Ben Schlappig's travel blog, covering airline policies, passenger rights, fares, loyalty programs, and flight news.
HN commenters link it for practical airline details, like buying cheap Frontier tickets at the airport, and see it as part of credit-card-funded travel blogging.
The state government has very recent precedent of subsidizing nonstop flights [1], because it recognizes that they are key to drawing external investment in the city. This year, taxpayers voted to add a new north/south rapid transit line [2]. Maybe more importantly; public transit isn't as important in indy as it is in other cities. Substantially lower cost of living and a more sparse downtown allows driving to be more affordable, the city has some of the best traffic [3] of any major metropolitan area worldwide, and it is very bike friendly [4] with the downtown trails and a growing downtown core.
[1] http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2017/09/06/delta-indianapolis-paris/
[2] http://www.indystar.com/story/news/local/marion-county/2017/05/01/red-line-gets-50-million-congressional-spending-deal/101150106/
[3] http://www.indianapolismonthly.com/the-hoosierist/hoosierist-bad-indys-traffic/
[4] https://www.rewardexpert.com/blog/studies/2017s-best-destinations-to-explore-by-bike/
Slightly tangential but, to your point about UAE airlines this is a good read to clear up some stuff coming from US airlines:
Link: http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2017/03/22/campaign-against-gulf-carriers/
I'll admit there is no perfect solution to issues like these. We mostly don't want government to pick winners or losers, but being completely free market based and no monopoly protections is great for companies since it is a race to the bottom line and they get to go to town on consumers with an array of fees in the airline context. I don't think preventing consolidation however results in any of those things that you mentioned, airlines are free to do what they want and what the market will let them. I'd recommend reading that article since I feel like we are not on the same page when we talk about 'playing by the rules' airlines. +1 on infra investment though.
> abuse of the "deny boarding" part of the contract of carriage to keep their expenses down
If they keep their expenses down is does benefit customers in paying less for tickets.
> They offered $800 vouchers, which are limited flying coupons. Legally they're required to offer cash up to $1350.
Legally, they can negotiate with customer. If they refused to offer cash that is illegal. But they can offer whatever they like.
"As you can see, in many cases you’re entitled to a sizable cash payment, up to $1,350. However, here’s the dirty secret of the airlines. In a vast majority of cases they’ll only offer cash compensation if you specifically ask for it. Otherwise they’ll offer you the same voucher they gave anyone who was voluntarily denied boarding."
http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2017/04/11/what-are-your-rights-if-you-get-bumped-from-a-flight/
The most common commercial plane in America is the Boeing 737 [1]. It seats 100 to 200 passengers [2].
Delta officers and first captains make $320 and $200 thousand, respectively, and fly about 1,000 hours a year [3]. So 520 per hour, between the two of them.
A main-cabin ticket to New York from San Jose, California about 2 months out costs $146. (Its SJC to MSP leg happens to be on a 737.) Flight time is about 6 hours.
Assuming 175 (one-class 737-800 configuration) paying passengers we have about $25,000 in revenues. The captain and first officer’s pay is roughly 12% of that. That’s a lot.
[1] http://www.fi-aeroweb.com/US-Commercial-Aircraft-Fleet.html
[2] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_737
[3] http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2016/12/01/delta-pilot-pay-raise/
The hours are a bit different too. I don't think many people working at Google making 300k per year are working only 900 hours per year.
http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2016/03/09/airline-pilot-pay/
"Pilots at US carriers can work up to 100 hours per month and up to 1,000 hours per year, though in practice most pilots are going to fly closer to 900 hours per year.
For example, a 12th year captain on the 777, 787, or A330, is making $293 per hour. At 900 hours per year, that’s ~$264,000 per year. That doesn’t include things like their flight benefits and per diem pay (~$2.80 for every hour they’re gone on an international trip)."
I can see this devolving though. They're really apples and oranges industries; there are too many differences for a straight comparison.
Travel 'writing' as a literary exercise might be dead, but travel blogging as a professional pursuit is in its heyday thanks to credit cards. Sites like OMAAT[0] or TPG[1] make great revenue off writing about the practical aspects of travel (planes, hotels, etc.) and referring people for credit cards. This is enough to subsidize plenty of "traditional" destination blogging as well.
If you want to do travel writing, learn a little about credit cards first.
[0] http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/
[1] https://thepointsguy.com/