it's all true.
but i accept the seat knowing i saved over first class(? does it even still exist?) or business. OR, laugh time: " premium economy."
for real: on our upcomming transatlantic flight, the option to 'upgrade' to premium econ was offered, prior to me settling on back-of-the-airbus seats in Basic econ.
total cost
for our round trip, 3 weeks in europe is
$1600.
for TWO.
the per-person cost for premium econ upgrade was $1500!
!
the trend is to ulimately have everyone fly either premium or business, with the true biz class and miles status holders having a walled off space for them. airlines know there's no other way to travel internationally so either shut up and pony up the thousands or sit at home and watch youtube vids about where you wanted to travel.
so if some NON epstein-tainted tech visionary would rise up and bring back the cheap fares and no-frills, maybe some healthy compettition good for a monopolistic predatory industry

Really good. I knew most of this having been involved in the industry. Deregulation is not necessarily good.
If you can’t say something nice, say something clever but devastating.