8 ms·

Wait are you claiming that only 30% of Americans have flown on a plane?

• giraffe_lady 2y ago
  No sorry I was writing in a hurry. I meant something else but couldn't come up with a good definition quickly. I mean flown somewhat routinely and "recreationally" not for work, school, or emergency. I think 30% is probably about right with those constraints? Among tech people everyone has flown several times at least, but a lot of my family and social connections are inner city working class and many of them have never flown except possibly when a family member was hospitalized. Others fondly recall the single trip they took to florida or whatever decades ago. A lot of americans don't fly ever and it's definitely for financial reasons even though tickets can be very cheap. The flight is the cheapest part of a vacation and people making $30k at hourly labor are just not taking time off work to fly to new places.
  • returningfory2 2y ago
    Thanks for the clarification! I think it makes sense that there's some X% of Americans who fly "recreationally somewhat routinely" where X<100, but I'm not sure what X is. As a counterpoint to X=30, as of last Fall 48% of Americans had a passport [1] from which I think we can reasonably infer that nearly 48% of Americans have had an international trip in the last 10 years. The bar for recreationally flying in general is quite lower because it includes domestic flights. But also maybe the international trip was a once off. [1] https://www.state.gov/return-to-pre-pandemic-passport-processing-times/ https://www.state.gov/return-to-pre-pandemic-passport-proces...
• photonthug 2y ago
  Probably way more than that but they fly for essential reasons. Business travel, funerals & weddings, or once-in-a-decade relocation. Beyond that of course the majority is short-term domestic vacations that are in search of beaches or mountains, not cultural enrichment