Monday, October 1, 2012

Should Airfare Be A Luxury?

A lot has changed over the past forty years.  Nothing is like it used to be and everything seems to be more technological nowadays.  The average gallon of gas cost about $0.35 back in the 1970's and in today's economy a gallon of gas cost about $3.80.  One thing that though that has remained the same and has even become cheaper then what it used to be back in the 1970's is Airfare travel.  Ever since the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 airfare has become two times cheaper then what it normally was and has changed the airline industry in many ways.

According to travel insider the Airline Deregulation Act as positively impacted the industry in six major ways.   Firstly being it has increased air travel having three times the people travel and twice as many flights as we had in the 1970's. Secondly it allowed the Airline industry to start a rewards program called the frequent flier which gives people who travel a lot extra perks and rewards within the carrier that they travel.  Thirdly which is probably the most important to all the people is that airfare pricing has dropped over the past forty years.  Fourth thing is hundreds of thousands of new jobs were being added within the airline.  Fifth thing is the airlines are motivating and developing of better planes.  Lastly is the Airlines are vastly safer and have reduced the accident departure rate by thirteen times of what it used to be.

With all this being said.  I really don't think that airfare prices should increase.  I think everybody should be able to travel and go on vacation where ever they please to.  Some people are able to travel on vacation more often then other families in today's society.  Growing up and coming from a middle class family I never had the pleasure of traveling by air like some people are able to today.  A lot has changed within the industry and it will only continue to grow and without these people traveling I wouldn't be employed at the airline like am today.  Without more people traveling nowadays other businesses like resorts, hotels, car rentals, taxi cab service, and restaurants wouldn't be in high demand as they are today.

5 comments:

  1. Good point to discuss the changes brought about by deregulation...this is really when the industry changed. Also, it is good to consider the effects air travel has on other industries (like resorts, hotels, etc.).

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  2. Is it really because of the deregulation that things are safer or that there are simply upgraded technologies that allow us to be safer with better regulations and laws that the industry have to follow? To me it is much more because of these advances that air travel is safer today than what it was forty years ago.

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  3. I feel that deregulation has nothing to do with our advancments in technology. Aviation is one of if not the safest form of transportation. If it were to become unsafe at anypoint the government would step back in. There are to many peoples lives at stake to not have a governing body if things get out of control.

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  4. Thanks for bringing deregulation into the discussion. We all know how important that was for the aviation industry. With all those changes affecting how we travel with the airlines, it stands to reason that we can never go back to the way things were done before.

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  5. If they transform an airfare to a luxury, I think the airfare will be increase. They must prevent it so that they will maintain the price of an airfare. Many people will suffer when they implement it because many people has a travel every day for some reasons.

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