The Economy

If Stinky gets elected, Elmo's Dogecoin will be the go-to.

 

Money laundering is yugely important in trumplican world.

 

Spirit Airlines abandoning budget fares with upmarket strategy. I flew once on standby back from the Cotton Bowl and was fortunate to get the Big Front Seat, which will now be marketed as First Class.

 

Saw that last week, and I think it’s a shame.

I don’t fly a lot — once or occasionally twice a year — but I always found Southwest’s open seating policy gets people seated a lot quicker than assigned seats. Much less stopping and searching for your seat number, reseating people who plop down in the wrong spot, etc.

 

I fly Southwest because of the prices/free bags and I feel the opposite. The rise of people needing wheelchairs to board flights early to get better seats is out of control and then seemingly not need assistance once they arrive -- I took a flight two weeks ago where it was eight on and one off -- negates the chance to get a seat near the front. That plus family boarding knocks out another couple rows.

A lot of people obviously leave middles open -- even traveling together -- hoping that there won't be a full flight, which almost never happens anymore. And people will continue on to the back trying not to get a middle when there's only those left, and then have to backtrack towards the open seats.

The 24-hour checkin is also stressful for people to try and get the best seat possible.

As long as I don't have a tight connection I'll still look for whatever the cheapest option is. In most cases I imagine an extra whatever amount isn't worth the 15 minutes to wait to deplane, expecially since you end up waiting on baggage anyway. And you can buy an upgrade to get on early, now if that's part of a better seat anyway that's no difference.

 

Activist investor in Spirit likely a stooge for the big airlines.

 

I guess the “bags fly free” concept is part of my thinking on the Southwest speed of boarding..

Other airlines — and living in the Northwest, it’s usually Alaska for me — charge $30 or more for a checked bag, so it’s a mad dash to jam large carry-ons above the seats. Passengers often have to move to a different part of the cabin from where their seat is to do that, which delays the boarding process.

 

I thankfully don't fly commercially very much anymore. The last time I did, I think, was flying from Charlotte to Minneapolis round trip, and it was a typical United Airlines shit show from start to finish. That was 2016. I can get to a good portion of the country within about an 8-hour drive, and it's just simpler.
I can't for the life of me, though, understand why it has gotten so outrageously expensive. For the price of a ticket, which was reasonable, you got two bags, fed, drinks, etc.

 

From a financial, ecological and hassle standpoint, I’m pretty much done flying in the 48 states. I’ll drive most places East of the Mississippi and have taken trains to the West Coast and Texas to visit family.

 

If some of these limited run airlines like Avelo and Allegiant can figure out how to fly someone round trip for under $150, why can't the big boys? Those airlines operate more like bus routes, and you have to travel on the days they fly, but you can get a lot of places pretty cheap.
I just looked, I can fly out of Wilmington, NC on a Thursday to a couple of New England airports and fly back Sunday round trip for $142 on Avelo. They don't fly everywhere, but where they do, it's reasonable.