Originally Posted by
slawecki
why? airplanes are very full. the prices are too low. the cost of iad-den in 1978 was $300. today it is $269 plus fees. should be $1000 or so using 1978 dollars.
if airlines were saved money, they'd just waste it lowering prices.
why should not the price of air transport reflect the cost of the travel?
I think that starts the free-market vs. govt intervention debate...I believe in free-market economics as much as Friedman, but in the case of air travel I have to say that I think the benefit of govt intervention in keep ticket prices down is probably best--if you extrapolate the dollar amount of commerce made possible by cheap air travel, I think you would find that it is well worth it (obviously I don't have any real figures, but I'm making an educated guess).
Furthermore, I don't think that your comparison of iad-den 30 yrs ago to today is completely qualified--you need to take into account changes in technology etc. If it was on the same plane, same configuration, same level of service...maybe you're right...but (and I'm only 21 so I don't know this for a fact either) I imagine that things have changed somewhat drastically since then!