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Comment by paganel | Hacker News Reader

> the EU should focus on actually making the EU work well.

The EU works pretty well. Just last week one of my Romanian work colleagues paid an Irish company (Ryanair) only $80 euros for a 2-person airplane trip to another European capital (Rome). All that would not have been possible without all of us being in the EU. For comparison, just look at how crazy expensive airfares are in the States for similar flights. And I could find other, numberless examples from the day to day life with which people have accustomed themselves, they have started to see them as granted, but which would have not been possible without the EU. UK's decision is sheer idiocy.

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> For comparison, just look at how crazy expensive airfares are in the States for similar flights.

I assume you're referring to the cost of a comparable domestic flight within the US.

How can you credit the success of the EU for your $80 flight ticket and then compare this to the US? It obviously goes without saying that the US is a far more effective and integrated union than the EU (the EU is not even a fiscal union). I suspect the difference in flight costs has more to do with population sizes than "political unions".

It's because the powers-that-are in Brussels have actually fought against the airline industry's oligopoly, unlike what happens in DC. That's why we have more decent airplane prices compared to the States. That's why we have low-cost carriers being allowed to compete in the market, unlike what happens in the US (with one exception , I think). That's why I said EU is behind all this.

I looked up the distance from Bucharest to Rome it's 700 miles. The same distance as Minneapolis to Denver. The cheapest price I found quickly booking 2 months in advance was $34 (eu) and $90 (us) respectfully.

Interesting price difference. It seems after a little bit of research this has to do with reduced demand for air travel in the us. But if it were to be something the eu has done, which largely generally surrounds higher regulation and the suppression of competition. How has it done so?

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