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Airlines justify price increases with additional premium services. All except one: Ryanair

January 30, 2026 by usatoday24

The increase in operating costs It is making it increasingly difficult for airlines to offer low-priced flights. The low-cost They are becoming less and less, and with each passing year the prices of their tickets increase. Airlines have found a simple way to justify that increase: offer more comfort with wide seats and extra services that sound like luxury. Ryanair, however, does the opposite. Although the Irish company is forced to raise the price of its tickets, the company is reluctant to include any “luxury” options to justify the price increase. The boom in “premium” seats. As and how he published The New York Timestraditional airlines are dedicating more and more space on airplanes to seats for “premium” tourist class, with larger seats and improved services. This allows them to charge much more for those seats, while maintaining the number of passengers. The data they point because tickets for these “premium” tourist zones cost up to five times more than a normal one and represent close to 15% of revenue per passenger. According to data of Financial Timesuntil 2028, the number of seats of this type will grow by 11% each year, while the basic economy class stagnates in terms of sales. With this new “premium” tourist model, airlines earn more for each person who travels, without having to squeeze passengers into increasingly tight seats. The low-cost ones join the cart. Such is the success of this model, that even low-cost airlines have begun to offer packages with more services and, of course, with a higher price. Companies like EasyJet or Frontier Airlines They sell “premium” options with priority boarding, seat selection or even complete vacation packages. This adds extra costs to the way you work. The problem is that these added services make the ticket more expensive, so now they depend more on charging for the large baggage check-in or reservation changes. This makes them lose their price advantage and brings them closer to traditional airlines. Their response has been to stop competing for passenger volume at a low price, and now they seek to offer prices equivalent to a single ticket on a conventional airline, but with extra amenities. Ryanair does not take the bait. Ryanair has already announced that the price of your tickets will increase up to 9% in 2026. The company has achieved keep your costs very controlled placing its expenses per passenger and kilometer at only 4.5 euro cents, compared to more than 7 cents for rivals such as EasyJet or Eurowings, or 9 cents for British Airways. Keeping operating expenses low is what allows Ryanair to continue with its low pricing policy without having to offer “premium” features. Something in which its CEO seems not to give in one bit, judging by the clash in X between Elon Musk and Michael O’Leary for connectivity WiFi on airplanes. Musk claimed that more and more airlines were offering WiFi connection packages on their flights as a “premium” option, and criticized Ryanair for not including it. The response from the controversial CEO of Ryanair was immediate, ensuring that he was not going to offer anything that would increase the operating costs of his planes, and the installation of a Starlink antenna increased fuel consumption. That ignited the spark of a small brawl in which Musk threatened to buy the airline but O’Leary knew how to take to his field. Costs are the key. As demonstrated by the latest financial balance of the Irish airline, savings and containment of operating costs are the secret of Ryanair’s success which, with its refusal to pay the increase in Aena rates and at the price of fuel, it recorded profits of 2,540 million euros in the last half of 2025. While the rest of the airlines must resort to “premium” services to justify their price increases. Ryanair seems to be comfortable with its role as stingy in services to its passengers, and prefers to continue betting on a strategy of low prices and moving a highest percentage of passengers. For now, that model works for them. In Xataka | The CEO of Ryanair would govern a country like his airline: a “low cost” state with millionaire politicians and cuts in services Image | Ryanair

has the green light to deploy 7,500 additional satellites

January 14, 2026 by usatoday24

Rarely has a technological infrastructure grown so quickly and so out of the everyday radar. While for almost everyone the sky remains as usual, thousands of Starlink satellites are already moving in low Earth orbit, building a network designed to bring connection to almost any point on the planet. In just a few years, SpaceX has gone from a first experimental launch to becoming the world’s largest satellite operator, and that buildup of hardware in space presents opportunities, but also annoyances in parts of the scientific sector. The most recent movement comes in a context of criticism from the astronomical community for the impact of these constellations on sky observation. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) authorized SpaceX to deploy another 7,500 Starlink second-generation satellites, bringing the total authorized Gen2 satellites to 15,000. The organization not only gave the green light to this expansion, but also allowed technical improvements and a more flexible use of frequencies and coverage, in a decision that seeks to facilitate advanced mobile services and connections up to 1 gigabit per second. The authorization, in detail. The FCC has given SpaceX room to redesign and squeeze its constellation. The permit includes the update of the second generation Starlink with new form factors and advanced technology, the joint use of the Ku, Ka, V, E and W bands, and the possibility of providing both fixed and mobile services from space. Added to this is the elimination of limits that blocked beam overlap and the creation of new orbital layers between 340 and 485 kilometers, which the FCC itself presents as a way to optimize coverage and performance. In May 2019, Elon Musk announced the launch of the first batch of Starlink satellites The permit, however, does not cover everything SpaceX had requested. The company requested authorization to deploy nearly 30,000 second-generation satellites, but the regulator has decided to stay at half for now. In its resolution, the FCC emphasizes that part of these Starlink Gen2 has not yet been tested in orbit and that there remain doubts about operations at higher altitudes, above 600 kilometers, which explains why the decision on the remaining 14,988 satellites has been postponed, according to Reuters. The clock starts ticking. The FCC approval is not indefinite. SpaceX will have to prove concrete advances in the coming years, with at least half of the authorized constellation operating in their assigned orbits before December 1, 2028 and the rest before December 2031. In addition, the regulator forces the deployment of the first generation to close before November 2027, while the company prepares a reconfiguration for 2026 that will lower thousands of satellites to a lower orbit to reduce risks. Versions of Starlink satellites Expansion is not justified only by more bandwidth. Part of the constellation is intended to enable direct mobile connectivity in regions outside the United States and also strengthen coverage within the country, which would allow mobile services and data in areas without land towers at high speed. It is the same approach that already supports Starlink’s agreements with T-Mobile and with several international operators aimed at converting the satellite into an extension of the cellular network. The cost of filling the orbit. Now massive satellites are not without criticism. Astronomers They have been warning for years that constellations like Starlink generate trails in optical images and “noise” in radio telescopes, to the point that the International Astronomical Union created a specific center to protect the “dark and silent sky.” Added to this is the fear of orbital saturation and the risk of collisions, a debate that has been revived after recent incidents. Images | Mark Handley | SpaceX In Xataka | China has taken a silent step in the new space race: the world’s first system to measure time on the Moon

The “additional member” complement is already a reality in the US

April 23, 2025 by usatoday24

The time of sharing accounts without restrictions begins to be left behind. Netflix was the first big platform to launch an open offensive against the shared use of accounts, and Disney+ soon followed its example. Now it is Max, the Warner Bros. Discovery streaming service, who adds to this trend with a measure that is already being applied in the United States: the official activation of the “additional member” complement. Although the news may surprise some users, the truth is that the maneuver was announced for months. At the end of last year, JB Perrette, president and CEO of global streaming and games at Warner Bros. Discovery, made it clear that it was just a matter of time. And that moment has arrived. The company has begun to deploy its own strategy to limit shared accounts, in line with an industry that seeks to increase income by adjusting access to its services. A specific function to add external users. The new system is based on a complement that allows the owner of a main account to invite a friend or relative who does not live at his usual home. This user, considered an “additional member”, can access the service through a linked account, but with own credentials and their own adult profile. For practical purposes, it is a secondary account within the original plan, although with certain limitations. For example, it is only allowed to add an additional member on behalf of and the use is restricted to a simultaneous device. However, this new user can enjoy all the benefits included in the plan hired by the holder: image quality, available content and personalized configuration, among others. An added cost that already begins to add. The complement price is $ 7.99 per month, which add directly to the base plan. For those who are signed to the standard plan (which costs $ 16.99 per month in the United States) the total amounts to almost $ 25 per month. This places Max in a strip similar to that of other services that have already taken similar measures, such as Netflix, and is a new step towards more rigid models in terms of number and type of users on behalf of users. How it is activated and what changes in account. Users who want to activate the additional member complement can do so from the configuration of their subscription, both on the web and in the mobile app. Once the extra, the holder of the account can be invited to the new user and manage its access from the usual control panel. Integration is intended for the process to be simple and without friction. Unlike creating a new account from scratch, the additional member becomes part of the original subscription, although with its own login. You may not change the hired plan or access administrative functions, but use the service as if it had your own account. Profile transfer: a Netflix inherited function. Max has also incorporated another function that many users will already recognize: profile transfer. This option allows a user who was already sharing an account (and now becomes an additional member) can keep his full profile. That includes your visualization history, your personalized recommendations and all stored settings. The process is carried out automatically during activation, and seeks to facilitate the transition without losing the previous experience of use. Waiting for Europe. For now, this first step to limit shared accounts in Max is being applied only in the United States. At the time of publishing this article there is no official information about its deployment in other markets, including Spain. We will have to wait to know when this measure will be extended. Now the message is clear. “Your Max account is for you and the people who live with you,” can be read on the help page dedicated to additional members. Images | Boliviainteligent | Max In Xataka | LaLiga breaks with mediopro. Production passes to Telefónica and a Swiss giant who comes from retransmitting world

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