subject: Is There Any Logic To Airfares? [print this page] The price tag of flying commercially is becoming ridiculous, and even with more and more people opting to fly privately or drive to their destination, the commercial airlines are still looking for ways to make more money with each ticket sale. Many airlines had rate hikes immediately following 9/11. This seems pretty ironic since they permitted terrorists to get on the airplanes then claimed that they needed to charge more for tickets due to the increasing security requirements.
Not surprisingly, if you look at your airline ticket you will see that for the most part the extra fees that you are having to pay for your airfare are not going to airport security but are simply going in the pocket of the airlines. And these fees are absolutely not going to those who work for the airline industry, as recent studies have shown that most airline employees don't even make enough to keep them off government assistance currently.
So why is it that not only have the rate of airline tickets doubled during the past 10 years, but there has in turn also been an increase in other fees connected with air travel as well? When you look at this it is simple to see that the commercial airlines seem to be raking in the bucks and yet always seem to be struggling. The question still remains...how much does it cost to manage a commercial airline business?
However if you ask this question you will likely find that there are very few justifications as to why a commercial airline costs so much to manage. This is especially apparent when you think about the bigger picture and recognize that a commercial airline will take in about 3 to 4 times what a private charter company would per flight, and these companies are admittedly making a sizable profit for their products and services.
More or less everything can almost lead a person to wonder if the commercial airline industry isn't just a front for another type of enterprise. After all, if it is really about customer service and making a profit then why is it that it seems that with each new charge and each reduced flight timetable they seem to instead be scaring customers away? Well, honestly it is challenging to understand. While there are good reasons for the cost of flying to be on the rise it makes little sense why it is that a private charter company can turn a profit while the commercial airlines are unable to.
