Air travel: Seating v Pricing

Carjosse said:

I shouldn't have to pay more for human sized seating. They should be removing seats not adding them. Airlines seem to think the only people who travel by air are pygmy people.

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Airlines have a tremendously tight profit margins. On average they make about $4 for every passenger carried. They need to move as many people as possible to sustain their business. The flip side of that is that the cost of flying has fallen dramatically over the past few decades (primarily due to mass deregulation in the 80's) and new hubs and lines have proliferated. There is a definite limit to what people will tolerate but the more strictures and penalties you heap on them the more you should expect costs to rise.

Sherman123 said:

Airlines have a tremendously tight profit margins. On average they make about $4 for every passenger carried. They need to move as many people as possible to sustain their business. The flip side of that is that the cost of flying has fallen dramatically over the past few decades (primarily due to mass deregulation in the 80's) and new hubs and lines have proliferated. There is a definite limit to what people will tolerate but the more strictures and penalties you heap on them the more you should expect costs to rise.

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That is why they make their money from baggage and extra costs, crank up the price of overweight baggage then.

Carjosse said:

That is why they make their money from baggage and extra costs, crank up the price of overweight baggage then.

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Their profit margins are razor thin generally the rising penalties and fees associated with baggage is merely a symptom of that. There are projections that the entire industry might hit a 2.6% or 2.7% profit margin for 2014, in any other industry this would be terrible. People get the wrong takeaway from headlines like "Airline Profits Hit Record High!" because it's only discussing total profits not their margin which is very low. Blame high competition, blame jet fuel costs, blame the aerospace duopoly of Boeing and Airbus, but that's how it is.

The 'Golden Age' of flying might be gone but at least the average joe can actually buy a ticket now.

Edit: Seriously need to emphasize just how badly the Airline industry has historically been performing for most of our recent history. So many bankruptcies, so many terrible quarters, fuel costs that have risen $40 billion in 10 years, consistently razor thin profit margins, and mounting penalties from the government. To put it in perspective out of a combined revenue of $142 billion in 2012 they put away $152 million in profits. That is... bad.

Lutherf said:

I just read an article about cramming more seats into commercial aircraft and I'm curious, how many of you would be willing to pay more for your ticket if you got a little more room? If you would pay more, then how much more?

For purposes of the poll let's suggest that you'd get an extra 6" of leg room and a few inches of width.

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I read in the merger between American and US Airways that they plan to give a little more room. Not specific about what a little more means. We shall see.

americanwoman said:

Considering I am only 5 foot, leg room isn't of much importance to me so I wouldn't pay more for something that wouldn't really effect me.

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Heck, why buy a seat? I figure you could probably just fit in overhead storage!:lamo

Lutherf said:

Heck, why buy a seat? I figure you could probably just fit in overhead storage!:lamo

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Might be more comfortable than a wheel well. :2razz:

The Race to the bottom continues.
Less Leg Room, Less Fresh Air, and more chance of that post-flight cold/flu etc.
The airlines hear you cheapos loud and clear. (take the bus!)

I wish the majority here their ultimate low cost goal.. 'human' freight.
800 passengers, Standing Shoulder-to-Shoulder on a 757, No Bathroom, $99 flight to Waikiki.
Oh, and cut the costly mechanics and safety features too.

Me, I'd like flying the way it was 30 years ago: plenty of room, occasional half-full flights to spread out in, No Gate madness.
$100? Definitely.
In fact make it $200, $300, or $500.

The price should be based on the fuel charge and not on availability and season!

mbig said:

The Race to the bottom continues.
Less Leg Room, Less Fresh Air, and more chance of that post-flight cold/flu etc.
The airlines hear you cheapos loud and clear. (take the bus!)

I wish the majority here their ultimate low cost goal.. 'human' freight.
800 passengers, Standing Shoulder-to-Shoulder on a 757, No Bathroom, $99 flight to Waikiki.
Oh, and cut the costly mechanics and safety features too.

Me, I'd like flying the way it was 30 years ago: plenty of room, occasional half-full flights to spread out in, No Gate madness.
$100? Definitely.
In fact make it $200, $300, or $500.

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That sound like the Ryanair business model. The basic price is cheap, (all but one credit cards draws a surcharge) check-in, (Boarding card is £70 if you didn't download it) luggage, (5 Kilos hand luggage free) food (oddly you can take your own sandwiches, but not drinks) are all expensive. There was talk of a charge for using the bathroom in-flight!

If U.S airlines took advantage of the Obesity epidemic and began charging Americans by the pound of blubber.....Profits would soar.

Lutherf said:

I just read an article about cramming more seats into commercial aircraft and I'm curious, how many of you would be willing to pay more for your ticket if you got a little more room? If you would pay more, then how much more?

For purposes of the poll let's suggest that you'd get an extra 6" of leg room and a few inches of width.

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I don't know where this extra seating can come from on our commercial jets, there is no space.

one of the problems we face is people wanting to bring on 2 checked bags, finding the have to pay for 1 of them , then this leads to everyone bringing on a larger carry on bag, which fills the overhead compartments, and also takes people forever to put away sometimes delaying the flight.

then the usual, people not wanting to sit in the assigned seat they have because another they see is open, although the flight is not fully boarded, many people running to the lavatory before the plane leaves the ground......but it all in a days work I guess having to work the cattle cars.

I've paid $75-$100 for upgrades to first class on coast to coast flights. That is worth it just for the comfort of the bigger seats. Anything less than 3-4 hours or more than $100 I can live with economy seating.

jesshymann said:

The price should be based on the fuel charge and not on availability and season!

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I wish more people in the world understood that your idea would cause there to be NO airlines at all because they would go broke. But before they went broke, it would cause popular flights to sell out a few minutes after they are first offered and huge numbers of other flights to be practically empty, and would likely just get cancelled altogether. Airlines would simply have to stop offering flights altogether during less popular seasons and times. Chronic flight cancellations or simple unavailability would result in a system where people could not rely upon air travel at all for business purposes, because there would be no flight or no way to be reasonably sure your flight would go.

Market economics are not perfect, but you really do have to structure business solutions to problems by working within them. Proposing solutions like yours are complete non-starters.

Lutherf said:

I just read an article about cramming more seats into commercial aircraft and I'm curious, how many of you would be willing to pay more for your ticket if you got a little more room? If you would pay more, then how much more?

For purposes of the poll let's suggest that you'd get an extra 6" of leg room and a few inches of width.

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I've been known to pay anything from 25 bux on JetBlue short domestic flights, to over 1000 bux on Swiss Air transatlantic flights. Comfort is very important to me and I can well afford the upgrades. No way am I cramming myself like a sardine on any flight.