Live data from Hacker News

US airlines are pushing to remove protections for passengers and add more fees

travelandtourworld.com

101–110 of 678 posts

Re: US airlines are pushing to remove protections for passengers and add more fees

#101
post #17

> [Elimination of] Automatic Refunds for Cancellations Does this mean when the passenger cancels or when the airline cancels? If it’s when the passenger chooses to cancel, this seems fine and fair: he paid for a flight; he chose not to take it. If it’s the latter, then it seems very unfair. > Transparency of Fees This seems patently unfair. Folks should know what they’re going to be paying ahead of time. > Family Sea…

> If you want to sit together, pay for that privilege. Agreed. I think they leave too much money on the table. Use of window shades and lavatories could be behind a subscription service as well, with Sky Comfort+ affording you the privilege of multiple lavatory visits for those who have chosen the luxury IBS lifestyle. I'll let you know if I think of anything else those pesky airline passengers take for granted.

Are you a consultant for ryanair? If not, you should apply.

They tried to straight up remove the window shades, but that’s currently required by Ireland so no dice. A toilet charge has been floated but is apparently difficult both legally and technically. However given Ryanair’s usual treatment of passengers with disabilities I have no doubt a passenger with IBS would have an experience.

Re: US airlines are pushing to remove protections for passengers and add more fees

#102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yeah, now imagine when its even worse

I’ve seen the movie Brazil and I wish more people had so they would have voted better.

I'm not sure why you think that would've helped. A lot of the people who won't shut up about 1984 and Ayn Rand still vote for the closest thing to monarchy they can find on their ballots.

Re: US airlines are pushing to remove protections for passengers and add more fees

#103
post #20

Interesting. The deregulation of airlines is already a case study of how deregulation tends to reduce competition and hurt consumers. I suppose we’ve just given up on the concept of trying to do anything but nakedly extract profit at any cost. You’d think shareholders would be pro-competition in the end, though—I certainly would prefer that. Edit: I mean short-term profits. As a shareholder I would prefer long-term p…

> The deregulation of airlines is already a case study of how deregulation tends to reduce competition and hurt consumers. What the actual F? Deregulation of airlines was massively beneficial to consumers. "Base ticket prices have declined steadily since deregulation.[15] The inflation-adjusted 1982 constant dollar yield for airlines has fallen from 12.3 cents in 1978 to 7.9 cents in 1997,[16] and the inflation-adjus…

How do the real price reductions compare to the rest of the world? Computers automated away a ton of airline jobs, and fuel economy has increased.

Also, are those prices apples to apples with pre-deregulation tickets?

Like, can I just walk up to the terminal, same day, pay that price, and get the equivalent of business class on the plane, and still pay 44% less than real 1978 prices?

Re: US airlines are pushing to remove protections for passengers and add more fees

#104

I'd be curious to see how the all-in price of airline tickets has evolved in recent decades. It feels like it's now commonplace to have hundreds of dollars in additional fees for things like legroom. That means a cheap ticket is a midrange ticket and a midrange ticket can end up being quite expensive unless you fall for the "we get to strap you behind the bathroom with only the clothes on your back" Saver ticket. It…

Related to that; I am curious in what airlines think they will get or what motivates them to prioritize being deceptive, sneaky, dishonest, manipulative, lying, con-artists, i.e., just abusive all around? If everyone is required to provide "all in pricing" then there is no competitive advantage in being a bigger, better fraud; so must it be concluded that they think they have a competitive advantage at being the bett…

[deleted]

Re: US airlines are pushing to remove protections for passengers and add more fees

#105
post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't have to engage or justify staying in your seat, just say no thank you and end the conversation

Have you never seen a confrontation erupt from this? Or a flight attendant "suggesting" the person being asked to move?

No. Is there compensation given, since assigned seating costs more than non?

Re: US airlines are pushing to remove protections for passengers and add more fees

#106
post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t think anybody’s said so far that it has to be at any time. Up to X number of days out, like most hotels, I think is perfectly reasonable.

That would be reasonable, but I think I could take it or leave it. Planes fill up more than hotels would be my guess, so they'd need a buffer window of like a month? At which point the difference between having and not having cancellation protection seems negligible to me.

I think we’re making a lot of assumptions here. For all we know one to two weeks could make a lot of sense.

I understand airlines are very feast or famine and often operate on very thin margins, but at this point I’m willing to pay a little more for the experience to not be so categorically and consistently miserable

Re: US airlines are pushing to remove protections for passengers and add more fees

#107
post #79
post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

$99 recline your seat fee

I'd pay $99 so that the person in front of me *can't* recline their seat

I'd pay $99.01 so I can recline again... oh wait, I see where this is going...

Re: US airlines are pushing to remove protections for passengers and add more fees

#108
post #86
post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you want to sit together, pay for that privilege This is evil. There is no cost to the airline to put people who booked together next to another. It's seems like Mafia-tactic to seat people apart from another unless they pony up another $500 in upgrades. I refuse to fly with United. I understand that there may not be 10 adjacent seats when flying with a big group, but spreading out a family on purpose just so yo…

> > If you want to sit together, pay for that privilege > This is evil. There is no cost to the airline to put people who booked together next to another. Bin-packing is tough (look at Kubernetes!). Economically, giving folks willing to sit in a random seat an extra $10 and charging folks who want to sit together $10 is a wash. Evil is, you know, torture and genocide, not efficient allocation of limited space.

Can you elaborate on the Kubernetes bit

Re: US airlines are pushing to remove protections for passengers and add more fees

#109
post #15

In Canada, we've already learned to always fly a European airline when possible. We have some legal protections but Canadian airlines are happy to put people on a complaint waiting list instead of doing anything - it's pretty laughable. As of August, there's 85k complaints waiting. It's a 1.5-2 years wait. https://otc-cta.gc.ca/eng/air-travel-complaints-resolution-p...

There is a 90 day decision timeframe starting from the time of submitting a complaint.

But note: > Due to a high volume of complaints, there will be a delay between when a complaint is submitted and waits in the queue and when the complaint process will start.

wat

Re: US airlines are pushing to remove protections for passengers and add more fees

#110
post #95

> Instead of the clear, itemized pricing system that passengers currently rely on, airlines could hide fees until later in the booking process… They call what we have now “clear”? Where when looking at a page of flights I don’t know how much the multitude of economy/economy+/economy++/premium economy/business/business++ seats will cost until I click on each flight? Where every carrier offers slightly different variat…

[flagged]

If you drove your car across 17 countries in Europe would you expect to pay the same at every station you come across? I don't think what you're saying is even the norm within European countries, is it?
Post reply on HN