Originally Posted by
ayroplain
You have, indeed, explained your position but I get the sense that this same viewpoint was around at the time that the likes of easyJet and Ryanair were coming on the scene. The low fare airlines have since created thousands of jobs in their own companies and at airports everywhere that would never have happened otherwise. Some people seem to forget that. They have also enabled millions of passengers to use short-haul air travel like never before. Tourism revenues have vastly increased accordingly. It’s long overdue for T/A long-haul to be challenged in the same fashion.
This made-up “race to the bottom” terminology means nothing and is a poor excuse for a mindset that wanted access to airline travel restricted to the rich and famous and keep fares high to support exorbitant wages. Remember that it’s only twenty years since LHR-DUB was £400 return and air travel was restricted to the elite. If someone can buck the old trends and do T/A long-haul cheaper (with all safety requirements fulfilled) then good luck to them.
Why should consumers care about the poor working conditions for staff in the industry sums up a lot of the argument.
What Ryanair and Easyjet did massively helped growth in the industry, this can't be denied. All Ryanair staff are on Irish contracts, in every base in Europe. The pay is good, despite what its made out to be, but has gotten a bit low to justify the expense needed for training.
Norwegian is terrible news, Long haul travel has itself become cheaper and cheaper, you can get an off peak return to EG Boston from SNN for less than €400! Norwegian won't help prices. They'll strip down services but not pay prices.