Here's why airlines want you to be uncomfortable

[Jilly_in_VA]

Watch any old movie where the characters take a flight and it looks like a glamorous getaway in-and-of-itself — but the days of comfort in the skies are long gone for most of us. And it may not surprise you to know that air travel these days is designed to be less comfortable.

Have you ever heard of “calculated misery“? It’s the theory behind what we all know deep down: airlines want us to be miserable so we pay more for upgrades.

The idea was first distilled in this way back in 2014 by Columbia Law School professor Tim Wu for the New Yorker.

“Here’s the thing: in order for fees to work, there needs be something worth paying to avoid. That necessitates, at some level, a strategy that can be described as “calculated misery.” Basic service, without fees, must be sufficiently degraded in order to make people want to pay to escape it,” Wu writes. “And that’s where the suffering begins.”

https://www.wate.com/news/calculated-misery-heres-why-airlines-want-you-to-be-uncomfortable/

Or it drives customers away.....

[brooklynite]

1. Yawn......

What people seem to conveniently forget about the "golden age of air travel" (which I had the opportunity to travel in) is that it came with significantly higher, government-mandated fares.



When airlines were deregulated, fares dropped substantially, but capitalist economics showed that, unlike restaurants or hotels, customers were unwilling to pay differential fares for differential service quality (First Class and then Business Class have always been speciality niche markets). They responded to the lowest published cost from airline "A", resulting in fare cuts by airlines "B", "C", and "D". Given the loss of revenue, airlines were forced to cut out services and charges for extras to maintain profit margins (which given the cost of buying/leasing/maintaining aircraft aren't that high).

[comradebillyboy]

3. My wife and I took a lot of overseas trips after I retired.

We took a few back when I was still working as well. Air travel has gotten a lot cheaper, as your graph illustrates. And yes we did buy the nickel and dime upgrades to make those flights to Europe and Asia more comfortable.

The good old days are better in our memory than they were in reality.

[Elessar Zappa]

6. Also, flights in the 50s and 60s were much louder and the ride was way bumpier.

[yardwork]

9. And the flights were cigarette smoke filled.

My recollection of coast to coast flights when I was a teen in the 1970s is of hot, stinking flights with little or nothing to drink. Flights routinely ran out of soda. There were no water bottles. Passengers drank alcohol and smoked a lot. The meals were truly awful - I'd rather have a bag of peanuts than the mystery meat and gravy that was served back then on trays. Nausea was a real issue because the flights were bumpy, with a lot of turbulence.

Yes, the seats were bigger. That's the only thing that was better back then.

[edhopper]

14. That chart needs to be updates

Trying to book a flight to Italy recently, The basic Economy airfare was $700 to $800, but to get Economy Premium, which means enough leg room so I don't get a blood clot, was over $2,000, that is not a small price for comfort. Whatever they were doing in 2012 has no bearing on what they are doing post-Covid. The cost for airflights that aren't punishing have soared.

[BannonsLiver]

18. True

But it did spark a question. When was the last time you found yourself in an economy seat on an airplane?

[2naSalit]

2. Definitely drove me away.

If I HAVE to go far, where driving is not an option for whatever reason, I'm not spending my hard earned pittance on getting to where I have to go, certainly not most of a budgeted amount.

The point is to make you miserable for thinking you could have the luxury of carefree travel.

[CoopersDad]

4. Rail travel is lovely, we need more of it. eom

[Zeitghost]

16. I enjoy rail travel

But it's slow and expensive compared to driving or flying, especially with a family.

[Wonder Why]

20. Atlanta to Tucson next month by train. Eat your heart out.

[marybourg]

5. Air travelers showed they were willing to

endure discomfort in exchange for cheap airfares. The airlines that charged more, but gave more are all long gone from the skies. The enemy is *us*.

[Elessar Zappa]

7. It's also a lot cheaper to fly now.

I’ll take the cheaper seats and some discomfort rather than paying an arm and a leg for slightly more comfortable seating.

[Jilly_in_VA]

8. I don't fly now

unless I absolutely HAVE to. I hate it. I hate the discomfort, the intrusiveness of TSA, the whole "hurry up and wait" culture, having to pay for every little thing,...I could go on. If I could get from here to there easily and quickly, I'd happily go by train, but I can't.

[Initech]

10. It's entirely the fault of deregulated capitalism.

Take away the rules, don't punish the people at the top, and pay no taxes. This is what we get. Thanks, Reagan.

[former9thward]

15. Airline deregulation came under Carter.

The Airline Deregulation Act was passed by Congress and signed by Carter in 1978.

[Hotler]

11. Most likely the same for grocery stores (Kroger). Stock shitty items or discontinue your favorite

in order to force you to go without or buy what they push.

[hunter]

12. Streaming television seems to be the same model.

I'll pay to make the advertisements go away.

On the other hand I don't watch nearly as much television as I might.

I avoid advertising supported television entirely, and my wife and I subscribe to only two or three services at a time.

If streaming services make it harder to shop around we'll watch even less television.

Flying has long been on my list of activities I avoid if at all possible.

[Wednesdays]

17. And that was the whole sales pitch of cable TV when it first came out

"You don't have to watch commercials anymore!"
Yeah, how did that work out?

[hunter]

19. It worked out great for me and my wife. We quit cable and broadcast television entirely.

For a few years we were only watching DVDs we rented or bought in thrift stores. Then our kid, who was home from college at the time, set us up with Netflix.

If we lose the commercial free options on streaming, or they become too expensive, we'll quit those too.

My wife and I read most of our news and opinion. We listen to and support our local public radio station. We don't watch sports. Your mileage may vary.

[LiberalFighter]

13. Last time I was on a plane was about 1996.