Why Airfares Have Gotten So High

May 12 2022

The reasons I’ve seen pundits give for why airfares are so high are usually wrong. Travel hasn’t fully returned to 2019 levels, so why have prices risen so much? Fuel prices can limit which flights operate profitably, but fuel isn’t the current binding constraint on supply. And it’s not just a desire of airlines to make back the money they lost during the pandemic.

Instead it’s something far more nefarious.

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What It Looks Like Flying Out Of Shanghai Right Now

May 11 2022

One face of the lockdown is what it’s like to travel, for those few people who can. Residents in a locked down city can’t simply go to the airport. They aren’t allowed to move freely. You have to have a Covid travel permit to cross districts. If someone in your building tests positive the whole building is locked down. And if you can get to the airport, the road to international departures has frequently been closed.

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Southwest Airlines Will Begin Offering Seat Power, Fast Internet

May 11 2022

Southwest offers more legroom in coach than competitors, but there’s no seat back entertainment and no seat power. The lack of power for your devices is a big deal on connecting itineraries and longer flights, such as Southwest’s service to Hawaii. That’s going to start changing.

Southwest has also selected ViaSat to provide internet for its new delivery aircraft In the meantime they’ve swapped out the hardware from their existing internet provider on 40 of their Boeing 737s to improve internet speeds, and they’ve been testing free wifi on those aircraft. Half of Southwest’s fleet is expected to have the new hardware for faster internet by the end of the year.

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Lufthansa Offers So-Called Apology For Incident Banning Jews

lufthansa plane
May 10 2022

Lufthansa “regrets the circumstances surrounding the decision to exclude the affected passengers from the flight” but nowhere in their statement do they say the word “Jews.” Instead they simply refer to “a large group” though they at least now acknowledge that this ‘group’ that shall not be named was banned whether or not any individual had acted improperly.

They apologize for “the offense caused and personal impact” while stating their ‘core values’ of ‘diversity and equal opportunity.’ They’re unwilling to simply say anti-semitism is unacceptable at Lufthansa. They felt the need to couch it in terms of their opposition to racism and to discrimination “of any type” though no other type was at issue here.

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