Are you really going to charge me $399.99 for a plane ticket?
I do not understand why airline tickets are so expensive. Generally we think about plane tickets ony if we are going somewhere, like the Bahamas for spring break or New York for New Year’s Eve. Trust me, these dates come up faster than you think.
The problem is we do not have loads of money to spend on flights and may spend countless hours searching for a great deal months in advance, but still come up with nothing.
I have heard college is the time to travel because it is the most freedom we’ll ever have in our careers. Only, we do not have the funds to travel as often as we would like.
We sometimes see ads for great deals on flights and get so excited! Yes, only $49 there and $79 for the trip back, but only if you are traveling to, let’s say, little old Salem, Ore. from Oct. 12 to Oct. 13. Oh goodness, who would ever want to go there first of all, and then pay all that money for not even a day’s worth of tour guide Barbie, half a can of soda and one bag of pretzels? Plus, they forgot to tell you about the “additional fees and taxes;” you will have to pay for your carry-on bag and donations will be accepted for the “complimentary blankets” as well.
Let me just say to the airline companies that you are making this rather difficult to travel anywhere while in college.
I am a little bitter when it comes to the prices of flights. If you are broke like me, we cannot spend money on a flight for just a few days, plus the gas to drive to the airport, the parking and the taxi to get to our destination all before our trip even begins.
All we want to do is get out of Big Rapids and it is becoming harder and harder to do so. I wish I could come up with a great way to explain to you the ins and outs of the airline world.
I seriously just pray every day I will win the lottery. If I ever do, I will never complain about a $399.99 plane ticket ever again.
Sweet fancy moses, this is terrible. Some thoughts:
1. Flying is an incredibly infrastructure intense undertaking, and those costs need to be recouped. 747 runs about 300 million dollars. An airport costs around 1-2 billion for a midsized offering. Fuel alone for a 747 runs on the order of $30 per mile, to say nothing of the human infrastructure required to deal with your entitled ass, your entitled baggage, and the people responsible for keeping the plane airworthy and actually fly the thing (a side effect of having this well designed infrastructure is that you presumably won’t die by plane crash. I’m not certain is a net benefit).
2. Flying is a heavily regulated, highly competitive business, with a high barrier to entry and a high business failure rate. It is difficult to make a profit. The nickle and diming pricing structure you refer to is evidence of that very fact. As far as the fees go, those aren’t going to the airline, they are going to help pay for the airport, as well as those neat scanners that allow a total stranger to see you nude. Fun!
3. I’m sorry you couldn’t afford to go to south padre, but this seems to be more a function of your financial situation than the airlines malice. I hope you do win the lottery, so that we may never again have to hear you whinge about this banality.
As an aside, for someone living in big rapids, I don’t know that you have a great deal of latitude to rip on Salem. The town is literally 10x the size of your little shitsburg, and about 20x nicer. Take the flight next time, lay off the soda, skip the tour guide barbie, and go actually do something instead of sitting and whining about it. You won’t be young again. Do it now.