• Zak@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    Sure, they had more legroom because the modern concept of economy class did not exist. They also crashed and killed everyone onboard much more often

    • kewko@lemdro.id
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      7 months ago

      It’s a fair point more affordable is also a kind of better, average Joe could only dream of affording flight. On the other hand it’s all new technologies and the price is bound to drop as adoption goes up. You could argue windmills have been around for a while, but let’s be honest - calling a windpowered electricity generating turbines windmills is a bit of a stretch.

    • AllonzeeLV@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      I’d gladly trade leg room for a somewhat increased risk of death.

      That would be “made better” to me.

      Better is a useless metric.

      • MoreThanCorrect@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        I understand your sentiment. On the other hand, I would rather my son have an hour of slight discomfort but arrive safely than be a fatality statistic.

        There is a feasible middle ground that is not realistically going to happen however. Slightly increasing personal space and comfort in the newer, safer planes without squeezing every possible seat in in the name of profit.

        “Better” does need to defined to not be ambiguous. To me a good definition to use in this thread would be “the net changes over time are objectively an improvement for the use”. I think that my middle ground would firmly be “better” but in the current state it is only strictly better for those owning the planes.

      • NaN@lemmy.sdf.org
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        7 months ago

        They sold flight insurance, life insurance policies you bought at kiosks in the airport, into the 70s. No thanks.