DAE remember the moment after 911 when the whole airline industry almost went under because everyone was so afraid to fly?
Mother Earth and I were extremely disappointed when it was bailed out.
Even though I know poor people who fly, especially people who have been forced to move really far away from their families (or vice versa), mostly this seems like a rich people problem.
I used to fly once a year (round trip, so I guess twice) to see family at Xmas. I found one of those bullshit airlines that offered direct flights between two smaller/regional airports, with cheap prices but that buckle and dimes you on everything. tiny water bottle $3. snacks $4. checked bag $40-50. they required you to use an app which attempted to trick you into reserving a seat ($10-20). the seats themselves were like brutally stacked up against each other, to where flying coach with another airline felt like luxury. eventually they started having the flight attendants read an add over the extra loud PA to sign up for their credit card offer (it had some of the worst terms I have ever seen).
my move was to fit all my travel needs into my “personal item”, some books, and an empty water bottle with some ear buds. that way I could just read/meditate and get through the miserable flight.
I stopped routine air travel with covid, which has been nice and I don’t fly that company anymore (or really any) but apparently they were one of those most profitable airlines in the biz and now it seems like every story about air travel misery is really about how the entire industry is re-aligning it’s practices to be like that one carrier.
Enshitification.
