The nice thing about airlines, as opposed to... oh, I dunno... trains, is that airlines are flexible, and able to change routes and compete with one another on a moment's notice. They can become more and more efficient, as market pressures drive costs ever downward. Free enterprise in action.
One way they have become more efficient is because they are flying full aircraft. I fly a few times a year, and it has been years since I have seen an empty seat in my row or on the rows around me. Twenty years ago, whenever I flew with my wife, we would always get the window and aisle, and the middle seat would inevitably remain unsold, so that would be a freebie. You can't get away with that sort of thing today... The airlines have tailored their routes and prices to the nth degree, and sell every seat.
This is how free market capitalism, red of tooth and claw, serves the consumer. I travel a lot more than I would if prices were 30 cents a passenger mile instead of 10 cents. Air travel is a great value.
I remember 20 years ago, I used to drive a lot. On trips of 300 to 600 miles, the cost of driving alone and the cost of flying were pretty much the same, and it came down to a matter of schedules and convenience. Nowadays, air travel is so cheap the cost of a ticket won’t even cover the gas you car will burn, much less all the other operating expenses.
I can fly wherever I want at great prices... What's not to love?
Air travel is a great value.
The airlines are losing money providing you with that "great value".
That's why they're going to have to stop offering you money-losing flights.
And those routes will become money-MAKING routes for Amtrak!
(which can operate more efficiently at the shorter distances.)
You’re absolutely right. But the flip side of this is that the U.S. airline industry has basically become “Wal-Mart in the skies” as these airlines reduce the quality of their service in an attempt to keep their fares as low as possible.
Somehow, I think the problem with the airline industry, is probably linked to gov’t intervention....I might be wrong... but me thinks the gov’t stinks....
There is nothing free market about the airline industry. It’s heavily subsidized with tax money and government programs encourage wasteful and unneeded airport developments.