Inequality has gotten so much worse that rich people don't even fly in the same planes as us anymore.
That's going to have perverse incentives on airplane safety too. They have no reason to update their laws if peasant airplane doors falling off becomes common.
I have a friend that is a sales manager for private planes. He said business exploded during the pandemic and then never slowed down. This despite flights being eye-wateringly expensive (like, 20k for one-way is a great deal, because you managed to book an empty leg.)
You think airlines don't make money on economy class? That's the vast majority of their income. Of course they're going to serve their largest customer base.
"People don't want to pay what you're charging so you should drop the price"
AA: "No"
Repost to scare an economics 101 class.
Replacing those seats with regular price seats is just as proper.
Would this technically be anti-capitalistic? They're refusing to charge what the market will bear.
More like a supply and demand issue I would think, the issue here being there is no demand for first class seating so they are limiting the amount of "supply" of those seats to accommodate for less demand. Some airlines don't offer first class seating at all, like Southwest.
There is demand for first class seating from nearly 100% of fliers. They're just not willing to pay what AA is charging. This isn't a supply and demand decision. Econ 101 says that means AA should reduce the price, but capitalism in practice says the constant desire for more profit and the monopoly that most industries have been allowed to grow and maintain means never lower the price and find a new way to fuck the plebs who don't even own a single yacht.
That is the definition of no demand. Whether customers don't want your product or the price you're charging, it's the same. It's then up to your business decision which way you go from there, increase coach seats or lower the price of first class. Make the right choice and you stay in business.
It's less that there's not a demand so much as supply and demand work together. Not appart. When it comes to accounting, there are different ways to look at different things. The main one is financial accounting. Another one is taxes.
In the case of this: managerial accounting. Something that a lot of corporations seem to be failing at lately. Managerial accounting is basically finding information to report to the managers. For instance, breaking down the cost of an item to see how much it costs to produce, comparing it to how much it makes, etc.
One thing they do is figuring out how much to raise the cost of a good/service. It's a slight gamble in that you can never be 100% sure, but they try to find that sweet spot where they can raise it without scaring away too many people and eventually losing money. In this case, they charge too much. The cost of flying, like everything else, has gone up. And we get worse service while there. So if you're raising the cost of the different services, and you find that people are now only going with the cheaper option, you have likely started over charging. You need to drop the price of both services.
For instance, I might be willing to spend an extra $50 for an upgrade. But if you raise the price of the cheap service by $100, now I don't have the money. Make the gap between the two $100, and now I really don't have enough.
Of course, when every company made it a race to riase proces as much as possible, at this point I don't think many companies have much of a choice. They all kind of fucked everything all at once, including themselves. But they made a profit in the short term, so there's that.
AA: "No" cocks gun
Business class costs 5x economy, first class is 10x
I would have to work months to be more comfortable for a few hours. Nope.
Those taking first class peobably have their own jet anyway.
No, it's expensive but not "private plane" expensive. I rode first-class international once because I was recovering from covid and didn't want to deal with the pain of coach (and the travel company that was responsible for my getting covid was paying some of the bill). I'm also 6'4" and don't physically fit in coach. So like, yeah, I'm being physically forced out of coach cause it's too small and I have to pay out the ass to just exist on a plane without physical pain. Must mean I have my own jet, and not that I'm getting fucked.
From another tall guy, how was it? Obviously not worth the price, but is it absolutely not worth the price or just very not worth the price?
It was the most comfortable plane flight in my life. It wasn't super comfortable, the sleeper pod things are made for smaller people obviously, but there wasn't pain and there were positions I could move through if one got a little too uncomfy. It was so nice compared to every other flight in my life.
While I am not super tall, I am heavy. The one time I got to fly international first class was the first and only time I could sleep on a plane. I got a nice large bourbon, fluffy comforter, pillow, and burrito-ed myself in that pod. It was utterly glorious. I was glad that I wasn't paying for it... Was something around 4k for a 5-6 hour flight.
If the flight is international and sufficiently long, getting better seats is worth it. Better food. Free booze. Lounge access (it depends...). More space. If the price is right, get first.
Those taking first class are often traveling on a company’s dime or using credit card points.
The truth is.If you have first class money you have money to get your own plane and go anywhere without babies crying.
This isn't true at all... My wife and I fly first class and are no where near being able to afford flying private 🤣 the no babies part would be fantastic though.
Is that an exaggeration? Deltas first class is like 4x economy.
I compared AA flights from NYC to Paris on Google flights. Those were the real prices.
Who exactly are they eliminating? Their customers or international first class tickets? Or maybe both?
Yes, thats the joke
Also what about the first class seats?
In First Class you stand.
So much leg room!
Pilots choice
People who want to be treated like human beings on an airplane are already not flying American Airlines.
I don't really care about airlines, but AA is the only airliner that flies out of the local regional airport (only flies to a bigger airport a few hours away), and I've never had any issues with them.
The worst I've had was having to listen to a flight attendent talk about God because I was on the last row.
I’ve flown on AA’s international business and first class. The difference is negligible in terms of the seats and most people in them were complimentary upgrades since they couldn’t fill the seats.
The bigger differences were on the ground with the dining and check in. So all AA is doing is creating a “Business Plus” category that gets you the first class amenities on the ground and then a business class seat. This lets them put more business class seats on the plane and open things up to a bigger revenue stream.
AA first has been a joke for a long time. It was an ever so slightly better seat and they served one extra course - a soup - but was otherwise identical to business class service. You can’t charge thousands more for soup.
First class has been dying for years - and the only airlines that will do it, it’s really a prestige thing more than a profit center.
Makes sense, there is no US middle class anymore. The wealthy can just use a private jet while the poor are put on overbooked flights. Wealth disparity is getting worse and not better.
Middle class? First class tickets were never for the middle class. Maybe it's just that
Many who don’t think of themselves as working class wouldn’t last very long at all without their salary.
So that's why the door fell off...
Release the hounds. Leave no witnesses.
They're right. Few buy First Class tickets because the uptick in comfort and service from Business Class is tiny for the increase in cost. I fly Business but would never pony up for First.
I'm guessing that's because the international flights that Americans use instead are from other countries that does not have first class areas, in that everyone gets the same seating and leg space.
Such a disgusting socialist ploy. The CIA should coup the pilot and copilot and divvy up the plane in "desirables" and "undesirables", to then pin them against each other.
Call operation "Spiraling Eagle".
A bullet is cheaper than food, healthcare, and education.
Austerity submachine gun go brr.