I've noticed that U.
S.
airlines beginning to charge for formerly-free amenities or items such as pillows, blankets, the right to use the lavatories (just kidding on this one, so far) is an ever-growing phenomenon.
That this is occurring shouldn't come as a surprise, however, as most airlines are running right on the red line when it comes to being able to charge enough for a ticket but not too much that they'd scare away customers or drive them to explore other alternatives.
Like maybe taking a zeppelin or dirigible or jumping on an Amtrak train or hitching a ride on a Greyhound bus, as unappealing as those options may sound.
It's been pretty much conceded already that most paying passengers "in the back" (main cabin, or coach class) can forget about ever seeing a hot meal on a cross-country flight, unless they're willing to pay for it, and from what I hear from more than a few people at various airlines just about everything being offered or done in the main cabin will soon be up for "decoupling" (i.
e.
pulling out services from the cost of a ticket and charging extra for them).
I can also envision the day when there's a dollar charge to use the "lavs," by the way.
And it's already well-known that in many cases there's a charge for an extra bag (except for those "up front," in First Class), a charge to talk to an actual reservations agent (they work in what's called "rez" in the industry), a charge for a snack (and believe me, pretzels WILL end up costing in the future) and charges for a myriad of other items both large and small.
Really, the only thing the price of a ticket will eventually cover is the seat and one checked bag (for now...
that could end up costing in the future, also).
Perhaps the day will come when the flight attendant will have a portable credit card reader (many airlines have already trained their in-flight crews to use such devices) and will scan your credit or debit card when you enter the aircraft, the better to capture all that juicy revenue from reading the in-flight magazine (I hope they never charge for SkyMall, which is my favorite reading material on a flight), or maybe from asking for ice for that cup of room-temperature water that's supposedly bottled but which I've observed FAs (flight attendants) filling from the aircraft's galley taps (ugh!).
Still, I understand that flyers want two sometimes-irreconcilable things from an airline; all the amenities a one-hundred dollar round-trip New York to Los Angeles ticket can buy, and all the amenities that that same ticket cannot buy, given the true cost of providing such services to folks in the back.
In reality, the cost of those amenities has normally been subsidized in the past by those flying up front, who paid premium prices for a piece of airline steak and extra peanuts.
It seems those days are long gone, however, and won't be coming back any time soon.
Nowadays, costs have to be spread more evenly across each seat in the aircraft and the hard fact is people aren't yet ready to pay the price of a ticket that'll cover still-too-high legacy airline labor costs, which is why we're now seeing this decoupling effort.
Time will tell which way this shakes out, but it's a pretty good bet at least one more major U.
S.
airline will merge or go away entirely in the meantime.
S.
airlines beginning to charge for formerly-free amenities or items such as pillows, blankets, the right to use the lavatories (just kidding on this one, so far) is an ever-growing phenomenon.
That this is occurring shouldn't come as a surprise, however, as most airlines are running right on the red line when it comes to being able to charge enough for a ticket but not too much that they'd scare away customers or drive them to explore other alternatives.
Like maybe taking a zeppelin or dirigible or jumping on an Amtrak train or hitching a ride on a Greyhound bus, as unappealing as those options may sound.
It's been pretty much conceded already that most paying passengers "in the back" (main cabin, or coach class) can forget about ever seeing a hot meal on a cross-country flight, unless they're willing to pay for it, and from what I hear from more than a few people at various airlines just about everything being offered or done in the main cabin will soon be up for "decoupling" (i.
e.
pulling out services from the cost of a ticket and charging extra for them).
I can also envision the day when there's a dollar charge to use the "lavs," by the way.
And it's already well-known that in many cases there's a charge for an extra bag (except for those "up front," in First Class), a charge to talk to an actual reservations agent (they work in what's called "rez" in the industry), a charge for a snack (and believe me, pretzels WILL end up costing in the future) and charges for a myriad of other items both large and small.
Really, the only thing the price of a ticket will eventually cover is the seat and one checked bag (for now...
that could end up costing in the future, also).
Perhaps the day will come when the flight attendant will have a portable credit card reader (many airlines have already trained their in-flight crews to use such devices) and will scan your credit or debit card when you enter the aircraft, the better to capture all that juicy revenue from reading the in-flight magazine (I hope they never charge for SkyMall, which is my favorite reading material on a flight), or maybe from asking for ice for that cup of room-temperature water that's supposedly bottled but which I've observed FAs (flight attendants) filling from the aircraft's galley taps (ugh!).
Still, I understand that flyers want two sometimes-irreconcilable things from an airline; all the amenities a one-hundred dollar round-trip New York to Los Angeles ticket can buy, and all the amenities that that same ticket cannot buy, given the true cost of providing such services to folks in the back.
In reality, the cost of those amenities has normally been subsidized in the past by those flying up front, who paid premium prices for a piece of airline steak and extra peanuts.
It seems those days are long gone, however, and won't be coming back any time soon.
Nowadays, costs have to be spread more evenly across each seat in the aircraft and the hard fact is people aren't yet ready to pay the price of a ticket that'll cover still-too-high legacy airline labor costs, which is why we're now seeing this decoupling effort.
Time will tell which way this shakes out, but it's a pretty good bet at least one more major U.
S.
airline will merge or go away entirely in the meantime.