I would love to see the following be factored in if it isn't already:

1. airline ticket holder minutes wasted due to flight delays and cancelations.

2. amount of jet fuel wasted on empty flights for the purpose of keeping gate privileges.

3. money spent attempting to acquire or merge with other airlines and attendant FTC defense preparation.

4. (any and all other wastes of revenue that do not get invested in the consumer and instead are paid by the consumer).

There is more to the story than the price per mile. And that's not even opening the can of worms that is the quality and comfort of the flight for the consumer...

> Also price discrimination sounds a lot worse than what it really is?

I usually think of price discrimination as the first- or third-degree types (how they define them in the article), that is, charging people different amounts based on how much you think they are willing to or can pay, not on any differentiation of the product. That practice always sounded dirty and dishonest to me.

I wasn't aware that something like basic economy could be considered (second-degree, using their terminology) price discrimination; to me that's just offering a different product, with different features and different quality, at a different price. That honestly seems entirely reasonable to me; basic economy is just a different class of service, similar to how business class is different from economy class. I don't think of biz/first class as price discrimination; to me it's just selling a different, higher-quality product for a higher price.

> Aren't flights at an inflation adjusted all time low

Yes, due to improved technology and equipment and because prices have been historically very high.

> most airlines operating at a razor margin

No, many airlines operate in imperfect markets and reap excessive profits compared to other airlines.