Common sense suggest that cheap traveloptions, such as cheapairplane tickets, discounttravel deals, and cheap vacation packages priceswould plunge given that airlines fuel costs have plummeted.
Given that the price of fuel is the airlines single biggestcost, many casual travelers naively thought that the savings would be passedalong to fliers.
Instead, the average airline ticket price dropped 66 cents inthe first quarter of the year, while the International Air TransportAssociation increased its profit outlook for 2015 the industry to $29.3 billion,a new record, up almost 80 percent from last year.
Experts project that the number of people flying willcontinue to increase, with 2.4 million passengers per day flying on US airlinesfrom June 1st through August 31st, an increase from 2.29million during the same period last year. To be ready to handle the forecasted 4.5 percent increase in passengers,airlines are planning to increase their number of available seats by 4.6percent.
This means that US travelers can expect their flyingexperiences to remain about the same: crowded, with no meaningful price drops in sight.
Airlines and their suppliers are getter more creative insqueezing in additional passengers on planes. Boeing is coming out with a design shortly that will add between 2 to 14seats per plane by reducing the size of lavatories. Plans call on making lavatories smaller onthe outside while adding more passenger space on the inside.
A smarter design is reducing the space needed for pipes,wiring, and support brackets, while increasing the space available topassengers.
There continues to be an ongoing series of proposals to addmore fliers into already crowded cabins. Airbus introduced a mock design in April for its budget economy classwith 11 seats per row vs. the current 10.
Unfortunately recent airline changes have not resulted in anyimprovement of customer satisfaction. Airline customer complaints increased over 55 percent in March. In April complaints fell to only a 12percent increase.
The airline industry continues to be satisfied with itsperformance, as indicated by the recent statement from Airlines for America, anindustry trade organization, Airfare remains one of the best consumer bargainsout there given its superior speed and price versus other modes of travel.
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