Show HN: Monthly subscription airline with SFO-LAX flights starting at $78 • Hacker News Board

Re: Show HN: Monthly subscription airline with SFO-LAX flights starting at $78

#161

Post by groby_b » Thu, Jan 11, 2018, 6:22 AM UTC

dannyminutillo wrote: post #102

GFischer wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you think the cheap fare is the value proposition? Or is the private terminals and fast service? That sounds very appealing. I mean, it can be both - save money AND time. All the TSA experience is awful (business travelers in the US have the pre-screen and stuff of course, but they're probably not your target).

I think the value prop is cheap fares without booking weeks in advance and fast checkins at the private terminals. I agree, TSA is awful, so hopefully our solution will be more resolve this issue.

As somebody who's interested in the service: The "cheap" fare is not the value. I fly that damn route often enough that I have frequent flyer status - and so I can just afford to keep things booked 4 weeks in advance, and take advantage of the free cancellations that comes with status. (Not to mention that even on two weeks notice, I can book roundtrip at ~ your price. Alaska in two weeks right now: $160)

The main value is in a private terminal & fast checkins.

That is, btw, a likely factor that might keep people from using your service: if you do on average 3 round trips a month, that's enough to get you to e.g. Gold status on Alaska. Unless LAXSFO is the only route I need to take, that's a pretty large incentive to stay with a regular airline. (Because status means no cancellation fees and easy upgrades)

Re: Show HN: Monthly subscription airline with SFO-LAX flights starting at $78

#162

Post by TheSmiddy » Thu, Jan 11, 2018, 7:14 AM UTC

disappoint3d wrote: post #93

It blows my mind that there's market for this kind of frequent air travel when we have such a climate crisis on our hands.

ALL transport accounts for only 14% of emissions; beef and electricity generation are where the big gains are. We already have the technology to produce electricity without greenhouse gasses, we do not have the technology to physically move as fast and as far as airplanes without burning fossil fuels.

People can choose to take some personal responsibility and sacrifice air travel (and more importantly beef!) for the sake of the environment but we have so much ground to gain at a systematic level that I don't think we need to be too overzealous about behavior change at this stage in the problem.

Voting for politicians that will speed up the transition away from coal to renewables will have a far greater impact on the environment than personal lifestyle choices ever will.

https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/global-greenhouse-gas-emiss...

Re: Show HN: Monthly subscription airline with SFO-LAX flights starting at $78

#163

Post by tim333 » Thu, Jan 11, 2018, 9:51 AM UTC

I don't really see how the economics would work out - planes have a certain cost to fly and the cost per passenger cost is that divided by the number of passengers on the flight. Discount airlines like Ryanair work by selling some seats very cheap to fill the plane and some expensive like last minute and peak time flights to make a profit. If you charge a flat lowish amount the popular times will be full and the less popular empty leading to poor utilisation and a higher average cost and you'll lose money.

Dunno if I'm missing something here?

Re: Show HN: Monthly subscription airline with SFO-LAX flights starting at $78

#164

Post by fiatjaf » Thu, Jan 11, 2018, 1:39 PM UTC

tlb wrote: post #2

Maybe a good idea, but the site does a bad job of selling it. The front page starts with a big rant about how bad existing airlines are. That's not how you sell things. You should focus on what you do, which is SFO-LAX flights through private terminals on a monthly subscription. The private terminal is a huge win -- it saves a good hour on travel. But that's buried in the FAQ. You should redesign so that all of the f…

I disagree about the rant. I like when sites explain how and why they're different and better than the traditional services.

Re: Show HN: Monthly subscription airline with SFO-LAX flights starting at $78

#165

Post by dx034 » Thu, Jan 11, 2018, 2:45 PM UTC

dannyminutillo wrote: post #92

Cd00d wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think a lot of commuter workers tend to fly Thursdays and work remote on Fridays. I'm surprised that's not a higher value day than one of the weekend days for your target.

Friday is actually the day most business travelers fly. Thursday evening has demand as well so we're looking into possibly offering some times Thursday evening too. Thanks for your feedback.

I doubt that. Thursday afternoon/evening tends to be busiest for business travellers, Friday is more leasure.

Re: Show HN: Monthly subscription airline with SFO-LAX flights starting at $78

#166

Post by dx034 » Thu, Jan 11, 2018, 2:49 PM UTC

FireBeyond wrote: post #51

gok wrote: post #33

The screenshot shows 55 minute travel times, is that real? Current airlines generally schedule 1h25 to 1h45.

While a 737 cruises at 340 knots CAS (calibrated air speed), an ERJ 145 has a high speed cruising speed of 450 knots. Add to that less leeway for some of the delays inherent to gates, and I could see that being the case.

You'll still lose time taxiing, waiting for take off and after landing, especially during busy times. I doubt they can make it in <1h block time.

Re: Show HN: Monthly subscription airline with SFO-LAX flights starting at $78

#167

Post by dx034 » Thu, Jan 11, 2018, 2:51 PM UTC

dhzjxnbzn wrote: post #29

matt4077 wrote: post #22

I applaud the audacity of starting an airline from scratch, considering it's way up there in terms of capital requirements and regulatory burden, and the industry has been losing money in the US, collectively, since the Carter administration. But it needs to be said that SFO LAX is, at just 300 miles, and with the high demand shown by such startups, a perfect example of everything that is wrong with transportation in…

I'm a fan of rail in general, and the German system is fantastic. But the LA and SF Bay Areas consist mostly of sprawl and don't have good transit to begin with. You need to drive to get somewhere fast. In those circumstances, taking off from the burbs is a feature, not a bug.

But this service wants to fly from LAX which is not really in the suburbs and not always easy to get to.

Re: Show HN: Monthly subscription airline with SFO-LAX flights starting at $78

#168

Post by mikestew » Thu, Jan 11, 2018, 4:53 PM UTC

ohazi wrote: post #121

Does this actually exist, or are you gauging interest? Don't mean to rain on the parade, but you were basically asking if anyone on HN was interested in helping you build this a month or two ago. [0, 1] It doesn't seem plausible that you'd be able to arrange terminal space, airplanes, pilots, insurance, etc. so quickly. Would be happy to be wrong though, as I fly this route several times per year. Maybe I'm missing s…

One the one hand you are asked to sign up for “early access”. On the other hand the site mentions that “we’ve seen people use the app for business, ...”, implying that it is up, running, and people are using it.

But in the end it can’t be up and running. Go try and book a flight. The app isn’t in the App Store AFAICT, and the only action items on the whole site are to get “early access”.

It would be nice if the site just came out and said, “we’ll be running flights starting February 2nd”, or whatever, instead of making me guess.

Re: Show HN: Monthly subscription airline with SFO-LAX flights starting at $78

#169

Post by PeterFBell » Thu, Jan 11, 2018, 10:32 PM UTC

rconti wrote: post #67

technofiend wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You could get into partial plane ownership and fly yourself for far less than their $1,950/mo fee. The upfront investment is higher since you'll need a pilot's license. :-)

I am actually slightly tempted. It's of course not a cheap option, but I think one thing putting me off is my impression that, if I rented a plane, I'd be paying for the rental the entire time it sits on the ground at my destination, which is hard to swallow.

You don't! You pay (roughly) per flight hour (specifically per hobbs hour which is subtly different, but close enough). SYou can't just rent for a month and return with two flight hours on the clock (there are minimums) but you're not paying for 48 hours of rental for a 2 day trip.

However there are lots of other costs and complexities associated with becoming a pilot. It's a great hobby, but you don't get the same transportation guarantees you do with commercial - plenty of times the bigger/better equipped planes can take off safely but you'd be crazy to do it in a rented cessna.