Given that a huge transfer of wealth to the rich happened over the last two years, I expect businesses that cater to them to boom.
The people i know who use this sort of thing - booking flights on private jets - are all in their mid-30s and not even remotely wealthy, they don't own their homes, etc. They are just well paid engineers or engineer couples. I can't get my head around it.
I think the best analogy is the growth in status { vehicles, watches, ... }, which also has not been driven by the wealthy, but rather status differentiation between the relatively-affluent-but-still-w2 and the next tier down.
A private jet is super expensive for an engineer, even a senior level on in the valley?
Maybe if you do it for a once a year fancy vacation - within four or five hours (or less).
If you're doing that you're probably also spending at least $600 a night elsewhere maybe a lot more. That could easily be a 30k+ vacation which is what, like 10% of a higher end non owner tech salary? I guess if you don't have a lot of other monthly expenses that's not super unreasonable.
Well, sure, I've flown on private planes because while I am not wealthy, I know lots of dotcom lottery winners. It's a great experience if you're not footing it. No meaningful security, you arrive, park, and walk out to the plane, then when you land, Enterprise (or whoever) has a car 50 feet away ready to go. Super nice but insane if you aren't at the "I don't even need to think about it" point in terms of retirement savings.
It's vaguely the upper-income silicon valley millennial cohort doing this. I know a few. I can't be alone in that, I don't know _that many_ people in that age range.
I wonder if it's just imagining people are doing it because of social media.
One can pay a few hundred to just do a 15 minute photo shoot pretending you're riding big. Which is kind of sad.
Yes, more expensive than a first class ticket for the same route, but not all that much more expensive — maybe 2x or 3x the cost.
I'm glad to see the new options becoming available. They might be much more expensive, but they'll be worth it to many (including myself).
But if you're talking a dressier leather shoe, they're generally not as comfortable--at least at the price levels I'm willing to pay. I do have a couple pairs with rubber soles. But I mostly don't need that dressy for travel any longer; business casual has slid a bit towards the casual side.
So, what is the problem? It is a minor problem, but here are my thoughts. In an airport I am surrounded by people who "dress down" for reasons that do not make sense to me. It is undesirable to be surrounded by people who's behavior you don't understand--again, in a minor way. And I would say I would rather be around people who are dressed nicer, so invertign that we get: it is a minor "problem" to be around people that are dressed down.