The Status of Airline Travel in 2013
Aside from the fact that airline seats seem to be getting smaller and people generally seem to be getting larger, the airline industry seems to be doing a good job.
Airline safety has never been better, and even though there has been some increases in prices and they keep trying to raise them more, competition has kept them somewhat in line.
The following is a short synopsis on where the industry stands now.
Airline safety.
There were some highly-publicized commercial airlines mishaps in 2013, but the total of 16 incidents and 265 deaths were the lowest world-wide since it began tracking such statistics in 1996.
The ten-year average is 720 deaths per year.
Western Europe and the United States have been leading the way for these trends dropping every year, with Africa in particular getting better but still lagging behind.
Even though the record continues to improve, the industry keeps improving its technology to improve safety.
Newer and better planes, a greater emphasis on pilot training, and governments keeping an ever watchful eye are reasons why safety continues to get better.
Plus airline safety is taking on a new meaning: whereas it used to be keeping planes from crashing, now evacuations and airline crews acting as a team to improve survivability in the case of an accident.
On-time rates.
Although North American Airlines had a difficult time with on-time arrivals in December (within 15 minutes of the announced time) due to some terrible weather, on the year airlines have been quite constant over the years with their rates of getting people to their destinations on time.
As for me, I'm not too upset when a flight gets in later than scheduled.
I've heard too many incidents of pilots getting "get-home-itis", as a result putting the flight at risk.
Airline prices.
They are all over the board and seem not to make much sense.
If you are somewhat tech savvy it is quite easy to shop around for bargains.
It used to be you could find better days to travel, but now discounts are more with packaging a rental car or a hotel with your flight.
Some airlines are making a few bucks charging for luggage, so you should know that going in.
There are also huge variations at times between cities that are in relative close proximity.
Recently we were traveling from Chicago to Syracuse, and we saved quite a bit by flying to Rochester, NY and renting a car there for the hour or so.
There are ways to save money, even more now than before, but often you have to get creative.
Airline safety has never been better, and even though there has been some increases in prices and they keep trying to raise them more, competition has kept them somewhat in line.
The following is a short synopsis on where the industry stands now.
Airline safety.
There were some highly-publicized commercial airlines mishaps in 2013, but the total of 16 incidents and 265 deaths were the lowest world-wide since it began tracking such statistics in 1996.
The ten-year average is 720 deaths per year.
Western Europe and the United States have been leading the way for these trends dropping every year, with Africa in particular getting better but still lagging behind.
Even though the record continues to improve, the industry keeps improving its technology to improve safety.
Newer and better planes, a greater emphasis on pilot training, and governments keeping an ever watchful eye are reasons why safety continues to get better.
Plus airline safety is taking on a new meaning: whereas it used to be keeping planes from crashing, now evacuations and airline crews acting as a team to improve survivability in the case of an accident.
On-time rates.
Although North American Airlines had a difficult time with on-time arrivals in December (within 15 minutes of the announced time) due to some terrible weather, on the year airlines have been quite constant over the years with their rates of getting people to their destinations on time.
As for me, I'm not too upset when a flight gets in later than scheduled.
I've heard too many incidents of pilots getting "get-home-itis", as a result putting the flight at risk.
Airline prices.
They are all over the board and seem not to make much sense.
If you are somewhat tech savvy it is quite easy to shop around for bargains.
It used to be you could find better days to travel, but now discounts are more with packaging a rental car or a hotel with your flight.
Some airlines are making a few bucks charging for luggage, so you should know that going in.
There are also huge variations at times between cities that are in relative close proximity.
Recently we were traveling from Chicago to Syracuse, and we saved quite a bit by flying to Rochester, NY and renting a car there for the hour or so.
There are ways to save money, even more now than before, but often you have to get creative.
Source...