They're cheap certainly, but they're not an example of a good idea for a high growth startup. I also wouldn't personally call the experience great as a user eit

They're cheap certainly, but they're not an example of a good idea for a high growth startup. I also wouldn't personally call the experience great as a user either, but that's subjective. If you're trying to start a new company, an airline would probably be a bad idea - unless you're bringing something new to the table that others can't easily compete on (like supersonic jetliners maybe, eg the YC company Boom - though even then I don't think they're planning to run their own airline). The airlines all pretend they're special and unique, but they're basically commodities offering similarly bad experiences (imo) that aren't very differentiated. Meanwhile when companies are more dominant, like Google, they constantly point to their tiny competition (Duck Duck Go) and talk about how competitive the space is - the opposite of how airlines behave. If you're trying to build a startup you want something that leads to a Google like outcome, not a United Airlines like outcome.