Originally Posted by SeeBuyFly

Because not all individuals can afford unexpected costs, but the airline can spread the cost among millions of people. It's like insurance; unexpected costs that are high for individuals are low when averaged among large numbers of people.

There's no other industry where the customer randomly pays extra for 'acts of god'. If you buy a car, they don't tell you that you have to pay more than someone else because a storm interrupted delivery of your car. If you're at a restaurant, they don't tell you the bill is higher today because there was a power outage. Instead, the quoted price includes the cost of such random occurrences.

Yes, I know, they say people want low ticket prices. But actually airlines maximize their profits by not 'self-insuring' against unexpected costs but passing them on to passengers.