good airline food but at a higher ticket price is not what consumers actually choose to buy. They'd rather suffer and get a discount on the ticket. They merely complain about that suffering.
I'm not a luxury car guy... But have bought a few Buick cars along the way.
So I'll pay a premium for comfort and quality in general to a point. Not everyone does every time, but there should definitely be the option.
Equally some small minority (assumed from the relative tinyness of business/first class) are prepared to pay for more.
Both can be true at the same time, and are.
For longer flights, the desire for at least some amenities goes up. I don't expect in-flight entertainment from London to Schipol, but London to Sydney without a screen would be brutal.
Personally I'm in the camp where the worst food in the terminal is still 10 times better than the food on the plane, so I eat before and after, not during. But everyone else seems to love the hour killed discovering what they're being fed. So again, room for different opinions.
Much like day Red Lobster is a steep up from Long John Silvers. It's not luxury but you are paying for and getting more.
I see it as the same situation as cable TV, you'll never have the perfect bundle tailored to your tastes at the right price, and that's partly by design, as the company can charge more to have you pay for useless options.
But they almost all sell nicer food on board or during online check in.
Maybe we'll return to looking for lower costs, but an aging and wealthier world might prize comfort more than it did in the past.
I'm 180cm and definitely could stand to lose some weight so I've experienced some uncomfortable flights - generally on Qantas. Surprisingly (given average national height/weight) the best legroom I've had was on Thai, followed by Singapore airlines.
But then I can't compare to US airlines, which if stories are true, sound just horrific by comparison for any number of reasons before legroom is even a factor.
The parent comment claimed that people "choose" the worse option, ignoring that the "better" option is marginally better food for usually 2x or 3x the price.
I haven't flown domestically (in any country) in about 10 years. The shortest leg of recent trips will be ~2 hours, either followed or preceded by a ~7-9 hour flight.
Parent's comment suggests I'm "choosing" worse food options (thankfully they are still an option, you can just choose not to eat on the plane) as if that's the only factor.
It couldn't possibly be that business class on the same route is more than 4x the cost, and for a family of 3 will cost the same as a brand new small car... just to get a slightly better reheated meal. Yes the meal is in a "nicer" seat, but that isn't the argument being made in the parent comment, is it?
If you complain you will get told there's nothing that can be done. Even if you get sat in a seat soiled with vomit or poop[1][2]. And of course you may get bumped from your flight, potentially violently[3] or have it delayed, rerouted or cancelled.
So it's a market for lemons, you buy the cheapest ticket you can since the experience is likely to suck no matter what you do, and you try to endure it.
[1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2023/09/05/air-canada-... [2] https://www.newsweek.com/delta-passenger-forced-sit-seat-cov... [3] https://qz.com/954791/everything-that-went-wrong-in-uniteds-...
I suspect that airlines could offer seats which guarantee that you won't be subjected to various nuisances, but choose not to.
In some cities, only the rich can afford multiple kids.
I suspect they are just as happy to take some kids parents money for the seat as not.
And judging by the number of people I know that get upgraded, its not like they sell out every flight.
In the later 90s, I used to try to upgraded at check in. It was usually a 2x cost of the was a seat or less vs 3x of you got first class ahead of time. Since the 00s is pretty much never an option. Most flights are over sold and getting a decent seat (prefer front row) is really hard.
And the past couple years, even then they're often sold out when buying tickets less than months ahead of time. Mostly have traveled in occasion for work and mostly shorter notice.
You are more likely to have an empty seat next to you in the back of the plane than in the first class.
But they don't get full price for it in any way. They'll take money to seat kids there if you wanna pay.
Otherwise, I have noise cancelling headphones
That said. I do think I can handle a whole can of soda. On the food front, I can pretty much take it out leave it.
I agree, and besides: We were all that kid at some point or another in our lives, probably many times too. The adults then were patient with us, so I think it's our turn to pay that hospitality forward.
I wasn't because my mother would never have sat with me on her lap and let me kick the arm of the stranger next to us the entire flight..
I fly first class a fair bit (10-12 flights per year), and children in first class is pretty rare. When I've seen it, they've never been rowdy. In fact, my experience is that its usually really quiet, which is one of the things I really value.
Maybe i'm just the luckiest person in the world. But its never happened to me and I fly a moderate amount to have some sample data.
I will concede, that flight rowdiness in general is very different based on time of day. The afternoon is the worst. Fridays and Mondays are the worst. I love night flights, to the point where I prefer them. Everyone is so much calmer on red-eyes.