American’s 737 MAX: Not Terrible, But Sad (2018)
onemileatatime.com
onemileatatime.com
Consumers have shown that price is _the_ most important factor for choosing a flight. Unlike other industries, say buying a piece of furniture, consumers evaluate pros and cons of short term cost savings with long-term reliability and durability. In transportation, consumers are willing to sacrifice comfort for cost to the extent that Airlines are willing to go to extreme measures to cut costs. Consumers are asking for this whilst complaining about lack of comfort - what a insane dichotomy of entitlement and personal choice.
Furthermore, I don't understand the fascination for traveling first/business class as if it is some kind of an absolute luxury. People can't stop talking about "Dude, you gotta fly Singapore Air business class, it is the best thing ever". You know what? My apartment has 900 sq foot of space, a full sized bed, music system, hot shower, balcony and a fully equipped kitchen. I would rather sit in my lounge chair enjoying some Bob Dylan than to sit in that Singapore Air business class seat trapped in a tube full of entitled humans. First or business class is a relative luxury, relative to the economy class. It is not some sort of an absolute experience of ground breaking luxury that leaves me in awe. If I wanted that, I would get a night at the Four Seasons for much less or go eat a fine meal or better yet, go do something that is truly awe-inspiring like stargazing. I am not saying that Business class sucks, I am saying that it has its place - i.e., precisely between take off and landing.
I think the factor you're missing here is that it's extremely easy to comparison shop flights on price, but near-impossible to search based on criteria like "flights with seats that are comfortable for a 6'2" man" or "flights where there are power outlets under the seats".
It feels insane, only because the market is inconsistent.
The average family with children that flies a few times a year really do only care about cost. But the frequent flier cares more both about comfort than pure cost. For the wealthy, it's all about comfort.
On many Delta flights the premium economy (Comfort Plus) is sold out 4 weeks in advance. People will pay the extra $100 for 4 more inches of legroom especially if the flight is longer than 4 hours.
Is that fair? Whenever I go to book a flight, none of the factors here are even available for my perusal. On any flight booking system I've ever used, I've never been able to sort possible flights by "inches of legroom" or "lavatory sink size". All I get is "Price", and a couple other factors which have nothing to do with the aircraft itself.
Bruce Schneier estimated [1] that 500 deaths a year are caused by traffic accidents, from people who choose to drive rather than fly because of the hassle of 21st century airport security. Technically, these people aren't airline consumers, then, but they demonstrate that there's a large group of people in the market for transportation 'voting with their wallet' on comfort and convenience rather than price or speed or even personal safety.
[1]: https://www.wired.com/2012/04/is-airport-security-killing-50...
Maybe a more accurate (and cynical) view would be: all flights today are a terrible experience, so we might as well spend as little money as possible on them. I might be convinced to fly again if some company would at least try to provide a decent experience.
A big part of why the 737 experience is so bad is the lack of height, not the lack of legroom.
I travel between the US, Europe, and Asia a couple times a year to visit close ones. I can pay $800 for a lengthy multi leg journey in a very cramped seat (I am quite tall), which will result in me being utterly miserable for 24-48 hours at the very least.
Or I can pay a few times that (usually 3-5x), and take a single leg trip on a plane that will take less than 12 hours, all in utter comfort. I can lie down with a pillow and a blanket!
Now, as a student I had no choice but to save up for months to afford the cheapest, most inconvenient tickets. But now I am at a stage of my life where I can afford business class a couple times a year, and it is a no brainer. I can’t think of any other service where paying more changes the quality of the service this drastically. A $30 meal can feed you just as well as a $150 one. A $20k car will get you to work as safely and efficiently as a $100k one. But a $800 SF-Tokyo will make you hate everything for a day or two, while a $4000 SF-Tokyo will be something you actually look forward to. You typically get to skip through security, get treated better by the staff, get to board faster, you don’t have to worry about where to put your bag, etc. So many quality of life improvements.
(Standard disclaimer that I realize how privileged I am to be in the position that I am in - but I don’t think it’s too out of the norm on HN)
I travel extensively and always in Business class which usually gets upgraded to first class. But, even though I am hyper aware of the benefits, I personally cannot afford business class unless my company is covering it.
For $3200, I can stay at a 5 star hotel in Tokyo for a week. However, if I can afford Business class - I would get it.
My point wasn’t so much about Business class per se, it was venting out what people say about Business class as “absolute luxury”.
I'm 6'4", so I recognize how cramped economy is, and I have also been bumped up to business class once cause of a massive flight delay from Alaska back to the east coast, so I know what I'm missing.
I won't knock anyone for flying in better comfort, but I think the suffering isn't too bad. Jet lag is going to get you anyways.
The service comes to your house, transfers you (still asleep) to a vehicle and takes you and your luggage to the airport. There you are loaded onto a plane (still asleep!) and flown to your destination.
At the destination, they take you to your hotel, and put you (still asleep!) into bed, and optionally even unpack your luggage and set your alarm for you. Then they administer something to counteract the sleeping drug and leave.
From your point of view, you just go to sleep and the next morning you wake up in your hotel, ready to start the day at your destination.
Or you don't because the plane crashed; still better to die in your sleep anyway.
But what happens if there is an emergency in the air that requires you to put on the oxygen mask, climb out to safety, or something like that?
Am I the only person on earth who thinks those god awful wastes of space should be removed? I've never interacted with one, they don't play anything, and my phone is about as big as those screens anyways and already contains all the content I wish to view?
The screens also don't run out of battery. Some planes have chargers now days, but plenty still don't. I want my phone battery available when I land, so I try to avoid using my phone during flight.
That addresses the "new release" concern, but not the battery problem. You also have to install someone's app, if you're into that sort of thing.
I wouldn't be surprised if they were significantly cheaper, too.
I may have some issues to deal with.
Somehow, somewhere, a person once suggested that repetition was a useful strategy for getting people to buy things, and in a crucial moment, when a millenia of person year misery could have been halted, killed in the womb, whoever heard the suggestion simply shrugged, and now, even though I never drink Gatorade, I still remember that it's actually thirst-ade for that deep down body thirst.
However I got the impression that American was the most premium of the US airlines when I was last flew with them so I'm surprised at how low cost carrier this fitout looks.
I recently flew to Miami on American and on my first two flights there was no TV, but fortunately on my flight from Dallas to Miami there was a TV which I kept tuned to the map the whole time, to see New Orleans, the Gulf of Mexico, and Southwest Florida come into view.
Edit: GPS is now available in Airplane mode. I hadn't realized that. https://www.macobserver.com/analysis/ios-airplane-mode-gps-n...
As a 6'1" somewhat overweight guy, legroom is single most annoying anti-feature on most flights. I used to regularly score exit rows, because they wouldn't sell them in advance, or even let you select them, but now they're considered premium seats that cost up to 50% extra.
American is an awful airline. Their main east coast hub is MIA, which is a gigantic airport with a poor layout and insufficient inter- and intra-terminal transportation options. They always have long layovers. I was stranded overnight in Houston once due to them cancelling a flight, and the only compensation was a $12 meal voucher, which barely covered a soda and stale donut at the shitty motel they stuck us in. They refused to honor my miles from another airline that is part of their mileage sharing program (because they cancelled the arrangement soon after I flew). Their customer service is terrible. Poor meals, if any. Outrageous baggage fees.
Anyway, my point is that the 737 MAX shouldn't be blamed for how American chose to arrange the seats. American chooses to suck at every opportunity.
It stuck in my mind, because it was hell. So this segment really leaped out at me:
> I sat in the seat for a moment ... My takeaway is that the comfort is roughly comparable.
My takeaway is that the author is full of shit.
Sit in that fucker for 4 hours. Make sure you're over the age of 30 when you do it.
I've flow through over 12 countries and America is still the only one where you have to take off your shoes at every airport. It's fucking bullshit.