To think that airlines need a complete overhaul, and more regulation?

[mumofoneAloneandwell]

The amount of money theyre charging for flights, where youre sat in a teeny seat and offered a crap meal ..

Other industries have improved their offerings, but airlines continue to operate to the same crappy standards

More seat space should be given as standard. Forcing people to sit in a tiny seat for 8 hours at a time is awful and must have awful effects on the human body?!

WiFi should be free, as its practically a human right atp.

Food should be of a better standard

Where can people lobby for change?!

That’s the thing- you get what you pay for. You pay relatively little for just about passable conditions; you pay an arm and a leg and you get a nice cooked meal, shower in the air and lay flat; and anything in between. Compared to the 80s where flying was unaffordable for most, I’d say it’s an improvement

Last week I flew Easyjet to the South of France for £70 return. It was perfectly comfortable and I certainly don't need more space/free food/a foot massage if it means paying more. And lots of other people clearly agreed with me. I really like the model of only paying for what you want and clearly so do others. YABVU

Simple customers can pay more and WiFi is not a human right

Do people want to pay more?

Wow. Entitled a bit.

You deserve to travel, wifi is a human right and the whole industry moving around millions of people with minimal profits needs an overhaul because you didn't like the food at one US flight.

Is this British airways and Emirates

Or Ryanair?

I’m going to the Canaries for less than £50 return
soon. To be honest, for that price I’m happy if I arrive in one piece. It’s a 4-hour flight.

Sorry but I dont think that virgin and British airways are making minimal profits

I'm not disputing that budget airlines, where a flight can cost £30 are the problem here

Have you been on the underground during rush hour recently. You don’t stand under someone’s armpit on a plane, even on Ryanair. Or sleep in a plastic chair waiting in A&E on a plane.

As for cars, are you buying a Bentley or a Dacia?

No you often have no choice in the matter re trains etc.

I think I am a lot older than you so I remember when flying was only for the wealthy unless you went on a package holiday. The planes used for a lot of package tours were dreadful. I expected a couple to have an outside toilet they were that old. The food, which you paid for irrespective, was dreadful.

The first time I flew alone it was to the US. 1989. It cost me £1,500, which is over £4,000 in today's money. That was economy.

So you need to consider that my mate in January flew to Spain for £39 one way.

So either prices go up or you accept it is what it is.

Airlines will offer bigger seats, more space & nice free meals in economy when their customers stop buying on price alone.

Until then, we get a safe & usually punctual flight to our destination. And we get the level of comfort & amenities we are prepared to pay for.

I'd agree that seat size has been pinched but I do rather think a lot actually has improved..

Aircraft cabins are generally quieter and for example Longhaul Inflight Entertainment back in the day, not that long ago really, was one pull down cinema screen per cabin, the movie choice being "Take it or Leave it", sound being relayed by steathoscope style headsets.

Oh, and of course some will recall the smokers seated in the rear seats of the various zones....

I'm sure neither Virgin nor BA give a shiny one about your opinion of their profit margins. You do not have a God-given right to fly. Nobody does. Some people can afford it and some can't. That's it. You do sound rather snippy and entitled.

You don’t understand the airline business

jet fuel
maintenance
capital purchase of aeroplane and depreciation
pensions
training
staffing
etc etc

they make little money per passenger
businesses pay business class.
the rest of us pay economy

It’s not difficult

Isn’t premium economy what you need? Costs a little bit more but you get the extra room and nicer food etc. seems to fit the bill perfectly for you.

This weekend Spirit, an American low cost airline, collapsed. Thousands stranded.

Thats how precarious the industry was.

Plenty of people BC cabins are often full

Do you lot own stakes in Virgin alongside Richard Branson or something?!?!

I can.

Plenty of people can.

That’s life. If you want better facilities, you pay for them. That’s why you don’t have billionaires on the Tube, or in NHS hospitals.

The sooner standing room only planes for short-haul becomes a thing, the better. Same with food services- no need for it on a short flight.

I’ll happily pay for business or first class when it makes sense, but I do like the Ryanair model and see a place for it.

It’s not the 1950s, flight is just another mode of travel and, for most people, cost, choice of times, and reliability is the most important factor when traveling.

Seeing as your Google isn't working

Virgin Atlantic: £3.57 per passenger. Before tax!
Source:
www.travelextra.ie/englands-virgin-atlantic-returns-to-profitability-for-first-time-since-pandemic/

British Airways: £47 per passenger, but this is noted as being a massive outlier because of the quantity of business and first class seats in this airline. This is hugely subsidizing the cost per economy passenger. Per economy passenger the profit is a lot less, but unreported.

Source: www.iairgroup.com/media/ktnlp1jx/iag-annual-report-and-accounts-2025.pdf

Nonsense.

A quick check on Skyscanner shows return flights from London to New Your for £532 on Virgin atAtlantic booked a few months in advance. In real terms, that’s probably as cheap as it has ever been.

And still unaffordable for a lot of people

We have only flown relatively short trips in recent years and, from the North of England, we only have cattle class options to choose from.

Personally I miss the days when flying was part of the "experience" of a holiday and would pay more for better options

You sound absolutely tone deaf and have no grasp on how the economics work at all. What you want is expensive. You can’t afford it is all. A normal person who wants to travel can do so within their price range. You’re lucky to be in an era where it a normal person from the UK can travel to some places by air even if it’s not luxurious. The vast majority of generations had no hope of doing so. The way you think like you have some right to fly all over in style at an affordable price, especially at a time when the industry is under threat from fuel price hikes not long after all the lockdown turmoil shows just how out of touch you are. Leg room, fancy meals, all that costs extra. Pay for it or don’t, but there’s no world in which you’re entitled to the high end version for the economy rates. Travel by train/coach/boat and stretch out on a longer journey or see if you’d rather suck up a few hours on a flight for the convenience. And honestly I’ve never found airline seats or meals that bad even on bargain airlines. It’s really not an issue to get agitated about.

Oh no I remember returns under £200 at one stage Some cheapo airline.

I flew to canada in 2 and back from NYC witH BA in 2015 . I paid £220 return

As has always been the case. The point I’m making, fairly obviously, is that many millions of normal people with normal jobs can afford that price. Many thousands do fly that route every single day. And that certainly wasn’t the case until relatively recently.