I once heard of someone who had to go from somewhere in the south of England to London, and took a plane to Berlin and another to London because it was cheaper than the train.
I don’t understand why plane tickets are so cheap compared to plane tickets. Part of it is that plane fuel isn’t allowed to be taxed while other forms of energy are, but there’s got to be more. The situation is insane.
That’s insane, especially considering Berlin is pretty deep into Germany. If it were Brussels or Schiphol – just a hop across the channel – I’d kind of get it.
Plane tickets have been getting more expensive. Recent (EU?) legislation places an extra tax on short-haul flights that would be 2h or less by train. The days of 30 EUR Ryanair flights seem to be a thing of the past. And the Epstein War has driven up prices for the foreseeable future.
Still cheaper to fly in most cases though.
Anyway, I’ve never been able to make up my mind about the right way forward. Make flying punishingly expensive so as to force travelers toward already expensive, but environmentally better alternatives? Or coordinate to reduce train ticket prices, e.g. through a system of subsidies? The latter is probably a lot harder to realize
I once heard of someone who had to go from somewhere in the south of England to London, and took a plane to Berlin and another to London because it was cheaper than the train.
I don’t understand why plane tickets are so cheap compared to plane tickets. Part of it is that plane fuel isn’t allowed to be taxed while other forms of energy are, but there’s got to be more. The situation is insane.
Anyway, let’s at least tax plane fuel.
That’s insane, especially considering Berlin is pretty deep into Germany. If it were Brussels or Schiphol – just a hop across the channel – I’d kind of get it.
Plane tickets have been getting more expensive. Recent (EU?) legislation places an extra tax on short-haul flights that would be 2h or less by train. The days of 30 EUR Ryanair flights seem to be a thing of the past. And the Epstein War has driven up prices for the foreseeable future.
Still cheaper to fly in most cases though.
Anyway, I’ve never been able to make up my mind about the right way forward. Make flying punishingly expensive so as to force travelers toward already expensive, but environmentally better alternatives? Or coordinate to reduce train ticket prices, e.g. through a system of subsidies? The latter is probably a lot harder to realize