Come Fly with Me

In my short time on this planet, I have flown a few times. The experience was, well... Adequate. I got to the airport, grabbed my ticket, trudged through security, and boarded my plane. And while I certainly don't hate the airlines for my personal trips, I do hate them for another reason, I would like to fly more. But the prices for plane tickets are astounding, especially considering the service.

Here you are paying between two hundred and five hundred dollars, three weeks in advanced, for what is in essence an air taxi. A taxi that you don't get to enjoy alone, but must share with several dozen more people. Now I understand, the operation of an air liner is much different than that of a Taxi, so comparing the prices is a bit silly. But here's the thing, the one aspect of air travel that drives me up the wall... A taxi does not increase it's price based on when you call for one. Say I wanted to take a flight in one month, I check the price and it's two hundred dollars, so far no problems. But if I wanted to book that same flight two weeks from now, the price would be much higher... And if I wanted to book the same flight on the day I wanted to leave, the cost would be over double what I would have paid today.

It's completely backwards! An air line makes it's money by booked seats, a plane departing without all or at least most of it's seats filled is not making as much money as it can. The idea is to sell those seats, but here we are at the moment of departure, seats unfilled, and raising the price. It's a cruel little joke on the passengers, they know a person booking a flight on the same day is in crisis, they need to leave on that day, they cannot refuse the hugely inflated price.

You add this with the general disdain of air travel and you can see why companies are falling left and right. Additional charges for luggage, lost luggage, insane security that doesn't make us more secure, cancellation fees, delays, and of course having your flight simply canceled. It may seem like small complaints, air lines can't expect to be perfect, mistakes happen. But think of how much you're paying these people, how much money one trip really costs. With how much we spend to fly, is it too much to ask for better treatment?

I'd just as easily take the occasional mistake if it meant I could afford to fly more often.