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The cost of transatlantic airfare has nearly doubled over [#permalink]
 10 Dec 2009, 11:32
Question Stats:
50% (03:30) correct
50% (01:16) wrong based on 0 sessions
The cost of transatlantic airfare has nearly doubled over the past five years, yet airlines are doing a booming business. Clearly, people today have more money to spend on vacations than they did five years ago.
All of the following, if true, would weaken the argument above EXCEPT:
1) Most people buying transatlantic tickets today use them for business trips, so airfare is refunded by their companies.
2) There are fewer airlines in existence today than five years ago.
3) People are taking shorter vacations and staying in cheaper hotels than they used to.
4) Crossing the Atlantic by ship requires more time than most people can afford.
5) Domestic airline flights have seen a steady increase in passengers
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Re: The cost of transatlantic airfare [#permalink]
10 Dec 2009, 12:27
1
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is it E, E suggests that people re spending in domestic flights too , meaning ppl have more money, strengthening the argument...
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Re: The cost of transatlantic airfare [#permalink]
10 Dec 2009, 13:37
agree with E.
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Re: The cost of transatlantic airfare [#permalink]
10 Dec 2009, 14:14
what's wrong with C? Since people have 'more money', which can come from spending less on the hotels and reducing the length of vacations.
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Re: The cost of transatlantic airfare [#permalink]
10 Dec 2009, 18:49
i narrowed down to B and D.
i.e 2) There are fewer airlines in existence today than five years ago.
I think B is the correct becuase -
1. Demand supply. If the number of airlines are less, the demand is high, hence people fly irrespective of the prices.
Why i thought D is correct ?
4) Crossing the Atlantic by ship requires more time than most people can afford.
Since travelling via ship is time consuming, people prefer to fly, irrespective of fare, which takes less time. But since this choice does not talk about airlines, i did not choose it.
Problem with E -
5) Domestic airline flights have seen a steady increase in passengers
This talks about domestic airlines. There is no relation between domestic and transatlantic flights.
Thoughts ?
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Re: The cost of transatlantic airfare [#permalink]
11 Dec 2009, 03:13
The evidences are provided about transatlantic flights. Then conclusion is about people in general. Information about domestic flight suplement that about transatlantic, and therefore makes conclusion more robust. I think the ans is E. ms wrote: i narrowed down to B and D.
i.e 2) There are fewer airlines in existence today than five years ago.
I think B is the correct becuase -
1. Demand supply. If the number of airlines are less, the demand is high, hence people fly irrespective of the prices.
Why i thought D is correct ?
4) Crossing the Atlantic by ship requires more time than most people can afford.
Since travelling via ship is time consuming, people prefer to fly, irrespective of fare, which takes less time. But since this choice does not talk about airlines, i did not choose it.
Problem with E -
5) Domestic airline flights have seen a steady increase in passengers
This talks about domestic airlines. There is no relation between domestic and transatlantic flights.
Thoughts ?
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Re: The cost of transatlantic airfare [#permalink]
11 Dec 2009, 04:13
I think the answer is E. I did a very similar question today in PR's Verbal Bin3. A. The reason why airlines are doing well is because of an alternative cause ie. companies refunding their money, not because of the travelers having enough money. B. If the reason people are spending on flight tickets is because they have no other option (limited no. of choices, and increased costs by all airlines), it does not support the given reason of people spending money just because they have it, but because they don't have an option. Given the option, they probably wouldn't spend so much on it. I hope this makes sense!? C. If people are finding ways to save money through shorter vacations & cheaper hotels, they probably do not have "more money to spend on vacations than they did five years ago". This also weakens the argument. D. Again, the reason people opt for the quicker, yet more expensive mode of transport (flights) is because the alternative is too time-consuming, NOT because they have more money to spend. E. How an airline would do depends on income from 2 segments: international (in this case, transatlantic) and domestic. If intl. flights just got more expensive, using the simple supply-demand theory, demand should go down. However, if the domestic airline segment has seen an increase in passengers, it means that the business from domestic segment could be so large that overall, airline companies are doing better. Why are the number of domestic passengers increasing? Because people are now taking vacations to locations within the country? But how does that imply that they have more money? Is this the right answer just because it does NOT weaken the argument? So I started off assuming E was right...but, when I really started to question it, I ended up eliminating all the options?! Oh man...help!!! Btw, what's the OA???
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Re: The cost of transatlantic airfare [#permalink]
11 Dec 2009, 17:55
Here is how i approached the question -
What is the conclusion ?
Answer - The airlines are doing a booming business
Now, let me share my thoughts on the various choices -
1) Most people buying transatlantic tickets today use them for business trips, so airfare is refunded by their companies.
Since the airline is really not doing a lot(or booming) of business becuase the tickets are being refunded, hence i would say that this is weakening the conclusion
2) There are fewer airlines in existence today than five years ago.
Since there are few airlines and people have money to fly inspite of rising price, the airlines, whaterver number they are, are booming in the business. This strengthen's the conclusion.
3) People are taking shorter vacations and staying in cheaper hotels than they used to.
this does not affect the conclusion becuase we do not know whether people are flying or driving, hence no impact to the conclusion
4) Crossing the Atlantic by ship requires more time than most people can afford.
This shows that people have more time which the can afford to spend. Nothing shows that they fly, thus helping the airline to boom. However, this does not show that people have more they, it just shows that they have more time.
5) Domestic airline flights have seen a steady increase in passengers
This says that the dommestic airlines have a steady increase in passenger that might cause a boom in dommestic airline industry. But the conclusion talks about airline industry on the whole not specific to dommestic or international. Hence this "might" strengthen the conclusion if there is an increase in both dommestic and international airline industry, resulting in a boom in overall airline industry. But since we do not know about this fact, i would say this "might" strengthen the conclusion but not to a very strong extent.
Considering all the above facts, i would say B is the correct answer.
Thoughts ??
What is the OA ?
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Re: The cost of transatlantic airfare [#permalink]
11 Dec 2009, 22:43
ms, i guess i made a mistake in identifying the conclusion. I think i've reasoned taking the premises as the conclusion? We seriously need the OA as well as the official explanation for the answer! What is the source of this question?
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Re: The cost of transatlantic airfare [#permalink]
11 Dec 2009, 23:10
OA is E.. Source is Kaplan... I was confused between D And E But now i am clear why is it E THanks guys
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Re: The cost of transatlantic airfare [#permalink]
12 Dec 2009, 01:53
what's the explanation in kaplan???
_________________
Read about my GMAT prep at http://gmatting.blogspot.com/
1st Feb '11 -- Actual GMAT : 730 (Q48 V42) AWA 6.0
My Practice GMAT Scores
29th Jan '11 -- GMATPrep#2 : 700 (Q47 V38)
23rd Jan '11 -- MGMAT Practice Test #3 : 670 (Q45 V36)
19th Jan '11 -- GMATPrep#1 v.1 : 710 (Q49 V37)
15th Jan '11 -- GMATPrep#1 : 720 (Q47 V42)
11th Jan '11 -- MGMAT Practice Test #2 : 740 (Q47 V44)
6th Jan '11 -- Kaplan#2 : 620 (Q40 V35)
28th Dec '10 -- PowerPrep#1 : 670 (Q47 V35)
30th Oct '10 -- MGMAT Practice Test #1 : 660 (Q45 V35)
12th Sept '10 -- Kaplan Free Test : 610 (Q39 V37)
6th Dec '09 -- PR CAT #1 : 650 (Q44 V37)
25th Oct '09 -- GMATPrep#1 : 620 (Q44 V34)
If you feel like you're under control, you're just not going fast enough.
A goal without a plan is just a wish.
You can go higher, you can go deeper, there are no boundaries above or beneath you.
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Re: The cost of transatlantic airfare [#permalink]
12 Dec 2009, 07:07
hi.. the conclusion is very clear ..it is " Clearly, people today have more money to spend on vacations than they did five years ago." ....E
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Re: The cost of transatlantic airfare [#permalink]
17 Dec 2009, 13:22
hsourabh wrote: what's wrong with C? Since people have 'more money', which can come from spending less on the hotels and reducing the length of vacations. The cost of transatlantic airfare has nearly doubled over the past five years, yet airlines are doing a booming business. Clearly, people today have more money to spend on vacations than they did five years ago. All of the following, if true, would weaken the argument above EXCEPT: 3) People are taking shorter vacations and staying in cheaper hotels than they used to. My ans is E On the contrary of what you said, ppl take shorter vacations and staying in cheaper hotels than they used to because they are poorer. Here is the cause and effect. ticket price increases--> To take vacation, ppl spend on the plan ticket more than before; in the meantime they take shorter vacation and stay cheaper hotel. It says that ppl are either the same or poorer. HTH
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Re: The cost of transatlantic airfare [#permalink]
17 Dec 2009, 13:35
ms wrote: Here is how i approached the question -
What is the conclusion ?
Answer - The airlines are doing a booming business
Now, let me share my thoughts on the various choices -
1) Most people buying transatlantic tickets today use them for business trips, so airfare is refunded by their companies.
Since the airline is really not doing a lot(or booming) of business becuase the tickets are being refunded, hence i would say that this is weakening the conclusion
2) There are fewer airlines in existence today than five years ago.
Since there are few airlines and people have money to fly inspite of rising price, the airlines, whaterver number they are, are booming in the business. This strengthen's the conclusion.
3) People are taking shorter vacations and staying in cheaper hotels than they used to.
this does not affect the conclusion becuase we do not know whether people are flying or driving, hence no impact to the conclusion
4) Crossing the Atlantic by ship requires more time than most people can afford.
This shows that people have more time which the can afford to spend. Nothing shows that they fly, thus helping the airline to boom. However, this does not show that people have more they, it just shows that they have more time.
5) Domestic airline flights have seen a steady increase in passengers
This says that the dommestic airlines have a steady increase in passenger that might cause a boom in dommestic airline industry. But the conclusion talks about airline industry on the whole not specific to dommestic or international. Hence this "might" strengthen the conclusion if there is an increase in both dommestic and international airline industry, resulting in a boom in overall airline industry. But since we do not know about this fact, i would say this "might" strengthen the conclusion but not to a very strong extent.
Considering all the above facts, i would say B is the correct answer.
Thoughts ??
What is the OA ? 2) There are fewer airlines in existence today than five years ago. This explains why "airlines are doing a booming business". In other word, because there are fewer airlines, the existing airline do business well; it means booming business is not necessarily because people fly more often but because they are just flying via fewer existing airlines. So, people today do not/not necessarily have more money to spend on vacations than they did five years ago.
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Re: The cost of transatlantic airfare
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17 Dec 2009, 13:35
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