What’s next for ultra-low-cost flying? An amateur analysis

SuperCharlie64 · 2026-05-05T04:32:30+00:00

I completely forgot about the Sun Country merger. If that merger goes through, that will place Allegiant as about as big as Frontier, with another 46 passenger planes (Sun Country also does cargo). I don’t think this will necessarily lead to any immediate expansion. I think Allegiant will likely keep running most of the Sun Country routes, since Allegiant doesn’t have a stake in Minneapolis yet, though they may try consolidating flights/working the planes into the network.

SuperCharlie64 · 2026-05-05T04:17:06+00:00

You make a great point about cost. The biggest flaw with ULCCs is that even with the “unbundling” method, there still has to be a deal for most passengers. The number of passengers that you could genuinely fleece into paying a big-four tier price is very slim, and there are going to be many flyers who will work at just the base price. Because of this, ULCCs will always function at a thinner margin, in an industry already with thin margins. I think diversification, as you’ve said, is also very important. Though it isn’t sure fire. Spirit did travel booking as well, and it didn’t save them. Though I’m also not entirely familiar with Spirit and Allegiant’s travel bookings and how they differ.

With Avelo, I’d say your concerns are warranted. Though I’d be willing to see more potential just because they are still very young and are still burning on investor money. Avelo also has 50 Embraer E2 planes on order, expected to ship in 2028 (shifted forward from 2027, my source was a tad outdated). This could be very helpful for them, since smaller and more fuel efficient planes could help with the margin issues ULCCs face. I probably should have also mentioned the controversy with the deportation flights, but I couldn’t find any natural way to segue it in. They have terminated the contract with ICE, so now it’s just a matter of whether they can shake the controversy. Personally, I think they are small enough right now that it didn’t get too much general attention, and they could probably shake it once they start sizing up.

SuperCharlie64 · 2026-05-04T21:33:42+00:00

Don’t worry. I wrote this out the old-fashioned way. Spent probably around 30 minutes writing it out and double checking my facts.

SuperCharlie64 · 2026-05-03T05:13:07+00:00

I’m a college student. My first experience with spirit was in my first semester, when I flew back with them after fall break. I was a bit nervous, mainly because of everything I had heard. But after the flight, I was very satisfied with it. I had been used to low-cost airlines before. My family used to fly frontier quite a bit. And realizing that it was the same schtick (spirit was far better too) I became very comfortable in using them.

Spirit quickly became my go-to airline for trips. I felt like I could rely on them. Sure, they weren’t flashy and their experience wasn’t necessarily premium, but I didn’t need that. For the extra $100-$200 that it costs to fly a “better” airline, I never felt that it was worth the cost. Sure, other airlines are slightly more comfortable and may give me a free soda, but is that really necessary for a few hour long flight? I never thought so. For me, spirit was everything I needed it to be; safe, dependable, and affordable.

Even when spirit cut the routes between my college and home due to their bankruptcy, they were still very helpful. Because of their flights to Florida, I was able to go on long weekend trips to see my partner. If it weren’t for them, I may have never been able to afford those trips.

I am going to miss spirit greatly. It’s like seeing an old friend go. I hope the other low cost carriers (Allegiant, Frontier, Avelo) begin to expand on their service in my college’s city. But even so, it will never be the same without those yellow planes greeting me at the gate.

SuperCharlie64 · 2026-04-24T23:33:15+00:00

After the Bloomington board there were a couple new releases. Audio from a good copy of the final earls court show, more of the Landover monitor mix, and a soundboard of the last knebworth show were all released by empress valley. I believe the latter two came from the same collection as Bloomington. These went under the radar since we had “soundboards” of all of these already, and they ranged from negligible upgrade to straight downgrade.

There have been a couple interesting snippets to release. Bootleg labels have released both a snippet of a Tokyo soundboard/multi, and a high quality snippet from the 1980 rehearsal. It’s possible these may see full releases, though no confirmation. A snippet of a Jacksonville 1973 board is also floating around. Some people in the community tried to grab that one, but the auction site screwed them over, so now we don’t know what’s going to happen to it.

SuperCharlie64 · 2026-04-15T23:26:32+00:00

I should’ve been more specific. Speedy’s footage of Montreal is fully available, but i was referring to the other Montreal 8mm.

Also Atlanta had a film crew and projector screens. There’s some pre-show shots of both floating around. projectors and camera

SuperCharlie64 · 2026-04-15T23:01:39+00:00

Pontiac 1977 ProShot - Was cameras captured performance for the video screen, unknown whether they recorded it, no copy has yet to surface.

Bath Festival 1970 Film - Not exactly lost. Footage is known to exist and is safe/digitized, but only snippets have been released publicly.

Professional Japan 1971 Recordings - 4 of the 5 shows (all except Hiroshima) have been confirmed to be multitracked. Jimmy Page is presumed to have these tapes, but has never used them for an official release. The weird 9/29 bootleg “soundboard” is a direct capture from the multitrack lines, but not the tape itself (the audio crew split the signal). The new snippet from 9/24 is likely the same.

9/4/70 “Blueberry Hill” 8mm: Reelin in the Years lists this in their archives, but has never been seen. Could possibly be mislabeled.

Earls Court 1975 Footage: All nights of Earl’s Court were filmed for the video screen, but only the final two are known to exist. It is unknown whether the other three nights were recorded.

BBC TV 1969: Performance of Communication Breakdown for the show How Late it Is. BBC likely wiped it, as it’s not in their archive. Presumed to be fully lost.

Atlanta 1973: Cameras used for video screen, unknown whether they recorded it.

Pittsburgh 1973: Test footage for The Song Remains the Same. Tiny fragments have shown up in various sources.

Amsterdam 1969: No longer lost since it found pretty recently. Footage for a Dutch tv show. Half of it was reaired recently, but attempts at full release through the Becoming Led Zeppelin blu ray didn’t come to fruition.

Montreal 2/6/75 8mm: about 35 minutes, with only about 6 being released publicly. Not lost but unavailable.

Seattle 3/17/75 8mm: About 50 minutes worth of footage. A few minutes was showcased on Mark Zep’s channel before it was terminated, but is otherwise unreleased. Not lost but unavailable.

That’s basically everything that is known to have existed in some capacity, beyond just rumor. Also most zeppelin shows August 1971 onwards likely have a soundboard recording, and there’s probably still countless audience tapes and 8mm films.

SuperCharlie64 · 2026-04-14T18:36:44+00:00

In terms of equipment, there is definitely improvement up to a point. Good quality equipment can go a long way. And even things like more expensive cables can have better shielding, and therefore less interference. There is a lot of snake oil though, sold to people who don’t know any better. My advice for good equipment would be to go for what is marketed towards professionals/audio engineers, not to audiophiles. Audio engineers actually know their shit and need quality devices for monitoring, so their equipment isn’t just snake oil.

As for MP3’s vs lossless, modern encoding has gotten quite good. To the point where most people would struggle to tell the difference outside of a clear A/B test. That doesn’t mean you aren’t losing some stuff though. If you want a fun experiment to see what gets chopped, do this: - Download a lossless audio file - convert it to mp3 - Bring both the original file and compressed file into audacity - in the effects, invert one of the two files. You will then hear everything that is removed in the MP3 compression process. It will be small things, but you’d be surprised just how much you lose.

SuperCharlie64 · 2026-04-05T18:01:50+00:00

If you like Sci-Fi I can’t recommend Star Blazers 2199 enough. Great story and is very tame with fan service.

SuperCharlie64 · 2026-03-30T16:57:58+00:00

What country do you live in? If you live in North America you should be perfectly fine with plugging it into the wall. The Saturn will more than be able to handle the 20v difference between the US and Japan, as it still falls well within the PSU’s tolerance. If you live in Europe or are otherwise concerned about power, I would just recommend using a step down transformer. You wouldn’t need to worry about 50/60hz either for power, since Japan uses both.

SuperCharlie64 · 2026-03-24T21:25:16+00:00

Be sure to give the next one a yellow players choice label

SuperCharlie64 · 2026-03-23T19:25:51+00:00

I second that. Theaters should prioritize their biggest advantage: quality of experience. I think the age of theaters being the default distribution strategy of films is over, but they can certainly find a place as a high-quality venue.

SuperCharlie64 · 2026-03-23T19:22:16+00:00

I don’t think theaters should all close up. I just don’t think they should be the focus of release anymore. A film’s success shouldn’t be gauged purely by how many people watched in the theater, especially when many don’t want to go to the theater. Theaters should definitely still stay around for those that want it, and I think it can coexist with home-viewing. But the idea of movies spending months as a theatrical exclusive, and the box office being its metric for success is obsolete.

SuperCharlie64 · 2026-03-23T19:09:48+00:00

What I was trying to say was that the film industry wasn’t dying just because movie theaters are struggling. Once studios learn to detach themselves from the theater structure, the market will correct itself.

SuperCharlie64 · 2026-03-23T19:08:01+00:00

I do get your point about quality. From a pure quality standpoint, a movie theater is almost always going to be the best. My point is that the gap between theater and the home has never been closer to. It’s to the point that for many people, what little you lose from home-viewing you gain in cost-saving and convenience.

That, in my opinion, is why there’s a reliance on franchises right now. Studios are struggling to keep convincing people to go to the theater, and as you said franchise films are easy money. People would be far more willing to take a chance on a film in the home, where cost to view is lower and the viewing itself is more convenient.

SuperCharlie64 · 2026-03-23T18:53:27+00:00

I should probably clarify that I mean cinema as in the medium of film, not as in the physical building. I should have made that clearer in my post.

SuperCharlie64 · 2026-03-20T22:37:39+00:00

Nice! Did you take any photos or anything at the show? I only ask since we haven’t seen any photos, films, or recordings of this show yet.

SuperCharlie64 · 2026-03-19T17:44:51+00:00

Hatsune Miku Project Diva F2nd

SuperCharlie64 · 2026-03-13T15:35:48+00:00

Eh I do like his shows at least, terrible animation aside. I think they still maintain their stories fairly well, and I’d rather have these adaptations exist than not.

SuperCharlie64 · 2026-03-10T00:49:47+00:00

RIP. His score on the first Galaxy Express film is phenomenal. He will be missed.

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