Yes. For a non space-tier power. Their utility for space/LEO comms are valuable, but peripheral. Never going fully high tech, keeps the legacy systems in use and in current practice. Whereas a power like the US doesn’t do shit without a LINK net established and maintained, because we’ve forgotten/are unwilling to use the old methods.

It’s the Ukraine-Russo problem in the Black Sea, but applied to space. Denial is easier than presence, and even easier than dominance. If you can’t compete, why let them use it they way they want, or at all?

Grew up in SoCal, been back many times to visit family over the years, I don’t see why anyone moves there who isn’t aspiring artist of some kind - and even then… good luck!

High cost of food and supplies, excessive housing costs, droughts, wildfires, car-centric everything yet questionable civic planning, smog haze basically daily, termites eat your house every few years, and the sprawl… Jesus. Knew an old hat Boeing engineer who built his dream home way outside the city, and over the decades his commute went from 45 mins to three hours. Before he took early retirement he found a carpool buddy to trade off days driving so at least one of them got to use the time effectively.

But hey! It’s right by the ocean, and the weather is perfect - if you love cloudless sunshine and hate season.

This is so mind bogglingly insidious to actually roll out because Delta is a regional hub monopoly and major common carrier nationwide, they very well could be the market setters for this kind of AI-price scalping. Like, we’re just going to throw out the concept of serving ‘a market segment’ and trying to land on a certain price:offering ratio to capture market share via demand curve plotting, inherently leaving space both at the fringes and center for competition.

Now there is no competition. How does American or United price compare on routes or seat category, when there is no public price, but a personalized formula to maximize value extraction from each person? It’d be like trying to price compare at a close-envelope auction - you can’t.

There already is a lot of opacity in the buying process like phased seat releases creating artificial scarcity, but this is next level. I can absolutely see Delta holding back seats instead of selling them to ‘low value’ individuals who have very elastic demand, and releasing seats early/only for those who’ll pay the fees. Want peace of mind knowing you locked in your flight 6-9mo ahead? Pay up 🔫