
Coronavirus will change airlines and the way we fly - ivanvanderbyl
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2020-04-24/coronavirus-travel-covid-19-will-change-airlines-and-how-we-fly
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ornornor
> Configurations are likely to change as carriers try to squeeze more money
> from customers.

If that’s not what they were already doing, I wonder what that will look like.

Anyway, it’s not necessarily bad. Air travel was way too cheap considering its
externalities.

I know someone who _commutes_ by plane because their office is two countries
over (in Europe), they don’t want to move to the much higher COL country where
the job is, and the office won’t let them be remote with the same salary. So
every week twice a week, they fly. And it’s still cheaper than living next to
the office. This insanity and many like it must stop, it’s so much pollution
for completely stupid reasons.

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rovr138
Do they go in to the office twice a week or do they fly on Monday and leave on
Friday? The part about not letting them be remote is confusing me.

Where do they stay when they go in to the office?

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ornornor
They fly on Sunday afternoon and leave on Friday after work, so they spent
maybe 48h total with their family. They have an apartment rented next to the
office. It’s still cheaper apparently because they bring their own food for
the week to avoid spending money on it here, the kid goes to school in the
other country, and the partner doesn’t work. Oh and the airport is 90 minutes
away (by train thankfully) from the office.

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Pfhreak
I think about the depression era behaviors that stuck around in my
grandparents as a good example of what to expect coming out of this pandemic.
They learned certain things out of necessity and it changed their worldview on
everything from darning their own socks to what ingredients they'd use in
their cooking.

I expect that many of us will carry similar behavioral scars for years or
decades later - ensuring we have masks on hand, unconsciously observing social
distancing, being wary around crowded spaces like airplanes and airports. I
don't know what all those behaviors will be, but there's no way we avoid
carrying at least a few with us.

~~~
samatman
Personally, I expect to walk straight to the sink and wash my hands, as soon
as I get indoors, for the rest of my life.

~~~
mydongle
Incredible that it takes a global pandemic for people to care about hygiene
lol

~~~
hjuijjytt
There were no significant threats in the West before corona to justify high
level of hygiene. How many people does the average person know who died of
something preventable with good hygiene?

Secondly, increased hygiene has it's own set of problems. You dont kill just
corona, you also kill the countless harmless pathogens, but who are important
to keep your immune system on its toes. Its suspected that the reason there
are so many allergic persons in the West lately it's the increasingly
sanitized world around us.

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open-source-ux
I have a hunch that once the severity of the pandemic eases, we may see an
increase in car journeys for holidays, particularly for continental Europe.
Why? Many people will remain cautious about travelling with strangers in
closely packed airplane cabins or even train carriages. The alternative is to
travel by car. But people can only tolerate a certain amount of time in the
car and so this may affect where people travel. Will densely packed cities
lose out as holiday destinations?

Governments want people to travel because tourism and hospitality employs
thousands of people and brings substantial money into the economy for almost
every country in the world.

I'm sceptical the airline industry, which has thrived with low fares,
particularly in Europe, will raise prices. I expect they will do everything to
tempt passengers to return to the air with low fares. Will that be enough to
tempt us back on board?

~~~
qubex
That’s a good point, but I’m also starting to speculate whether, when the
infection rates and (crucially) hospital occupation rates diminish, we will
see some people deliberately _seeking_ to get infected so as to gain immunity
whilst the risks are low, specifically, when they can be reasonably certain
that if they experience severe symptoms they’ll have a place in an ICU to
receive intensive care. This might sound unsound (pardon the awkward phrasing)
but it’s not necessarily irrational given the perceived advantages of immunity
and the diminished perceived risks. It might not even be socially undesirable
either, as a kind of “low burn” through the population, or at least it’s
sturdier members, might be seen as building up that “herd immunity” which
makes it difficult for the virus to reach the higher-risk individuals.

~~~
tshanmu
What's with WHO statements that there is no evidence of immunity for covid19
infected?

~~~
kaetemi
They don't want people to be confident, they don't want to take the risk that
they skip vaccination.

~~~
jobigoud
If I understand correctly, no immunity would imply that there won't be a
vaccine.

~~~
kaetemi
Well, they also flip-flopped between the wearing of masks in public
communications, just to keep supplies available to medical staff...

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TekMol
I wish they would simply remove every second seat and charge twice the price.
That would mean the same revenue for the airline and a much more comfortable
flight for me. Win win.

And they would probably still have some wiggle room. Because 50% less
customers would mean at least _some_ reduction in costs.

What about the HN gang? Would you keep flying if prices doubled?

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vkou
If I wanted to pay ~double for a more comfortable flight, I'd be flying first
class everywhere.

~~~
TekMol
Not sure where you are flying. In Europe, there usually is no such option.
Most of the time, all you can do is pay an additional €30 or so and get a seat
with more legroom. And that's it.

~~~
atomwaffel
That’s true if you’re flying on budget airlines like Ryanair or Easyjet, but
nearly all the legacy carriers offer a business class “cabin” where the seats
are usually the same as in economy but middle seats are kept free. That’s a
33% reduction in density, not 50%, but it’s not far off.

~~~
TekMol
Those business class seats on "legacy carriers" are not available for double
the price. Try some flight searches and compare direct one way flights between
two cities in Europe. First of all, you will have a hard time finding a direct
flight by Lufthansa for example. Secondly, a Lufthansa business flight will
usually be over 5x the price of a Ryan air flight.

~~~
atomwaffel
Oh yeah, I doubt you’ll find business class tickets that are anywhere near as
cheap as twice the price of the average Ryanair flight, but as someone who is
in the lucky situation to be able to avoid airlines that I find actively
unpleasant, the price hop from economy to business needn’t be that large. It
depends on the airline, route and dates of course, but I’ve seen (and bought)
short-haul business class tickets that were less than 150% the price of
economy.

