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pk10534 t1_jadf82z wrote

Reply to comment by ItsAlwaysSmokyInReno in Mexican quake dogs returning from Turkey were given first class seats on Turkish airlines. by beneaththeslope

Do you understand how expensive flying was back in the day…like no, American Airlines is not going to give you a first class experience like Emirates, but you’re also not paying $20,000 for a ticket from an airline subsidized with billions in oil revenue

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ItsAlwaysSmokyInReno t1_jadgey1 wrote

I’m not comparing American to Qatar airways.

Qatar is the best in the world because it’s government subsidized with natural gas (not oil) revenues. That’s why I didn’t put it in my comparison. It’s apples to oranges

I compared American domestic carriers. And I excluded budget airlines like Frontier or Spirit because that’s also comparing apples to oranges

When comparing comparable airlines, United/American/Delta to Southwest/Alaskan, the former lag behind in every significant category other than passengers and routes served. And that’s because they’re the only option often. And they’re also subsidized by the government like Qatar airways to operate these routes

Despite subsidization, and increased competition both from within and outside of their market niche, they still remain depressingly underwhelming business ventures that the free hand of the market would wipe out if the government would redirect those airline subsidies to high speed rail construction

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