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Comment by imcrs | Hacker News Reader

I recently took a 24 hour flight to Asia and chose the cheapest ticket. The seats were very small and very cramped. Economy plus seats had the 35" or 36" of legroom that were standard decades ago, and business class had 40" of legroom and wider seats. It was miserable, but I traveled across the Pacific ocean in less than a day's time. Economy Plus was $300 more expensive, and Business Class was $900 more expensive. I am a young guy, I don't mind packing into an airplane. That is the price I pay.

Cheap flights, big seats. Choose one.

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What airline was this? All airlines that I usually fly has fully flat beds in business class.

I'm wondering if this it's mostly the US airlines that are becoming worse in this respect. Even the European ones (excluding budget airlines like Ryanair) have not been gotten worse as far as I have observed.

Singapore. I didn't even mention first class, because I forgot about it -- they boarded the plane from a separate walkway/door to be insulated from the peasantry. I think they have individual beds/cabins.

I often fly Singapore airlines, and I've never been on first (which are the cabins you referred to).

In business class their seats fold into a flat bed, except on some older planes.

But was your standard ticket decades ago, which had the 35" of legroom, three times as expensive? People who pay for the amenities are getting ripped.

It used to be that everyone paid a little more, but it was mostly a tolerable experience to fly. Now, <5% of the plane pays anywhere from 3-10x the economy fare to be comfortable and everyone else is packed like sardines.

This is like income inequality, but with planes.

> But was your standard ticket decades ago, which had the 35" of legroom, three times as expensive?

Yes, more than that, at least inflation-adjusted.

You act like price gouging is a fundamental truth. There's no reason 10% more legroom needs to cost over 10% more.

A 24 hour flight to cross the Pacific? 14 hours sounds more realistic...

Also, a $900 premium for business class on a Singapore Airlines trans-Pacific flight doesn't sound right either. Plus their business class has (gigantic) lie-flat seats.

He may have been referring to a non-direct flight with an Atlantic route? eg, going Seattle to Chennai will be ~24 hours of travel either via Frankfurt or Dubai.

Thinking of the magic of flight in broad strokes, I can see how you'd call that going across the Pacific, just not quite literally.

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