What We Learned From Flying Spirit Airlines
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- Опубликовано: 5 мар 2023
- Here's why flying keeps getting worse and worse.
The JetBlue-Spirit merger is about to make flying even worse. Four airlines already control 82% of the U.S. market. If JetBlue is allowed to buy up one of the few low-cost airlines, it will cut flights and hike prices industry-wide.
Aviation expert William McGee from American Economic Liberties Project talked with our producer Paula Pecorella about the looming merger and why flying keeps getting more hellish. It wasn't always this bad. Decades ago, flight delays were rare, and planes had gourmet food and spiral staircases. Then deregulation happened.
#jetblue #spiritairlines #travel
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You could probably make that exact same video about almost every major industry.
truth. Good thing the boomers dereguated industries and gave us the "right to work". Now we can be happy and own nothing. Time to organize.
Absolutely.
Indeed
Well said...and very true!
Welcome to America 🇺🇸
where the good old days of great customer service is a thing of the past.
I can’t believe we are getting so screwed on literally every front and most people still think that everything is as it should be.
I'm not sure it's most people, and therein lies our only hope. Our society in general has been made tragically ignorant of everything, so they don't know what the causes of the problems are, but they do know that there is a huge problem.
Well, look at us we should start a web show
Conservatism in a nutshell.
We're inundated from birth on capitalist propaganda paid for by the people who profit from our misery to believe that we live in the best of all possible worlds and that anything which serves the public good is a mortal sin against the divine order of things. It's disturbing to see people victimized by our system defending it with religious zeal.
@@rickb3650 For what my personal observation is worth, anyone I know who is financially comfortable 100% thinks everything is hunky-dory, regardless of political beliefs. Anyone who is not doing well financially knows there is a problem, but most can't put their finger on it.
"Let the market regulate itself." usually translates into "And now watch things turn to shit!".
That because the government just keeps bailing out failing companies that fail. That's why we have this issue.
Lol when the government deregulated the airline industry, flying went from a thing reserved to the most well off to a thing for the middle class
Yep!
@@maximemeis2867 firstly nope, secondly definitely hell naw. Deadass wrong
@@EmpReb no. You cannot use the guvment as an excuse for the failing free market. The guvment does do that. Very often. But using it as scapegoat only makes you look ridicilous.
I can't think of one example where deregulation has had a positive impact on anything, and I'm an old man, been around awhile, today I hate flying more than a visit to the dentist and dentistry has not gotten any less painful.
Deregulation is for giving money & power to the gilded class.
Deregulation is shitty for workers, customers & the whole economic system.
This video is so biased. Notice how they didn't tell you how much airline tickets costed in the 70s compared to later.
@@linusmlgtips2123 At most twice the price for domestic flights, which represent most of the activity (about 80%). For twice the price nowadays you wouldn't get the same comfort there was then. And that's ignoring the whole innovation/streamlining of 50 years of development.
I know where the marginal gains went during those 50 years, and it's not to the consumers.
I dont fly anymore, Id rather spend 2 days getting there on a train or a ferry or a car - its just too intensely horrible.
the only place i can think of is in zoning laws that 1) make most land in the US zoned to only allow single family homes to be built on it, and 2) separate residential areas from workplaces, shops, and recreational areas, forcing car ownership on basically everyone.
I am so tired of monopolies making my life worse, while laying off workers en mass at every opportunity, treating their employees like they own them, and their customers like cattle. Europe economic growth is usually slower than the USA, however I would rather live a good life, than roll the dice in a society designed to create such divided classes.
I live in europe (Germany). Life here is still good. Sure, things have changed here also, but compared to america (where I often travel), living here is comfortable, safer and one can simply enjoy life. And it´s cheaper to travel nationally and abroad.
This free market BS is in europe as well.
@@ts109 But regulations actually work
What are we prepared to do about it? I just ask questions btw
@@davio7031 Eat the rich is my first instinct, but I don't think its appropriate
Let's face it:
1. Wall Street OWNS Washington.
2. The Spirit/Jet Blew merger is going to happen.
For now, yes and most likely yes.
Greed destroys everything.
*Blew, lol
And they still steal your stuff in both 1 and 2 above and resell it at auction... :(
Wall street has owned Washington for about a century and a half.
This is also why we need better trains, to compete with the airline industry itself. I love flying but its incredibly inefficient compared to trains. I wish that regional flights should be mostly replace by rail, and airplanes should only be necessary for long distances.
They just (or are about to) open a regular-fucking-speed train from miami to orlando (The trip is 3.5hr.) It's $80 each way. Assuming you're not familiar: the drive in a 4cyl vehicle takes about $40 in gas total travel (Yes really) and about 4 hours up I95. $80 for a 30min saving is a terrible financial and comfort decision to me. Now when you get up there you still gotta uber or rent a car like prices don't suck. I agree That trains should absolutely replace flying, but not at regular speed.
@@MrNightpwner $80?! Each way?!? That's ridiculous, how do they expect anyone to afford that!!
@@MrNightpwnereverything we do in America is just ass backward. Last summer I took a high speed train from Paris to Marseilles that took 3 hours. And it's nearly double the distance from Miami to Orlando. And that ticket can be had for as low as $20. And in both cities you don't need a car rental either. That's the state of America in a nutshell. Paying out the ass for an inferior experience
Trains are an unrealistic solution.
Trends, interest, and life changes.
The “new” development today quickly becomes the blight of tomorrow. The productive company becomes an obsolete and unwanted industry. Natural disaster changes the landscape and ultimately the real estate.
So by the time the train is in place, it’s serving a destination to nowhere because people have moved on.
@@rexx9496 Paris and Japan got high-speed trains because both countries were leveled to the ground during World War II. When they rebuilt their infrastructure they used American aid and technology to build better tracks that could support faster trains. Meanwhile, in the US we had our old tracks dating back to the Civil War era, and most politicians would rather spend money buying votes then maintaining or improving infrastructure, so here we are!
It's almost as if we never should have bailed out the airlines.
Yeah, why did anyone bail them out? Airlines and cruise-lines are international. They don't pay taxes (or not nearly as much as a in-nation business). It's par-tic-u-lar-ly _odd_ how businesses get to reap all the rewards during boom times; but when low times show up, the working class has to take it on the nose...
Should never bail out banksters with taxpayers monies. It becomes an oligarchy. Ooops.
@@user-dj6hu9gq4t Golden parachutes and corporate socialism have given capitalism a bad name, just like neoliberalism's disregard for the concept of "public commons".
@@dominicfucinari1942 Nah, mate. Capitalism always had a bad name. There simply was a time it was convenient to turn a blind eye to the negative effects it's causing because it didn't concern boomers and gen xers.
Once the rail competition disappeared airlines gained the ability to become utterly crappy as Amtrak is so useless it’s not an option. However intercity travel got deregulated
I just went to Philadelphia from Maine on Amtrak and it was cool, it just needs infrastructure improvement and massive buildout nationwide
@@boathemian7694 yeah but it's getting the exact opposite
@@FS-qk5uq Amtrak is so bad that a private train company has to built new routes. But thank god, Orlando gets a new Brightline train station that opens by June. Brightline just gave the green light for a LA to Vegas train too.
@@AssBlasster Awesome. Public or private, trains > planes
the fed needs to own the track and regulate it like how it owns and regulates the skies for private rail to be competetive.
@@boathemian7694 The problem with building out nationwide.. Philly and Maine aren't too terribly far apart. And it still takes Amtrak 10 to 14 hours to complete a journey from Philly to Portland, Maine. United can get you there in 6 hours for the same price. American can get you there in 1 hour for a hundred dollars extra. And this is with two reasonably close destinations. Now lets say you live in the US's largest city and want to visit a relative in America's second largest city. That journey would take you 70 hours, almost three days. But lets say you replaced our conventional rail with highspeed. And lets say you have a nonsensical direct trip between NYC and LAX, ignoring every city on the way to cut the time down. And lets say you just cut a hole right through the three mountain ranges between the two cities. And lets say you put the world's fastest train on this route. It would still take you 8 hours. Delta can do it in 4. And Delta will probably do it for astronomically less money.
I work the airline industry and it's really depressing. On one side its honest hard work on the ground, but people on the ramp get mistreated all too often to the point where we're viewed as disposable by higher ups. When in actuality we are the reason why the airport even functions in the first place. The people on the ramp are really honest hard working people, some of them right out of high school. They deserve better, the passengers deserve better.
Ramp? I just resigned from B6 at JFK last friday and they basically told me I am blacklisted from the company and from flying after everything they did to me.
@@GeneralHawk505 not familiar with B6, what the hell happened??
I try to use the final flight of Richard "Beebo" Russell as a means to bring awareness to the crap rampers go through.
It's almost like these big companies need workers to do, you know, the working.
Quit.
I was not aware it's illegal to quit a job.
Most important takeaway from this: "Airline deregulation was a failure"
Notice how they didn't tell you the truth, which is that airline tickets are HALF of what they were in 1978.
@@linusmlgtips2123 I would pay double to have the flights of that time period.
@@richw3381 I hear ya, but the thing is, from a facts based pov, the consumer decided to go for cheapest price and accepts the degrade in consumer experience. The crap experience doesn't persists because the government regulates that level of crap, it persists because consumers DO NOT boycott crap airline accomodations. So you may say you're willing to pay 1978 prices for 1978 service, but the Country outvoted you. If there were enough people who thought like you, and I happen to align with your preference btw, then there would be airlines that cater enough to that dignified product to take market share. The reality is that that demographic doesn't exist, so the best you can do is pay for first class in a legacy airline, and still endure the mess that is TSA and poor cancellation consumer protection policies.
This is not true, if deregulation never came to be we would not have low cost airlines such as spirit frontier.The reality is that those airlines enable an entire social class of people who otherwise would not be able to fly to at least travel. Without it a lot of those people might not have ever been able to afford to fly. If you are unhappy with the service you can pay for a better experience. You can either have Good or you can have cheap. It's not economically viable to do both. The important thing is to have the option to chose.
ANY deregulation is a sign of failure.
If a company. Any company becomes too big to fail. We should immediately break it up. Id love to see a no bailout policy going forward.
The corporations have the money hidden in their bank to bail themselves out. Why an ordinary US citizen cannot be bailout if they lose their job and have mounting debt?
I remember a spiral staircase on a flight I flew once. It was a HUGE double decker plane and there was a still a smoking section heh. Nowadays I'm happy to get 2 extra inches of leg space and a charging port that actually works.
The good ol' 747 ❤ with the double decker
Yeah but the prices….
Its not even really going back to their shareholders. If ya look at the 5 year chart of american airlines its down 70%. It just ends up in the hands of ceo's and executives
investors short stock and make massive gains on airlines - it's not just the executives and CEO's
This is honestly why we need competing transport options such as trains. I would much rather take say, a four hour train trip than a two hour plane trip, as if you really think about it, if you tack on 1hr for checkin at either end, a train ends up getting you to your destination quieter, cleaner and faster than a plane does. You get more legroom, better food, and more space to move.
Trains > planes. Fight me.
Except if the train is going through your back and front yard at all hours of the night. Trains don't materialize out of thin air. They need to be built through people's existing property. It lowers land value and causes law suits.
We always have excuses not to have better alternative transportation.
Hey, listen to this.
I worked for the airlines for twenty years and did a number of different jobs during that time.
I worked in the new hire and recurrent training department.
Reservations, both domestic and international.
Flight attendant. (When it was still a "glamour" job)
Ramp
Ticket agent.
Gate agent.
Baggage claim.
And other special assignments.
I am retired now and can fly for free if I WANT to.... and I don't want to.
I'd rather pay to take the train whenever possible. It is a MUCH better experience.
The biggest problem with taking the train is the lack of convenient scheduling for the most part and when that happens then I have to fly. I have no other reasonable choice, but I detest it.
Train routes and scheduling are not as numerous as the airlines are, so I have to pick and choose the ones that work for me, but whenever I can take the train, I do and love it. Even though it takes longer to get to my destination and sometimes cost more. It is well worth it for me.... and remember, I can fly for free.
@@MardukTheSunGodInsideMe Not like that was already being done for the convenience of cars. 😂
@@MardukTheSunGodInsideMeas if airplanes flying over don't also cause noise if you live near an airport. Or roads or freeways for that matter.
I can remember pre-deregulation. You call one airline for a flight cost and it was the same for any airline flying the same route. I can also remember post-deregulation, incredibly low fares for a few years as one airline after another went bankrupt. Eastern, Pan Am, TWA, etc.
Southwest had its first flights in 1979 with only intrastate flights in Texas. My, how far they have come.
High-speed rail could potentially pressure airlines to improve slightly.
High-speed rail? Have you been on a train in the United States?
@@tomsenft7434 not a high speed rail train. We don't have any in this country.
High speed rail would be the best answer except the oil companies have always made sure it would never work.
Oblivious? The only people here in AZ that use the light rail are homeless and transients. My neighborhood now has them pushing carts everywhere.....
Having major cities connected by a railway system would benefit every aspect of our society
Yay Deregulation! I was a Teamster trucker when they deregulated that industry. Used to be a great job. Now for most drivers it’s slavery on wheels. But if deregulation helps a few billionaires get even richer, it’s all to the good. Right?
Mmmm, all that trickle-down money feels great on my financial security. Gotta love all the billionaires!
Oh no the evil of deregulation that made flying affordable to the masses. And if you were overpaid too bad. Welcome to the real world where you can t coerce people into paying more than you are worth
Airline employee here. I'm inclined to mention that the airline industry is one of the few industries in America where workers are pretty fairly compensated relative to profits. At my airline starting pay for new mechanics is about $34/hour rising to about $60/hour after 6 years. And we get yearly profit sharing checks, a relatively generous 9% match on our 401k and free standby travel worldwide. Airlines do pretty well on workers compensation compared to nearly every other industry.
How do you become an airline mechanic?
@@catmouse2882 You have to have an Airframe and Powerplant license from the FAA, which takes about 2 years to get from a trade school, or you can get the experience through military service. The major airlines will also expect you to have a year or 2 of on the job experience, but mom and pop shops in the industry are always hiring so that's not a problem. In my case I served 6 years in the air force before getting my current job, which is how I got hired. Being a veteran definately helps.
I LOVE YOUR INFORMATIVE VIDEOS!
Not only are they informative, they are short into the point! Love it!❤
I work at Delta in engine maintenance. When the government sent the bailout funds back in 2020, profit share date in early 2021 we got the choice of 1 cookie or 1 brownie while pretty sure the upper management/executives got really nice bonuses. Can't complain about the brownie though, it was delicious 😋
Crumbs. You deserve money, respect and time off.
Literal crumbs. Wow.
There is so much wrong with this.
For starters JetBlue is already the 5th largest airline in the US so merging with JetBlue “to make the 5th largest airline” would mean JetBlue maintains its place in 5th. The 5th largest airline is merging with the 6th largest airline to create the 5th largest airline…
Also, all these complaints about smaller seat sizes, paying for extras and bags, etc. are all things the legacy airlines came up to compete with Spirit Airlines. Spirit used to make money hand over fist (pre-Covid) and in order to better compete with Spirit, the legacies started taking some of Spirit’s business model and incorporating it into these in order to try and steal customers from Spirit.
Routes: the argument that Spirit operates more routes is true, but skewed. Spirit might have more point to point service, but that service may only operate once a day, or even only 3-5 times a week depending on the city pair. That’s all fine and dandy until something happens and the flight cancels. Spirit’s average load factor is around 80% therefore if your flight is severely delayed or canceled, they may not be able to get you to your destination for a few days because there aren’t enough seats to reaccommodate all the passengers on the canceled flight. Unless the delay is caused by weather, the airline has no responsibility to give you a hotel or any type of compensation so that added cost would come out of pocket. JetBlue on the other hand runs most of their routes multiple times a day so the chances of getting on a later flight are better.
The biggest thing nobody is talking about, is if this merger doesn’t go through; one or both of these airlines may just simply fail to exist. Spirit Airlines has roughly a 70-80% attrition rate amongst its pilots. Meaning out of the total number of new pilots Spirit hires, they only retain about 20-30% of those pilots while others leave for the Big 4. If this continues, Spirit will not be able to continue to grow and with the amount of hiring the Big 4 are doing, the rest of the pilots at Spirit will mostly likely quit and go to an airline with more seniority progression and career potential leading to Spirit to be even less profitable and potentially face bankruptcy or going out of business altogether. So would the market prefer JetBlue to have a combined market share of 9% post merger, or would the consumer prefer JetBlue and Spirit both simply cease to exist and let the Big 4 pick up their slack?
There are new players in the ULCC game with Breeze and Avelo, but frankly with the pilot shortage the way it is, the ULCC may be unsustainable in the current market with pilot wages increasing and lower cost airlines not being able to afford higher rates without increasing ticket prices too much. Studies show the consumer is sensitive to even a $1 increase in airfare and if a ULCC were to increase ticket cost too much, people would not select them. But if they do not increase ticket price, some of these airlines might struggle to pay industry standard wages and pilots would leave for better paying jobs and the ULCC airlines would not be able to hire and retain experienced pilots
You mean you're going to challenge them with actual FACTS instead of feelings? 😂
you couldn't pay me to get on an airplane
I quit flying around 2008?
After that I drove from Ohio to South Florida every year for holiday.
I've decided I'm only flying one more time. That's when I'm able to leave the US and it'll be a one way ticket.
Grand Holy Saint Ronald Reagan's ideology was "government is not the solution to the problem, government IS the problem." Basically everything going on in recent years has proven that statement dead wrong.
Didn't air travel cost more in the 1970s vs today?
I agree with @onjikun 100%. And if you look up articles on how Ronald Reagan screwed up the USA (and also how he screwed the gay community), there are lots and lots of articles that show that Reagan was a horrible, horrible president. Reagan should have never been a president and our country is much worse off since he was president.
Reagan=worst president ever.
LMAO, as if Reagan were the only one. You're a clown for going after one President's political rhetoric only. It's been 34 years since he was last in office, and yet it keeps getting worse under ALL OF THEM. Go figure.
Few people follow Reagan’s policies. They just wanted flag waving and were anti abortion. Unfortunately Americans are very stupid.
It's funny how they completely gloss over the fact that overall, airline is cheaper today than it was in the 1960s adjusted for inflation. According to HuffPost, for domestic flights in 1969 you would have forked over almost $1,200 (in today's money) for a round-trip from Chicago to Phoenix, today it's anywhere between $200 and $500 depending on the airline and date. That's not to forget that way more people fly today than in the 1960s.
That goes against the bias of the video creators
Well said. While I agree it is frustrating with airline delays, and I am against the Jet Blue merger, I think the decline in airline prices has opened up air travel to be affordable for people. I really just need a seat and a bathroom on the plane. I will eat at the airport.
Deregulation works when it’s useless regulations that no longer apply due to being obsolete because of tech, free market only works when companies are actually competing and not just charging the same amount for the same services. It seems we’ve deregulated necessary regulations and allowed companies to not allow any real choice. I rarely travel anymore since the pandemic, but am planning a trip and I’ll make sure to use alaska airlines vs the big 4 or spirit (because F that company in general).
I feel that in general when you think short term you only get short term gains, but ultimately fail everyone long term. It’s also funny that the only industries where ‘too big to fail’ exists are those that are very expensive to get into or have barriers to entry because of corporate control from anticompetitive practices (think boar’s head only allowing their meat and ‘private brand’ at grocery stores).
Most regulations were for a reason. Removing them just allows the shitty behavior they were addressing to return.
There's nothing remotely free about the market. The 'Merican government constantly has its hand on the scale, just never for the workers.
I’ll just say I agree with both of those things, but yes it is very rare that regulations need to be removed or amended, but two that I think needs tinkering with is copyrights and patent laws as they have overstepped their boundaries to protecting companies monopoly on intellectual property. And I know there are other similar sorts of regulations in place that promote anticompetitive behavior or are outdated by modern technology (ever single meme on the internet breaks copyright law technically). every law exists for a reason, but sometimes those reasons become outdated or prevents better technology/ways of doing things from flourishing. Also note that when government is paid off by companies things can get super sketchy. I am a progressive by the way and understand there is a lot of nuance to these discussions it isn’t cut and dry ❤️.
There is no such thing as a "free market". Its literally impossible for it to exist: ruclips.net/video/yGa1D_W3WaA/видео.html
@@CreativeMindsAudio your initial comment makes you sound like you are crypto-bro or something. Lmao
My best friend just bought a round trip Seattle to St. Louis for me at the end of July. I looked high and low for a good deal 6 months in advance..I could not find any flights lower than the big 4, and they were all comparable in price, so we just went with what worked time wise..because there are no deals or competition out there any more. Almost $700.00 later..and I'm hopefully flying out in July..(they've already made flight changes I've gotten alerts for..(this should be fun) Oh well..I've got something to worry about for the next 5 months 😅
Although here in europe things have changed a lot also. But the prices here are STILL a lot better than in north america. in february 2023 I flew roundtrip from Frankfurt, Germany to Orlando, Florida fo 450 Euros. The flight was ran by Lufthansa, but actually carried out by Finnair. While the service wasn´t top notch, it was still OK.
The rich and the government still every dollar they can from American citizens. And they called gangs bad lmao
Alaska Airline flies that and even now can get it for $500 non stop, spirit will cost also $500 with a stop in LAS but pretend it is $300 once you add the spirit fees it will be closer to 500 the big 4 are all around 600
Why wouldn't you fly Alaska on that route?
I watched Frontline about the state of the industry and it's crazier than I thought. Glad I stopped flying as our safety is now compromised.
Pilots being paid $15/hour? The dumbest people for TSA workers that cant stop anything except old people with toothpaste and other toiletries? What could possibly go wrong?
@@id10t98 It shocked me as well. I don't know how more evil a company can get when the airlines clearly don't care about our lives. This mess clearly reflects how our society is morally bankrupt as well as stupid.
Was that flying cheap? Or some other episode
Yeah that would be why the US airline industry has not had a fatal accident in years and is the safest mode of transport
Because they forced pilots to take the jab or lose their job? 🤔
I won't get a in a plane for that very reason
Just when I thought highway robbery couldn’t possibly get any worse! Wow.
This is airway robbery
How about HIgh ``Sky´´ robbery???😀
The big thing this video is missing is the fact that consumers mostly react to prices. The vast majority of consumers rather deal with uncomfortable and crowded seats than pay an extra 50 dollars.
Thank You!!! That's why Spirit and Frontier exist.
Yeah I'm not really sure why they keep claiming that flying is more expensive either when that's not true at all. Flying was far more expensive in the past.
@@zachgansworth1627 I live in Europe and flights here can be as low as 10 euros with Ryanair and wizzair. On average they're like 40
The only reason we would “need to pay more for more comfort” is due to corporate greed allowed via oligopolies.
We can have humane seats without paying fifty more dollars through this awesome mechanism called 🌈 💫 regulation 💫 🌈
It don’t even make a difference anymore. The fee’s add tf up. Lol
Sigh, it's just awful everywhere these days. If they are a Utility, then we, the public should get to own them, and get repaid on those loans ( bailouts)
I remember booking a window seat and an obese couple being upset they didn’t get the whole row and scream about it. Calling it fatfobic that I don’t want to move and find another seat. I asked them if they wanted the third seat why they didn’t buy it. That just made them more angry. Flight attendant told me there was a empty row in the back if I wanted it and gave me an extra drink free of charge… but the ridiculous entitlement is absurd.
Good reporting ☑️
Glad I watched,
entertaining too.
There were good things to come out of airline deregulation however. Before deregulation of the airline industry when the government controlled ticket prices, flying was not affordable for most people. Just ask your grandparents about their first time flying, most were already adults with kids flying for the first time in the post deregulation era. This lack of affordability created a bad situation for the airlines which began to go out of business due to not getting enough ticket sales for their flights. It was common back then for flights to depart only with half of less than half of the seats filled
I had to travel for work last week. Every single seat stuffed to the gills. People overflowing into my seat space. The aisles so narrow you can’t walk through them without bustling the people in them.
Thanks for the insightful analysis of the modern, deregulated airline industry and its crashing standards of service.
"too big to care" seems to be a theme across all industries
It´s ALL by design. Nothing that you see happening by coincidence. Where SERVICE used to reign, PROFIT is now the star of this show.
Service only was key before because the consumer flying didn’t care about price. When your 6k into a ticket(like they were back then)you expect better service. Today you can fly for $39. If you want the best service go the first clsss that’s where the airlines compete on service.
Such informative content!
Great video. This is fast becoming one of my favourite channels.
Get ready for more route cuts on JetBlue also. Austin-Ft. Lauderdale was cut by JetBlue, but still flown by Spirit and Southwest, which price gouges often ($300+ one-way on weekends) and still won't update their computer systems.
Only union makes us strong💪...
When driving your own car gives you a better travel experience than flying in general. 😂
While you’re statistically more likely to die in a car crash than a plane crash, you’re also more likely to WANT to die from air travel than car travel.
The seats in economy cars are a lot more comfortable than Spirit Airlines.
When I lived in Colorado, my partner and I would road trip to Florida, Texas, and Nebraska. It may have been a longer journey, but at least I wasn't cramped up, dealing with people fighting, and out of the blue flight cancelations
You failed to mention how expensive those flights were in the 70s…. You can afford your cheap flight to Miami because of deregulation
I remember seeing a spiral staircase on a plane once. A retired navy captain was our pilot. He let us sit in the pilots seat. Probably one of the driving force for many young people to join the military.
My Dad used to fly TWA and EASTERN on his business trips in the late 70s early 80s and said they were very good airlines.
And they both went bankrupt without the support of artificially high prices set by the government.
@@VictorMartinez-zf6dt Along with Pan Am.
Has deregulation ever made anything better?
Spoiler: no
It lowered prices.
Deregulation makes some people's yachts and vacation homes better.
Depends on the regulations, but most large corporate mergers shouldn't be approved. Some regulations are written by big corporations to keep competitors out of industries.
Deregulation did make airfare prices astronomically cheaper. One of the reasons people like to ignore for why flying has gotten worse: economy class used to not be a thing. Those fancy planes with walk around bars on them charged *everyone* first class rates. Only the rich had the option of flying. Now you can get between virtually any two points in the US for no more than a few hundred bucks. A round trip flight from Chicago to Phoenix cost $1200 in 2023 dollars in 1950.. To fly coach. Today you can make that journey for $80.
Haven't flown for 15 years, do not miss it at all.
You forgot the biggest headache of flying. TSA
You know, they still have airplanes that have big luxurious lounges. They're called private jets, and you can rent one all day long. The myth of the good old days fails to tell you what those seats cost. Spirit can get you from the Midwest to Florida for under $100 round trip.
The $100 round trip doesn't include carry-on luggage, checked luggage, a real meal, a reserved seat, decent legroom, and free re-booking on the next flight (on a competing airline, on a plane which will not be over-booked, so you really will be on it), if your flight gets canceled due to a weather or equipment problem. If you did a comparison reflecting equal services, it's not cheaper now.
@@blubaughmr Actually depending on the flight they do include meals and no airline can ever charge you for a cancelled flight. FAA and DOT rules are that they must refund you.
@@zachgansworth1627 Out of my last 50 flights on Delta, Alaska, and a couple on American, I have not been on any that had meals included on coach.
I'm not talking about being charged for a canceled flight. I'm talking about the airline putting me on a competitor's flight at no charge so I could make my meeting. I haven't had that happen in years.
@@blubaughmr thats the only way they can give that service to you at a lower costs. running a airline is very expensive and guess what majority of airlines since 2001 have been running yearly net losses. 9/11 ruined the airline industry not deregulation. if you remove TSA airline travel becomes far more pleasant.
This is a great video. I used to work for an airline and I agree with Paula. The US needs to also needs to increase rail transportation. All over Europe, China and other countries, it's easy to travel by rail. Rail transportation does take a lot more time to travel but it is a much better experience than air travel. And if you are not aware, there will soon be on-demand electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) air taxi service within your own city. Think Uber Air. But there are still a few years before on-demand air taxi service (or advanced air mobility) will be available to the general public.
Open your backyard to the train at 12am 3am 6am etc. See if that works out for you. Someone has to pay dearly for that kind of convenience and every year it'll get harder and harder to accomplish.
One of the things that i have heard, as of why passenger train transportation tends to struggle here in the US. Is because most of our railway routes, are owned by the fright locomotive companies. Who has full say over what routes passenger locomotives can use, and what time. In Europe and Asia, where rail transportation has more grown and stayed relevant. The fright locomotive companies over there, probably aren't allowed to have full ownership over the routes, like they are allowed here.
FANTASTIC VIDEO.
Clear, to the point, entertaining, informative. UNDER 10 MINUTES !!!
Also, has personality and is creatively shot ( with narration at the different points of air travel by our host ).
No holds barred, thorough, contemporary, even has a panel expert interview.
This might be the most well constructed video on youtube.
1:29 “getting a bag of chips on board feels like getting the lottery” while she eats chips in a casino it’s just such a good detail.
I will not fly anymore. Used to all the time....but it's gotten beyond ridiculous. I take the train anymore. And love it. Get to relax and enjoy the trip. It's just a different experience altogether.
From the mid 70's to the late 90's I flew a lot, and it was an enjoyable experience. Today, it is my last option. I drive.
Hey, listen to this.
I worked for the airlines for twenty years and did a number of different jobs during that time.
I worked in the new hire and recurrent training department.
Reservations, both domestic and international.
Flight attendant. (When it was still a "glamour" job)
Ramp
Ticket agent.
Gate agent.
Baggage claim.
And other special assignments.
I am retired now and can fly for free if I WANT to.... and I don't want to.
I'd rather pay to take the train whenever possible. It is a MUCH better experience.
The biggest problem with taking the train is the lack of convenient scheduling for the most part and when that happens then I have to fly. I have no other reasonable choice, but I detest it.
Train routes and scheduling are are not as numerous as the airlines are, so I have to pick and choose the ones that work for me, but whenever I can take the train, I do and love it. Even though it takes longer to get to my destination and sometimes cost more. It is well worth it for me.... and remember, I can fly for free.
Well, the diss track about United Airlines breaking 🎸 and breaking a doctor's nose came right up again.
This is why we need to take money out of politics. Politicians work for whomever pays them. Their salary comes from our taxes, but with the current system based on campaign donations aka bribery they can earn far more from corporations that donate to them. This is the cause of all our problems in the last 30 years. Remove campaign donations. Limit all election activity to 2 months only. Require all media to give equal time to all candidates. Require unmoderated debates a week before elections. Repeat, no moderators. Let them speak freely. Let see how intelligent they are in a free and open discourse. That's it, and no more issues. Politicians should not "need" to take billions, literally billions in donations, to then spend it all to the media companies which then help these politicians deceive us. This is insane. Our current political system is literally insane. No wonder there is so much confusion and insanity in politics today. The entire system is broken.
People paid more back in the '60s and '70s for their tickets. Now, pretty much anyone can afford to fly. We fly too much. It's heating the planet. We need to modernize and expand our rail system. Trains are far more fuel efficient and can be even faster than airliners. I think this is a far better way to deal with the obsolete air travel industry.
I very much agree with you on expanding our rail capability. We also have to admit that the planet is f_cked. The climate catastrophe is more far gone than we are led to believe. Every other year a report comes out that says the planetary entropy is 50 to 100 years further than the models predicted. That would certainly explain the continuing myth making of China as the new Great Beast. War with China is one of the most absurd things someone could say. They make EVERYTHING. If tomorrow they didn't send a single ship, our entire country would collapse. They don't need or want to go to war with us. But.....if climate collapse is imminent, those Great Lakes sure have a lot of water.
Considering all the old sci-fi stories about it, pretty ironic that the next great war will be fought for water
@@Busto
It's only ironic if you did't understand the situation.
@@thethegreenmachine Or completely ignored it for profit & power
@@Busto
If you give no thought at all to something, you can't conclude that it's ironic.
@@thethegreenmachine The ironic part of my statement was more for comedic effect then literal usage of the word
Why don’t WE push for punishment and the return of anti monopoly laws!
I wish I could have flown on Pam Am, but they were gone by time I was born. Flying in the 60s seemed so amazing.
If you could afford it.
Such formative content!
The deregulation allowed for more people to have the opportunity to fly in the first place. The prices dropped to the level of where people could actually afford it. If you still want to pay the high prices of the pre-1978 era, then just buy a domestic first class ticket. I would also say that I agree that the government’s bailouts are unnecessary.
@@leafblower8635 also Europe is much smaller than the U.S is because of sanctions on Russia Europe has shrunk 50% because half of Europe lies inside of Russia.
Wait, what is Wong with Jetblue and Spirit merging to create a 5th legit competitor? It's better than either or both of them being bought by one of the other 4.
Watch the above video. It makes spirit bigger and further reduces the amount of competition. A big 4 buyout would likely be worse but all consolidation is bad for the consumer.
Great video.
Remember when super low fares were under $100 r/t and you didn’t have to pay for peanuts, soda, baggage, change to ticket, and in-person service agent (this one is new to me)? Ah, the good old days.
the issue isn't monopolies in the airline industry persay, it's a lack of useful alternatives to flying, like maybe say, trains that actually run to time on decent track that isn't run by the monopolistic class 1 freight railroads
The only real competitor to tbe airlines is the personal car. Rail is just as expensive and take ways long in most cases with the exception of the northeast corridor
And with the first de-regulation they fired mechanics, and then planes started crashing - I wonder if there is a connection?
It used 2 b a dream 2 fly back in the 60s,70s, & 80s now its a real nightmare & don't forget the fights taking place at 35thousand feet& in terminal airports all over the nation, I don't fly anymore unless I really really have 2.
bro we used to have a lounge on planes?!! 💀💀💀
For those of you that only fly every 12 months or less look at not going for the cheapest flight. It only cost me an extra ($40 per person) now that's still a lot for some people but the "benefits" -leg room etc were worth it and if enough people do it it will start to affect their bottom line.
There will be people that are willing to pay the more expensive fair. There are people that will only way the cheap fare. The fact it’s airlines have product differentiators and understand that some people will pick their airline because of the price or features. You chose to fly on the more expensive flight some people won’t.
Oh... so it all comes down to Pete Buttigieg to stop... welp...
waxing poetic about how nice the service was in the 60s and 70s neglects to mention that almost no one could afford to fly- it was a luxury for the upper class. A transatlantic flight ticket in the early 1960s cost about 6 thousand dollars in today's money. Today, you can fly NYC to the UK for 600 dollars- affordable for a middle class income earner. Nevertheless, nostalgia for the 'regulated' period abounds.
I've always just assumed that flying keeps getting worse for the same reason everything else keeps getting worse: companies attempting to maximize profit.
I'm tired of this "deregulation because herp derp free market" shit.
The issue is the people who push it refuse to blame deregulation when it fails.
Honestly cuz of how abusive the TSA is I'd rather just say screw it all
Excellent piece ... this hits the nail on the head! 🟪
You can’t compare a time where most people have never flew in a plane and carriers had to convince people to fly by any means to a time where people are required to begrudgingly fly for basic needs. It’s become a need now so they did away with the fancy features to pull customers in because they knew the customers must fly anyway. It’s not a part of common life.
Even Amtrak's trains are vastly better and more pleasurable to ride than any airliner.
Yea if you can tolerate the 5 hour delays
Would love to ride Amtrak over airlines if the service existed out West. But alas it doesn't.
well... it is capitalism for you... works well doesn't it? the real reason with all our financial problems is that we have been indoctrinated to believe capitalism works best and government is bad. well... lets see... has ANYTHING improved for the non 1% rich since regan and the neo-liberal revolution? we keep sliding further and further behind. usa is number one! yea... except that we are behind most "developed" nations in everything that counts... health, happiness, life expectancy, child mortality, maternal mortality, food security, food quality, food (real) availability, etc. all because we believed a bunch of morons out of chicago's school of economics and forgot to check in and see that EVERYTHING they promised was complete and fetid BS.
In Canada rn we are expeirencing something of an air travel crisis. So many flights are being canceled it is actually impossible to travel via air.
People also forget that starting an airline is a very cost prohibitive thing. You have the massive cost of aircraft but also maintenance which over the lifetime is more expensive that the actual plane itself. On top of that almost every job at an airline is a skilled profession
Electric🔌⚡ long haul 🚂🚋🚃🚋🚃🚋🚃Trains!
JetBlue has more legroom than any other carrier. Using the JetBlue merger as an example, they are going to do away with the Spirit product and hopefully become more able to challenge the big 4. How does this make it worse for the customer?
Blocking the merger will only maintain the status quo. How do we make the system better, though? How can we incorporate government regulation to improve the customer experience?
I am surprised that SW is on your list. They dont charge for baggage, they allow you to cancel and keep your money to roll over next time you want to fly. Online you can find the cheapest prices. I would always fly Southwest for those reasons.
This channel does excellent journalism. Finally a breath of fresh air.
I appreciate the expert opinion.. but this isn't even that hard. When a sector gets monopolized the service gets worse, the prices go up, the safety record goes down. The only problem is, our courts simply don't recognize this reality and refuse to enforce antitrust law. This is what makes deregulation disastrous, it assumes these other controls actually work, when they don't.
How has safety worsened? If anything it's substantially better. The last US airline crash was in 2009.
In what way has safety gotten worse? There hasn't been a crash in the US since 2009.
Simply brilliant. Thanks for some honesty for a change.
I can't even fly anymore. I don't fit in the seats; not because I'm obese, but because I'm very tall. The length from the depth of my seat (where my tailbone hits the back of the seat) to the back of the seat in front of me is shorter than my femurs. I need to spread my knees into my fellow travelers' space. Or I guess I could pull my knees up to my chin, but that seems like a good way to develop a DVT.
As a Spirit employee, I truly believe flying for customers and employees will be vastly improved by the JB spirit merger. Jetblue offers a MUCH better product, has a much more unionized and in house labor groups (we outsource a lot), and as employees, our pay and benefits are miles behind JB. Jetblue offers a ultra low cost ticket that still includes free snacks drinks wifi and tv, while spirits cheap tickets include absolutely nothing.
The video summarized: "something was much better back when the price was set high enough to keep the poors away"
😂😂😂 Basically!! Without deregulation there'd be no jetBlue, Spirit, or Frontier.
Plus , on our last trip we flew 4 segments, two of them were disrupted by unruly passengers, flying is not like before .
Well, have you seen how expensive a plane is? The barrier to entry is so high. Then you have to negotiate routes and no one wants to fly on an airline they haven't heard of.
So, they can charge a great deal and give crappy service without losing any customers. Hmmm. So... the customers keep using their product. Strange that.
The reason that service is getting worse is because passengers want the cheapest possible price! Most people will travel with who is cheapest not who offers the best service! I am someone who votes with my wallet, I am willing to pay higher fares for better service thus is the reason when I travel I avoid the US Airlines and always chose foreign carriers (Particularly Asian and Middle East Airlines). When I do have to fly domestic I will chose a more premium seat and avoid the low cost carriers. The brutal truth is that the lower level of service and seat sizes has opened up air travel to social economic groups in the US that would have never been able to even dream of flying. But if you do want good service and are willing to pay for it then it dose exist. Just vote with your wallet.
I think I’m more worried about the carbon footprint all these flights are doing then my seat size 😅
I used to have decent or better flying experiences from the 80s to early 00s.
Man not sure if I would take my chances flying today
Free market worked out great for the shareholders