Airlines!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:I have no airline status and have no trouble getting free seats for my family. You must be booking at the last minute.

You are wrong (or your kids are very young).

Many airlines now charge for seat selection in advance.

Not if you buy regular economy fare and not “basic” economy. And I have to do that anyway to get the carryon bag.

Which costs more. So…they are now charging for things that used to be free

Try again. Basic economy didn’t exist until a few years ago. They created a new class of fare for the cheapskates.

But prices have NOT gone down dumbo. So they have not created some BUDGET option, they have just convinced people like you that you are getting a discount.

https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/travel/travel-price-tracker

Prices haven’t gone done on anything, why should airfare be the exception? Have you seen home, car and food prices lately? The price of your hotel? As a percentage airfare actually hasn’t gone up that much. The rest of us just were just subsiding the people who wanted it all and now we don’t have to!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes and then you combine this with the worrisome trend that others are experiencing, with having to garden your reservation because airlines will change on you, cancel flights, switch aircraft and wipe out your seat assignments. It's too stressful.

Which airlines?

I’ve mostly heard about this on European airlines. Have you experienced this on domestic airlines when flying to Europe? I was planning to book a domestic airline to avoid such issues.

I have no idea where you are hearing this is a European airline thing. We live in Europe and would much rather fly any European airline any day. 1) we don't have to pay for seats to sit with our child- we are automatically sat together and 2) if flights are delayed or cancelled. European airlines are required to pay you based on the flight distance- for example, if your flight is delayed more than 3 hours and it is under 1500km, you get 250 euros, if your flight is delayed or cancelled and it is over 4 hours and 1500km- you get 600 euros. Even if they rebook you on another flight, if your flight is canceled, you get paid. We have been paid more than our flights were by one airline because it was delayed by 5 hours. Customer protection in Europe makes US-based consumer protection look like a joke. This also holds companies accountable- they can't just cancel flights or delay- they will have a plane full of people requesting compensation and unless it is something thoroughly documented that is outside their control- i.e. a massive storm, they will have to pay.

[Anonymous]

“According to Nomad Wallet, in 1970, a return flight between New York and London was retailed for $550. With inflation, that's around $5,350 in today's money. With low-cost airlines abound, tickets between New York and London can range from $300 to $1,000 in economy.”

Airfares are definitely cheaper in historic terms.

[Anonymous]

I was just looking at tickets from DC to Rome - $4,000 for one Economy seat?!? WTF?