Originally Posted by GUWonder

On some flights, indeed. On other flights, hard to cut from 2 to 1.6666 cockpit crew. Ground staffing has changed also due to the increased affordability of IT and airlines restricting/eliminating free checked baggage allowance to the point of charging more and way more for it.

Are you getting to something about what happened to total costs per average seat mile flown? I'm not sure what airline prices -- as paid for by customers -- being juxtaposed against various kinds of airline costs per ASM would really bring to the discussion. Note that: we have majors that have a history of going bankrupt -- sometimes even repeatedly -- and still operate; and we are talking about prices/costs for consumers.

Originally Posted by GUWonder

The affordability of domestic US travel is worse today in real terms than it was in 1993. As I already referred: look at the data about what has happened to discretionary income of members of US households in the median income range over the past 20 years and look at various RASMs for the US majors over the same period. Use constant dollars to control for inflation. It doesn't take genius to come up with that data and use it properly. However, it does take at least some will to want to do so, just like it takes the horse some will to want to drink after being directed to the water. Of course some horses may prefer kool-aid to water, but I've done my duty to the horse by directing it to the water whether it wants to drink the water or not.

The affordability of domestic US travel on US majors isn't sharply better in 2013 than it was in 1993. And the affordability certainly hasn't improved sharply in the past 3 years either -- that is in large part why DOJ isn't such a big fan of allowing US to acquire AA in the way US is still trying to do.

Originally Posted by cbn42

Using data from the Census Bureau, median US household income in 1993 was around $49,000 in 2012 dollars. In 2012, it was around $51,000.

Therefore, your argument is invalid.

Originally Posted by dhuey

Not necessarily. GU's point is about discretionary income. I'd be surprised if the changes in discretionary income are much different than changes in total income, but it is possible. I've been unable to find any historical data on discretionary income, though. Hence my request to GU to share any data he has on that.

Originally Posted by cbn42

That's true, but why look at discretionary income? Discretionary income is income minus the costs of maintaining a particular standard of living. Of course this is vague, but if people choose to live in bigger houses or drive nicer cars, their discretionary income will go down. What does this have to do with the affordability of airfare?

Another approach is to look at disposable income, which is income minus taxes. I don't think taxes have changed significantly in the last 20 years. If anything at least federal taxes have gone down.

Originally Posted by cbn42

That's true, but why look at discretionary income? Discretionary income is income minus the costs of maintaining a particular standard of living. Of course this is vague, but if people choose to live in bigger houses or drive nicer cars, their discretionary income will go down. What does this have to do with the affordability of airfare?

Another approach is to look at disposable income, which is income minus taxes. I don't think taxes have changed significantly in the last 20 years. If anything at least federal taxes have gone down.