I honestly don't think the growth is in the wealthy. I know wealthy people and they really haven't changed their habits much.
The people i know who use this sort of thing - booking flights on private jets - are all in their mid-30s and not even remotely wealthy, they don't own their homes, etc. They are just well paid engineers or engineer couples. I can't get my head around it.
I think the best analogy is the growth in status { vehicles, watches, ... }, which also has not been driven by the wealthy, but rather status differentiation between the relatively-affluent-but-still-w2 and the next tier down.
A private jet is super expensive for an engineer, even a senior level on in the valley?
Maybe if you do it for a once a year fancy vacation - within four or five hours (or less).
If you're doing that you're probably also spending at least $600 a night elsewhere maybe a lot more. That could easily be a 30k+ vacation which is what, like 10% of a higher end non owner tech salary? I guess if you don't have a lot of other monthly expenses that's not super unreasonable.
I don't know to what degree it's true but you wonder if there's a bit of an attitude along the lines of "I'll never afford a house in California so I might as well fly private and drive a Porsche instead."
you could replace “the last two years” by “the last fourty years” really. The process is just accerating a bit every year (as expected because of the compound interests).
That's only one key variable -- look also at what commercial flying has become (horrible): unruly passengers, mask mandates, flight attendants more authoritative (and understandably defensive) -- not to mention that people basically wear pajamas and sweat pants when they travel anymore.
I'm glad to see the new options becoming available. They might be much more expensive, but they'll be worth it to many (including myself).
I gotta ask, what’s the problem with wearing comfortable clothes on an airplane? The idea of wearing a suit or even business casual on a commercial flight seems laughable to me.
foobiekr|4 years ago
The people i know who use this sort of thing - booking flights on private jets - are all in their mid-30s and not even remotely wealthy, they don't own their homes, etc. They are just well paid engineers or engineer couples. I can't get my head around it.
I think the best analogy is the growth in status { vehicles, watches, ... }, which also has not been driven by the wealthy, but rather status differentiation between the relatively-affluent-but-still-w2 and the next tier down.
dillondoyle|4 years ago
A private jet is super expensive for an engineer, even a senior level on in the valley?
Maybe if you do it for a once a year fancy vacation - within four or five hours (or less).
If you're doing that you're probably also spending at least $600 a night elsewhere maybe a lot more. That could easily be a 30k+ vacation which is what, like 10% of a higher end non owner tech salary? I guess if you don't have a lot of other monthly expenses that's not super unreasonable.
ghaff|4 years ago
littlestymaar|4 years ago
zipiridu|4 years ago
kerneloftruth|4 years ago
I'm glad to see the new options becoming available. They might be much more expensive, but they'll be worth it to many (including myself).
tshaddox|4 years ago
josephcsible|4 years ago