Why flying in the summer is so hellish

By A.W. | WASHINGTON, DC

HERE in America, the country recently celebrated Memorial Day, when barbecues and pool openings mark the beginning of summer, astronomers be damned. For leisure travellers, that means sun, surf and spritzes. For business travellers, it can mean headaches, as airport lines grow ever longer and flight delays more common.

Who is to blame for the annoyances of flying in the summer? Partly, it is those aforementioned leisure travellers. Longer waits in security lines are largely a question of volume. Airlines for America (A4A), an industry group, forecasts that more than 234m passengers will use America’s carriers from June through to August. That would represent a new record, topping last year’s number by 4%. A4A attributes the expected increase to a growing economy and “historically low airfares”. But really, this is a familiar pattern. In 2016 the group also predicted a record-high number of summer flyers, up 4% from the previous year (the actual increase was about half of that). Long lines and sunshine just go together.

It is not just sheer volume that adds to the hassle. Some of the blame must also go to Mother Nature. One reason why American carriers had, on average, four percentage points more delays and cancellations during the summer last year, compared with the year as a whole, can be put down to the prevalence of summer thunderstorms. But then why finger the weather when it’s much more fun to blame Wall Street? The New York Times recently ran a story on the increasing pressure investors are putting on airline executives to deliver profits, leading them to cut the things that once made flying bearable. For example, the paper says that five years ago, managers at American Airlines were given bonuses for things like the punctuality of flights, not losing too much baggage and keeping customer complaints low. Today, bonuses are based exclusively on the company’s pre-tax income and cost savings.

That has worked out well for shareholders: United’s stock, for instance, has jumped from $25 to more than $80 over the past five years and its profit margin has climbed from 3.7% to 13.6%. The results have been less happy for flyers, who find themselves dragged off overbooked flights and victim to delays and shrinking legroom—not to mention having to pay hefty fees for bags, meals and entertainment.

The president of United, though, points his finger at a different culprit: you. At a recent meeting with staff, Scott Kirby was asked whether he might consider installing roomier seats on his planes, to gain advantage over competitors that have shrunk legroom. “The short answer is no,” he said, before elaborating:

Seat pitch has come down because that’s what customers voted with their wallets that they wanted. I know everyone would tell you, “I would like more seat pitch.” But the history in the airline industry is every time airlines put more seat pitch on, customers choose the lowest price.

But before you start self-flagellating for bringing about this discomfort with your thriftiness, consider one final theory: no one is to blame for the worsening quality of air travel, because flying is actually much better than it used to be. Patrick Smith, a commercial pilot and blogger, took to the op-ed page of the Times this weekend to explain that the flying experience has not been cheapened so much as democratised. Since the 1970s, average ticket prices have been cut in half. Round-trip flights from America to Europe back then cost several thousand dollars (in today’s money); even domestic trips from New York to Hawaii could run to $3,000. Now flights are not only cheaper but much more plentiful. Gone (mostly) are the double-layover itineraries between mid-sized American cities. Delays might be frequent these days, but at least if you miss a flight you can usually be re-booked onto another within a few hours; back then, passengers sometimes had to wait several days. And what you have lost in legroom and complimentary food you have gained in better entertainment, quieter planes, smoke-free cabins and increased safety.

That is a trade-off most of us would make. So as you suffer through long security lines this summer, remember that in spite of all the indignities, it could be worse—and it probably used to be.