Discount business class ticket trends in past 10 years
Business class air tickets are lower than ever. Nowadays, almost anyone can fly in business class; for the upgraded comfort, meals, and service. Most of us believe that air tickets cost more than what an average middle-class American can afford, but the truth is that US domestic flights prices had only been dropping for the past 30 years. Air travel had dropped from $.32 per mile in 1980 to $.14 in 2010.
With the advance of technology and online bookings, air travel companies are providing discounts to the public to eliminate empty spaces on board, covering fuel charges, meals and the salaries of the plane caption and his crew.
The cost of luxurious flying to middle-class Americans
The middle-class American genre sees business and first class travel as an expensive luxurious non-necessity, where affording life necessities are more important, such as affording milk, rent, food, etc.
A great pressure is being dropped on airline companies to gain as many profits as possible from flyers to cover airlines expenses, filling up business and first class seats is a must. Therefore, airlines tend to drop prices and offer discounts to the average American middle-class majority.
Airlines try to keep the stereotyped image of luxury following the business and first class seats, as a dream of the richest lifestyles and financial stability. Offering more comfort and upper-class services to whom are in the upper-class seats, it is more as the concept of ripping elbows with the rich and famous; to the hardworking middle-class American who strive to reach their American dream.
Airlines try to provide the mentality of how close is the average American from reaching that American dream with discounted business class seats. Offering a less luxurious quality in business class seats throughout the years, soon business class seats would be equivalent to the economic seating, the first class as the business seats, and so on.
Supply and demand
The concept of supply and demand in transportation realizes on the availability of accessing a ride. The more access a traveler has to a certain destination; the more air fares tend to drop, because of the wide range of options that are offered: for example, airfares to Cuba or Antarctica would cost more money than airfares to Miami from JFK because Miami has many airlines that cover that destination, but Cuba or Antarctica have limited access since not many airlines head there from the United States, especially Cuba because of political issues.
Fuel costs and taxes also have a great factor in airfare prices; if fuel prices dropped, airfares would drop as well, and the opposite is true. We also need to consider airport's fees that airlines have to pay in order to have access to that airport's parking, departing and arriving gates.
Many factors play a role in the cost of airfare tickets, such as the concept of supply and demand. Especially the business class tickets; where now it is more likely to sit next to a $600 seat when you only paid $200, because of online deals so the airline can cover the expenses that those empty seats hold.