![[Why We Fly]](h_whyfly.gif){kind=small}
Americans are enjoying affordable fares as a result of the growth of low-cost, low-fare airlines. The American public has learned they can save billions of dollars on affordable fare carriers. In 1995, Americans saved more than $6.3 billion by flying airlines like AirTran. They've also benefited by the expansion of service to and from smaller markets.
Competition from the low-fare carriers has forced major airlines to lower their fares in order to compete. Our lower fares have encouraged more people to fly, benefiting the economy as a whole.
Changing the Concept of Business Travel
Let's say you're in your office in Atlanta, it's 9:30 a.m., and you learn you have to be in Boston the next day for a client meeting. You call a major airline and you'll have to pay as much as $1,200 round trip for a coach seat with 30" to 32" of legroom and because it's last minute, all the window and aisle seats may be gone. You may find yourself in the middle seat, without enough room to open your briefcase or laptop computer.
To add insult to injury, you talk with the person next to you and find they paid hundreds of dollars less even though they got a better seat than you did. Why should last-minute, full-fare customers get the last choice of seats? Maybe big airlines believe you have no choice, and since your company pays for your ticket, they think you don't care. We think they're wrong.
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