US Flights are Too Cheap
 

Flying is too cheap. It's turned American flights into cattle-class headache
excursions.
One should not in 2013 be able to fly from LA to NYC and back for $320.
That's the same price it was in 1988--I remember-- that's the first time
I made the trip.
$600 is a reasonable price for a trip across the continent, and back.
Flight attendants are upset and uncooperative, pilots too, airport staff, all underpaid. What do you expect when you pay them peanuts?
Everything else has gone up in price (gas quadrupled) so flights need to as well.
We can't have our cake (ultra cheap fares) and eat it (good service and leg room) too.

US Flights are Too Cheap
 

It would be an interesting exercise to determine the cost per passenger in 1988 compared to today.

While gas prices were far lower, efficiencies in engines are much better today. Airplanes also pack on a more seats today, I think.

The fares today are also put into far more fare buckets, the $340 transcontinental fare is only for a limited number of seats.

Transcon for $320 all-in is not that common nowadays. It is very limited seats per flight. Plus airlines have taken away food, free checked bags, they charge for 'enhanced' seats, BOB snacks, etc. The base ticket isn't their sole revenue on a per-customer basis.

Well, then remove a few carriers from the market (you can even see that happening through mergers), prevent new ones from entering so that ticket prices can rise, and allow airlines to improve service.

How much do you fly? If you are willing to pay a premium, feel free to do so and fly premium service.

But euro flights can be much much cheaper and include food at times

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$320, total cost round trip coast to coast is not at all common any more. It may happen every now and then, but you can't just pick dates and hope to get anything like that.

Not sure everything should be tied to the price of gas, which totally ignores that airlines can fly more people further for the same amount of fuel they did in 1988, but that's another story.

Nor am I at all believing if you paid Flight Attendants, pilots, and airport staff any more money they would suddenly become any different than they are now.

Though I've also not seen many upset and uncooperative flight attendants .

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Yep! The thread title is absolute bunk. While Euro distances tend to be shorter, an apples to apples comparison is still possible. Look at Easyjets LGW-AMM route. It's long enough that it can be usefully compared with a transcon. The "standard fare" on this route converts to approximately $155 each way, inclusive of even the UKs exorbitant taxes. Many more EU flights are in the 2-3 hour range and are routinely found for under$100 per segment inclusive of taxes/fees. Try getting a flight from NYC-MCI for $100.

The airlines are mostly profitable, with billions of that profit coming from things that used to be included in the fare. Checked baggage, meals, seat assignments and my personal favorite; fuel surcharges. To argue that we are paying too little is absurd.

I disagree completely with your statements.

Supply and demand sets the prices.

Prevailing wages are what the market will bear. Any airline employee who feels he/she is underpaid should feel free to seek employment elsewhere. Peanuts? This a tired, worn cliche.

The 1988 airline ticket price you are quoting is most likely fully flexible. Now there are a lot more fare types, from very cheap with strict conditions, to very flexible expensive.

If you compared a fully flexible 1988 ticket for $320, to a fully flexible ticket today for the same route you may find the price in real terms quite similar.

This post made me laugh. You can pay way over $320 to fly from coast to coast.

Or you could pay $120 for a intro to microeconomics book.

You obviously aren't a route captive like some of us are. Normal price for me to get 250 miles from VPS to ATL is around the $200 RT mark. 'Cheap' from VPS to New York City for August is in the $430 RT range.

Because of the teaser rates from Turkish Airlines this spring, you could have flown from Houston to Istanbul for about $100 more than it would have taken for me to get from the Florida Panhandle to Michigan.

I just checked and $480 was what came up for LAX to NYC RT--
still dirt cheap for a flight across a continent and back.
Those cheapie last minute European flights are exactly what I
am talking about: you get what you pay for.
If longer flights averaged about $300 per 1000 miles (RT) I think they could
re-implement luxury. Sorry, just my 2 cents.

Nice rant but how exactly would you change things?

Anyone can complain...