Air-travel SUCKS today! But is it about to CHANGE?!

42 thoughts on “Air-travel SUCKS today! But is it about to CHANGE?!”

1. Black Friday deal! Use code mentournow at the link below to get an exclusive 60% off an annual Incogni plan: https://incogni.com/mentournow

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2. I think I’ll keep flying my Tesla, thank you very much!

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3. I remember when passengers didn’t travel in their pajamas.😖

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4. We have to remind ourselves that those videos from the days when airlines were regulated are promotional videos. And not necessarily reflective of the true airline experience. I can remember when DC-10's and L-1011's first came out, they showed cocktail lounges onboard. Of course the airlines quickly learned it made more sense to put seats there. But on the issue of splitting the cabin classes, can you imagine how complex that would be if they still had to allow for "smoking" rows in each class? I know many smokers can barely make thru the flight these days. And as guy who works in the terminals, the first thing some deplaning passengers ask is, "where can I smoke?"

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5. If you want to do a series of deep dives into how air travel really works Id be in.

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6. Stranded jets are what Aircraft on Ground services handle. AOG teams make a lot of money because they are saving the carrier huge money/day.

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7. Ryanair. Future air travel improvement fee… 😂

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8. My biggest gripe coming from India is just how darned far the upcoming airports are from the city. It takes much longer to get to the airport than the actual flight. And there's no rapid rail connectivity to those airports either to save time. The cost of the cabs to get to the airports is much costlier than the flight ticket itself!!!

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9. I recently flown on NEOS 787 premium economy from JFK to Milan. I felt it was totally worth the experience I received. From lounge access to bigger seats and leg room. Pre flight Prosecco and multi course meals just made our vacation trip extra special.

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10. I still remember when 1st class upgrades were debuted by the airlines. Starting with TWA and their "FirstUp" program. I can recall walking up to the TWA gate agent and literally asking for a 1st class upgrade, and getting it. Granted, I was frequent flyer of TWA and was in their Ambassador class, iirc, but it was still something up until then I didn't dream of doing as an economy passenger.

    Speaking of LLCs, if you are in the US and need to visit Japan, be sure to look at ZipAir with their 787-8s and the "Lie-Flat" class. Lie-Flat is not quite a business class, as it has no IFE, but free internet, and no in-flight meals unless you pre-order the meal. You also need to pre-order a pillow and blanket, but at least you then get to keep it.

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11. Here in Australia. Our main two. Virgin Australia and Qantas ofcourse. Their domestic prices have always been quite high. Mainly 737-800s and A320-200s.

    We have a regional service called. Regional express (REX) for short. They now have opened domestic routes and have smashed these two giants with reeeal low cost domestic flights. Qantas and Virgin Aus are going to have to come up with something. REX is gaining so much popularity.

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12. Everyone is afraid to say it but less security at airports is needed. It’s way too high and mostly theater.

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13. What I see recently is a discussion on whether narrowbody planes can be deployed on longhaul, like the aforementioned 321XLR. It seems a lot of people prefer a widebody. IMHO it is not a matter of one aisle or two. It is simply a matter of comfort. When a 321XLR is deployed on a longhaul, the airline better have a seatconfiguration with the most comfortable seats, enough legroom for tall people like me (2.00 meter), and plenty of multimedia on screen to kill time. For the obvious stroll around the aisles need to be a bit wider for to pass anyone else.
    Oh, and reclinable seats better be abolished in economy. Or at least for the seats with more legroom. Any reclinable seat will kill the extra legroom.

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14. Thank you for a fascinating explanation. I fly a lot. I hope you will consider doing a similar "deep dive" on airline "frequent flyer" programs. These began as a loyalty reward program, but have morphed into an entirely separate income stream. And I'm not referring just to the incredibly profitable agreements between airlines and credit cards, but rather the actual fare differences for different booking classes that offer no actual "benefits" other than frequent flyer miles: pay $200 for a seat that offers 25% miles, $500 for the exact same seat on the exact same flight, but get 100% miles. In other words, it's not a reward for loyalty and the airlines are not just selling seats – they are selling miles. It's not just "First, Business, Premium Economy and Coach." There are dozens of booking classes within each of those categories. Why do I feel the airlines are…er…taking me for a ride?

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15. A number of years ago I was helping my mother pack in preparation to move house when I came across a plane ticket (Melbourne, Australia to London) from the late 70’s. I was surprised to see that the cost of the ticket was more or less the same dollar value as a modern flight on the same route, and that’s before applying inflation.

    Whenever I fly long haul, I seek out flights that offer PE cabins, specifically those that offer a better seat to Economy. For me the journey is just as important as the destination, and too often we take flying for granted. We should always celebrate the marvel that is flight and try to enjoy the experience as much as possible (or at least as far as our budget allows!).

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16. Lost cost low hall… my experiences are -ve ie Scoot (aka SIA) …. horrible!

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17. Petter how did you get through that presentation and not mention Scoot. Scoot and French Bee must operating similar low cost long haul models. Scoot’s longest route seems to be Singapore Athens Berlin.

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18. I seriously cannot imagine someone on a long haul flight without in-flight food. Or without luggage for that matter. And don't even mention trying to have a nap in a seat where your knees barely fit, I'm 1.95, trust me I know…

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19. I would rather drive!

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20. an example of a long haul aircraft having problems disrupting the entire network, Qantas could have an A380 have a technical problem in LAX which causes the flight to be delayed. Now that's not a problem for getting the problem fixed, Qantas has a large maintenance base at LAX. However, the delay itself causes a roll on effect that delays a flight in LHR 3 days later.

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21. My gripe with airlines atm is, that while loosing market share to low cost airlines, medium priced airlines lowered their service in Economy, while being 5x the price.

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22. BA's World Traveller Plus (Premium Economy) is a perfect example of the new trend. The seats are different to economy seats however. They are wider, recline a lot more and have larger screens than their economy seats. They have more leg room and feature a smaller cabin too, typically in 2-4-2 layout on their 777s (BA only offer this cabin on long haul).
    I flew in this cabin with them from Heathrow to Atlanta, and back. The price was pretty reasonable. Food was good, service excellent.

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23. As someone said, time waisted at the airport is the biggest disadvantage. Actually, for routes <1000km a private prop might be faster than a 737 due to that very issue of the need of being 3h before the flight at the airport and then waiting for the luggage.

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24. Glad to hear he now says A–V–EIGHT–SHON not pronouncing the " A " as in Apple. This is brilliant.

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25. Interesting video, thanks for this!

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26. Flying today is just a bloody miserable experience. Even if paying for business class. Most major airports are hell, aircraft seats are terrible and people seem to have forgotten how to behave. These days if I’m going to Europe (I’m in the U.K) I’d rather drive.

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27. Just to underline your point:
    1973: my first transatlantic flight (LHR ⇌ SFO) — £675
    1975: my first salary as a graduate (when we were thought of as the top 2% of the population) — £1,800 a year

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28. I’m surprised you didn’t mention scoot , and also The new inbetwen of economy and premium economy liek economy plus which many airlines are running now which is economy just with more pitch

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29. I hanker after the time when flying on holiday/business was quite pleasurable and now it has become something to be endured.

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30. I always have a little bit mixed feeling about these divisions in transportation. What i mean by that is, that i hope no one will get tempted to downgrade economy class to the point, where it will actually become uncomfortable to fly, just so more and more people decide to pay more. Economy is used by many and for many it is the door to travel. I wouldnt want to see in future 5 classes in a plane, where the fifth is passengers strapped to pufas in cargo compartment :))

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31. I wish I would in the “then” era when air travel and owning a car was considered respectable.

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32. Most of the arguments and unpleasantness of modern flying is passengers trying to avoid charges by just grabbing seats they like and dragging cabin bags onboard the size of wardrobes and thinking they should be treated like lord or lady because they can afford a budget airline ticket.

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33. I think that a lot of people forget that point to point models (which are favourable for low-cost carriers) are quite difficult for long haul carriers due to the freedoms of the air. Most airlines can only operate routes that start from their home country which effectively forces you into a hub and spoke models, particularly if your airlines is based in a small country like UAE, Singapore or Japan.

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34. I think you are thing of Etihad Airlines

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35. Remove unnecessary taxes/fees on e.g. fuel etc. and air travel will be cheaper 🇸🇪👍✈️

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36. I’ve resisted the impulse to ‘moo’ as I went through a Jetway to an aircraft, half expecting to see cubes of alfalfa on the seats in Steerage…

    If only Transporter Technology could be a reality

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37. Personally my 2 frustrations are the seats (train seats are very comfy, please slap them in an aircraft thanks) and the lack of places to rest in the airport (tons.of.people on the floor to sleep or work).

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38. A trick that low cost carriers use is ultra low fairs when demand is low. But if a big sporting event like world Cup in Spain, their prices go up a lot. £30 to £300. This where they make their money

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39. Very good analysis, and I note how many comments you got in less than one day! You could have added that there are no longer any chairs in most check in areas. And people of advanced age and with disabilities must wait in long lines. Meantime, the much more poverty stricken transit agencies delivering people to the airport must go to great lengths to provide accessible facilities.

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40. Why isn't it that airlines, specifically LCCs, can't share aircraft by using some kind of company that acts as a middleman to lease, maintain and provide the aircraft, and the carriers could just use it as needed? Obviously this wouldn't work for premium offerings that need to be branded, but if I'm flying on Spirit or Frontier, why not have identical white aircraft with cheap food and paper-thin seats?

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41. As someone who works with SkyWest Airlines, premium economy on US regional flights is generally an extra 4 inches of legroom, firstclass service, and a slightly thicker pillow headpiece. Its not much, but its something.

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42. I miss the days where food, baggage and drinks were all included in the price, you even sometimes got free headphones to listen to the inflight entertainment, all of these things died in the 00s and now all those things are additional costs on top of the flight costs.

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