for a seat that won't have me rolling around on the hotel room floor trying to unkink my neck and back, both the night of arrival, and once home on my own floor... looked like "Fly the 182 from Denver to the southeast coast" numbers to me.

You know it's bad when the thought of a butt numbing eight hour plus fuel stop flight in a 182 (eastbound anyway... westbound is gonna be a slog... winter... yay...) sounds better than four hours plus TSA feel-my-junk-time, in one of those seats that someone who designs CIA torture racks, drew up in their spare time.

Only one flight matched the fuel costs of the 182 for two adults in adult sized seats. And it wasn't a non-stop. The rest were all way higher. That is impressively bad. But I guess the airlines know folks usually don't have their own slow ass airplane with comfortable seats as an option.

Seriously considering using the 182.
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It sucks badly to be based at a major hub (for you, United's), because they have such market power. You want to be entertained, compare the cost/mile to fly non-stop to cities with direct competition (especially Southwest), and those without. Almost always revealing.

Flip-side, when you're at the hub, you can almost always fly non-stop. Yay.

We've discovered, lately, that on non-stops from DFW, the First Class fare is sometimes actually *lower* than the unrestricted Coach fare on AA, something I attribute to the airline cleverly harvesting hapless business travelers whose companies' policies forbid flying in First.
 
SCCutler said:
It sucks badly to be based at a major hub (for you, United's), because they have such market power. You want to be entertained, compare the cost/mile to fly non-stop to cities with direct competition (especially Southwest), and those without. Almost always revealing.

Flip-side, when you're at the hub, you can almost always fly non-stop. Yay.

We've discovered, lately, that on non-stops from DFW, the First Class fare is sometimes actually *lower* than the unrestricted Coach fare on AA, something I attribute to the airline cleverly harvesting hapless business travelers whose companies' policies forbid flying in First.
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Well we have United, Frontier (cough, Republic), and Southwest ... and all three do non-stops to the destination, but SWA of course is cattle car service, and Frontier nearly so, and United was amongst the highest prices on upgraded seats... and their best prices were with a visit to Houston on the way to the coast.

Absolute best prices were offered by Delta via MSP or ATL, which was interesting. Why they would want the upgraded seat biz in DEN more than the based carriers, I have no idea. American was in second place on price, with their usual hubs.

And of course, other vagaries of interest, like that I could fly to various foreign countries as cheap as or slightly cheaper than the southeastern U.S. LOL.

I think the airline pricing models in their computers have become a mockery of themselves, kinda like Apple publishing a $300 book of photos of Apple products. Haha.

I'm sure in an algorithm in their (cough) mainframes that run that stuff (LOL... still cracks me up that some airlines still pay IBM to run that stuff... $$$$$$$) it makes sense somewhere. :)

And don't think I wasn't tempted to just book the Houston one-stop just because I found that United uses a 787 on one of those legs. :)

It's been an interesting foray into "Just how much would it cost to buy a reasonable sized seat..." that's for sure.

Irony: I was going to joke that I'd like a little lie-down pod like one of those Japanese sleep hotel things, that someone could just load onto a freighter stacked like cordwood... give me a thin cot and an iPad and I'll be more comfortable than sitting upright in a modern airliner...

And then noticed that my most likely route to Tampa in the 182 would be through Memphis... hahaha.
 
denverpilot said:
I think the airline pricing models in their computers have become a mockery of themselves, kinda like Apple publishing a $300 book of photos of Apple products. Haha.
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I wonder if they will have a $500 book showcasing all of the dongles designed during the Tim Cook era?
 
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