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Coronavirus will change airlines and the way we fly

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61–70 of 72 posts

Re: Coronavirus will change airlines and the way we fly

#61
post #22
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's with WHO statements that there is no evidence of immunity for covid19 infected?

They don't want people to be confident, they don't want to take the risk that they skip vaccination.

If I understand correctly, no immunity would imply that there won't be a vaccine.

Re: Coronavirus will change airlines and the way we fly

#62
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve been thinking along these lines, but with a twist. I’m half British and half Italian, raised and resided in the latter most of my life. As I’m sure you know, both of these countries have been hit very severely by the pandemic, and Italy in particular is probably the epitome of the “hard lockdown” — or at least, it’s been one of the more prominent cases because it was the first Western country to make that move a…

Islands and countries such as Australia are having a completely different experience, as they can track incoming cases and with good quarantine practices genuinely create a safe bubble for all residents. Watch what happens with New Zealand, Iceland and other small islands like yours and the Canaries etc - you'll be out of lockdown while everyone agrees to be very strict on what enters the country, something continent…

Yes, the lockdown procedures have been successful and the disease is definitely on a downward trend (https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/malta/)

That kind of underscores my point, though, doesn’t it: I’ve had a very atypical experience compared to those of my compatriots (on both sides, Britain being an island but having massively bungled its management in the early stages). I’ve been working from home for six weeks and endure the annoyance of joining a short and diffuse queue to get into the local convenience store, and am at liberty to take a daily stroll in excess of a dozen kilometres; they’ve had their whole existence disrupted (they’ve lost jobs) and loved ones (I recently graduated from “know people who’ve lost their job because of this” to “know people who’ve lost a relative because of this”). It’s truly horrifying, and I’ve experienced it only vicariously, from afar.

Re: Coronavirus will change airlines and the way we fly

#63
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure where you are flying. In Europe, there usually is no such option. Most of the time, all you can do is pay an additional €30 or so and get a seat with more legroom. And that's it.

That’s true if you’re flying on budget airlines like Ryanair or Easyjet, but nearly all the legacy carriers offer a business class “cabin” where the seats are usually the same as in economy but middle seats are kept free. That’s a 33% reduction in density, not 50%, but it’s not far off.

Those business class seats on "legacy carriers" are not available for double the price. Try some flight searches and compare direct one way flights between two cities in Europe. First of all, you will have a hard time finding a direct flight by Lufthansa for example. Secondly, a Lufthansa business flight will usually be over 5x the price of a Ryan air flight.

Re: Coronavirus will change airlines and the way we fly

#64
post #14
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s a good point, but I’m also starting to speculate whether, when the infection rates and (crucially) hospital occupation rates diminish, we will see some people deliberately seeking to get infected so as to gain immunity whilst the risks are low, specifically, when they can be reasonably certain that if they experience severe symptoms they’ll have a place in an ICU to receive intensive care. This might sound uns…

What's with WHO statements that there is no evidence of immunity for covid19 infected?

"There is no evidence [from rigorous peer-reviewed research] that X is true" and "there is evidence that X is not true" are not the same thing.

Re: Coronavirus will change airlines and the way we fly

#65
post #44

I have a hunch that once the severity of the pandemic eases, we may see an increase in car journeys for holidays, particularly for continental Europe. Why? Many people will remain cautious about travelling with strangers in closely packed airplane cabins or even train carriages. The alternative is to travel by car. But people can only tolerate a certain amount of time in the car and so this may affect where people tr…

>I have a hunch that once the severity of the pandemic eases, we may see an increase in car journeys for holidays, particularly for continental Europe. >But people can only tolerate a certain amount of time in the car and so this may affect where people travel. As an American, I would routinely drive 3+ hours to visit family in the same state, or 6+ hours across several states from my childhood home to university. Gr…

"Road trips in general are firmly rooted in the American experience"

Road trips in Europe don't quite capture people's imagination in the same way as the Great American road trip. I think it might have something to do with driving across borders - it's exciting but also possibly stressful having to drive in a different, unfamiliar country.

Camping is already popular in some European countries. There are lots of camps with modern facilities so its popularity may grow even more.

Re: Coronavirus will change airlines and the way we fly

#66
post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s true if you’re flying on budget airlines like Ryanair or Easyjet, but nearly all the legacy carriers offer a business class “cabin” where the seats are usually the same as in economy but middle seats are kept free. That’s a 33% reduction in density, not 50%, but it’s not far off.

Those business class seats on "legacy carriers" are not available for double the price. Try some flight searches and compare direct one way flights between two cities in Europe. First of all, you will have a hard time finding a direct flight by Lufthansa for example. Secondly, a Lufthansa business flight will usually be over 5x the price of a Ryan air flight.

Oh yeah, I doubt you’ll find business class tickets that are anywhere near as cheap as twice the price of the average Ryanair flight, but as someone who is in the lucky situation to be able to avoid airlines that I find actively unpleasant, the price hop from economy to business needn’t be that large. It depends on the airline, route and dates of course, but I’ve seen (and bought) short-haul business class tickets that were less than 150% the price of economy.

Re: Coronavirus will change airlines and the way we fly

#67
post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They don't want people to be confident, they don't want to take the risk that they skip vaccination.

If I understand correctly, no immunity would imply that there won't be a vaccine.

Well, they also flip-flopped between the wearing of masks in public communications, just to keep supplies available to medical staff...

Re: Coronavirus will change airlines and the way we fly

#68
post #13

I wish they would simply remove every second seat and charge twice the price. That would mean the same revenue for the airline and a much more comfortable flight for me. Win win. And they would probably still have some wiggle room. Because 50% less customers would mean at least some reduction in costs. What about the HN gang? Would you keep flying if prices doubled?

You can already purchase two seats today to achieve this result if you wanted to.

Re: Coronavirus will change airlines and the way we fly

#69
post #2

I think about the depression era behaviors that stuck around in my grandparents as a good example of what to expect coming out of this pandemic. They learned certain things out of necessity and it changed their worldview on everything from darning their own socks to what ingredients they'd use in their cooking. I expect that many of us will carry similar behavioral scars for years or decades later - ensuring we have…

>ensuring we have masks on hand, unconsciously observing social distancing, being wary around crowded spaces like airplanes and airports Wow it only took 3 months of brainwashing to permanently change your subconcious behaviour and make you paranoid of other people and the outside world? I sure hope most of humanity is at least slightly stronger willed then that and doesn't now live like a scared rabbit.

First, rude.

Second, yes, three months of heavily restricted movement, limited access to resources (from flour to dental care), to knowing people who are sick, dying, or at high risk has absolutely changed my perspective.

Knowing that we've got several more months of this ahead, this is a significant portion of our lives. One way to think about it is that most of us will have spent whole integer percentage of our lives in this situation. Of course that's going to impact the way we observe and interact with the world.

Re: Coronavirus will change airlines and the way we fly

#70
post #68
post #13

I wish they would simply remove every second seat and charge twice the price. That would mean the same revenue for the airline and a much more comfortable flight for me. Win win. And they would probably still have some wiggle room. Because 50% less customers would mean at least some reduction in costs. What about the HN gang? Would you keep flying if prices doubled?

You can already purchase two seats today to achieve this result if you wanted to.

I have never seen such an option.

Also, it would not give you the additional leg room that we would get if every second seat was removed:

    ***      * *
    *** -->   *
    ***      * *
And it would not save as much weight as removing the seats.
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