• Get ready for flying spiders the size of your palm. They could be coming to your neighborhood soon.
• Joro spiders have been rapidly spreading across the southeast US, and are now moving north.
• Though venomous, Joro spiders aren't harmful to humans and prefer to stay outdoors.

It sounds like the stuff of nightmares: venomous, monster-sized spiders floating through the air and invading the northeastern US this summer.

But some experts say invasive fruit flies can do more damage than the colorful Joro spider, AP News reported.

It's easy to understand why the spider sounds terrifying, though.

They can measure up to 3 inches with their legs spread, about the size of your palm and far larger than a quarter-inch house spider.

Giant spiders migrating to the Northeast US

Originally native to Asia, they've been rapidly moving across the southeast US since first appearing in Georgia around 2010, according to a study published last year in the journal Ecology and Evolution.

And the invasive species has been heading north, according to the study's authors. Once they arrive, people are likely to spot their webs — a distinctive golden color — in trees or on their porches, according to UGA Today.

"This spider is going to be able to inhabit most of the eastern US," David Coyle, a professor at Clemson University who worked on the research, told Clemson News in 2023 adding that "their comfort area in their native range matches up very well with much of North America."

Colder temperatures don't seem to bother them. The black-and-yellow spiders survive just fine in northern Honshu, Japan, where winter temperatures can reach between 25 and 32 degrees Fahrenheit, according to Penn State Extension.

"Barring some unforeseen circumstance, we expect the range of these things to continue expanding, likely to the north, and we've already seen that with some populations in Maryland," Coyle added.

Experts from NJ Pest Control predict that the spiders could arrive in New Jersey and New York this year, potentially as soon as this summer.

"It's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when," Russell Sieb, an entomologist and the owner of NJ Pest Control told Business Insider.

"They are going to make it up to the northeast at some point, and we think that they're going to be up here sometime this year," he said, adding that they've already been spotted in Baltimore.

A shy spider who prefers the outdoors

Though the massive creatures are venomous, they aren't dangerous to humans beyond potentially causing a swollen, red bite, Sieb told BI. And they don't want to take a nibble out of you, anyway.

"They aren't looking to bite things they can't eat if they can help it," Jonathan Larson, University of Kentucky entomologist, said in 2022.

They're also not a danger to pets, and researchers have found they may be the "shyest" spiders ever documented.

Beyond their size, there's another characteristic of Joro spiders that makes them a little creepy: They can fly. Well, kind of.

'Flying' Joro spiders

The orb-weaving arachnids don't have wings, but they can travel by "ballooning," a technique where they release a strand of silk that allows the wind to carry them. Sieb said they can travel around 3 miles using this method.

Luckily for arachnophobes though, Joro spiders typically don't want to go inside homes — they're outdoor pests that usually opt to form webs in open spaces like parks, ball fields, or suburban properties, though they may also seek out wooded areas or the doorways to buildings, Sieb said.

And, although the species is invasive, you probably won't be fighting off bazillions of them right and left.

"It's not going to be like any Alfred Hitchcock movie or anything like that with them all over the place," Sieb said.

Though they do live close to each other, Joro spiders don't seem to interact much with other individuals, per UGA Cooperative Extension.

"This is a predator," Sieb told BI. "So there's going to be a carrying capacity for the area. So you might have two on a property maybe, or not even two."

Just how these spiders will impact the ecosystems they invade is still an open question. Joro spiders love to eat another invasive species, lanternflies. However, there's no chance the spiders will help eradicate the plant-eating pest, per AP News.

"A lot of people think that this spider is destroying the ecosystem, and we actually don't think that, at least not yet," Andy Davis, an assistant research scientist at the University of Georgia, told UGA News.

• Emily Levine is an exec VP at the recruiting firm Career Group Companies in Los Angeles.
• Levine specializes in finding staff for A-list celebrities, wealthy clients, and top executives.
• The firm uses NDAs to ensure confidentiality and avoid attention for high-profile clients.

Emily Levine, 36, is executive vice president at the recruiting firm Career Group Companies in Los Angeles. She finds people to work for A-list celebrities in music and entertianment, high-profile execs, and wealthy clients. The following has been edited for brevity and clarity.

I grew up in LA and have been running my practice at Career Group Companies for about 14 years. The way I started recruiting for some of the bigger names in Hollywood was by getting someone a job who had worked as a personal assistant to a celebrity or for an entertainment company. Then, when they would resign, they would introduce me as the resource to fill their old job.

Celebrities often find themselves in these difficult positions where so many people want to work for them, but they also want to weed out fans. Our clients are really looking for somebody who doesn't have ulterior motives to be in the limelight themselves.

Because well-known people can't just post online that they're looking for someone and sort through all the responses, they go to a more discreet service like us, where we handle these types of searches for the most high-profile people in the world.

The majority of my work is catering to ultra-high-net-worth individuals, family offices, and celebrities. I also work with the C-suite at major companies, though usually in entertainment. I still have my finance clients and fashion clients, but most of what I do is this celebrity niche.

How I find candidates

When it's time to fill a job, usually I'll get a text — a 911 text — that says something like, "Help, we need to find a personal assistant for this confidential person." Or I'll get a call or an email. Then, I do a job intake where I connect with either the talent themselves, a spouse, a family member, their business manager, or their agent to get a deep understanding of the problem I'm trying to solve. What does this person or what does this family need?

I get details — from somebody's compensation to what the schedule will look like. Does it involve travel? Do they need experience being a family assistant or nanny? Will this be a chief of staff or an estate manager job? I have a roster of candidates looking for jobs. I then go play matchmaker.

We have a lot of candidates who know that Career Group Companies is a place to get a job like this. They're applying on our website. I'll get DMs through my Instagram. People will contact me on LinkedIn.

Our job postings are vague. That's intentional because we're under such strict NDAs with our clients. Based on conversations I have with applicants — and on social media checks that I do — I can determine who I feel is suited for this line of work.

With the social media checks, it depends on the celebrity I'm recruiting for, but most people would shy away from applicants with too large of a social presence. Clients would love someone who isn't looking to be in the limelight themselves. It feels like, "Oh, no, is this person going to try to use this job as a stepping stone to become famous, to go on a reality show, or to write a tell-all book?"

People get really concerned about confidentiality and discretion. They want to bring people into their orbit who don't attract much attention.

I have a roster of great, pre-vetted people I can call when I get a job that I feel would be a good fit. I'll connect with a candidate over Zoom. I meet with them, and a few other people on my team will also meet with the applicant. We ask similar but different questions and compare notes.

I'll then send some résumés to a client. The client might ask who are the top two or three candidates based on the résumés I've sent. Someone on the client side might do a Zoom with a candidate. Then, maybe another member of the client's team might grab a coffee with the candidate. Then, they'll typically take the top two and introduce them to the client.

If a candidate gets selected for an interview — even an initial one — I'll send them an NDA. I recently had a client who wanted me to send the candidate a generic NDA. Because if I sent the client's NDA, it would be divulged in the document who the celebrity was. Then, if the candidate moves forward in the process, the client would use their specific NDA.

What I look for

Somebody's résumé tells a story. If they have a new job every six months or every year, it becomes apparent that it could be an issue with the candidate and not previous employers.

Clients really gravitate toward candidates who exemplify loyalty and longevity because even when a job gets hard — and these jobs are very difficult — the client wants to know that their executive right arm, their personal assistant, is going to stick with it.

I tend to find people with experience working in the industry or for high-profile executives. If somebody wants to become an executive assistant to a celebrity, there are certain paths you can take. A talent agency can be a great entry point to this world because it's competitive and fast-paced. Agents can be difficult. You're operating with intensity, and there are many high-profile people around you.

Candidates with this experience usually aren't starstruck because they're already in the industry. They need to be able to handle sensitive information and be a strong communicator. I find that the talent agency route is like executive assistant boot camp.

I also often find that people who were involved in sports in college or high school are super collaborative. They're usually good team players and really determined, disciplined people. In any case, I really need to get to know the candidates to understand their character.

Interviewing — with a celebrity or not — can be nerve-racking for most people. Then add on top of it that you're sitting across from someone that you recognize, and you feel like you know them, but you don't. It can add an extra element of stress.

What it takes to succeed

People need to be pretty flexible to take on a role like this because it typically involves a 24/7 schedule, long hours, and the ability to travel. The executive assistants might have responsibilities around photoshoots, security, the media, stylists and wardrobe, brand partnerships, and agents and managers.

Even if you've been at a talent agency, working in someone's home is much more intimate. Respecting somebody's privacy is key. You're literally in their kitchen or bedroom or traveling with them on their plane. So, it means really understanding that there needs to be a firm boundary between friendship and employer-employee. Often, that line can get blurred.

Career Group Companies has hundreds of celebrity clients. We fly under the radar because we have ironclad NDAs. Some of the clients I've worked with include Kevin Costner, Scooter Braun, Maria Shriver, and the Kardashian-Jenner family.

I've also worked with corporate clients like Imagine Entertainment, Tiffany & Co., Endeavor Group, and Paramount Pictures. With some of these companies, we'll staff their corporate offices, but also the celebrity's homes.

Depending on the size of someone's team, we can be recruiting for a celebrity who has a chief of staff and estate managers. The estate manager oversees housekeepers, chefs, gardening and landscaping crews, pool people, butlers, a driver, and security.

Then you have a chief of staff overseeing perhaps four executive assistants, people who run errands, and the nannies. Then you have people who might have a production company, skincare line, or denim brand. I am tasked to staff their receptionist, HR manager, and their head of design. The list goes on.

I handle these searches with just as much care as I handle my financial services searches because, at the end of the day, whether someone's an investor or an NBA player, I'm dealing with people. It's really the same across the board, but this one gets more attention because people are naturally curious about celebrities.

• McDonald's has a restaurant in Chicago that sells items from its international menus.
• When I visited, the lineup included dishes from Spain, Thailand, Hong Kong, Finland, Japan, and Canada.
• My Thai spicy chicken sandwich was delicious, but the speedy table service was even more impressive.

McDonald's has more than 40,000 restaurants across the world. But one of its Chicago locations has a menu that makes it stand out from the rest.

The McDonald's in Chicago's West Loop looks unassuming from the outside. It's sleek, modern, and very clean, but there's nothing to set it apart from the chain's other modern-image restaurants.

But the restaurant, located underneath the burger chain's headquarters, is actually a one-of-a-kind McDonald's that sells menu items from the chain's vast empire of restaurants around the world.

As well as items from McDonald's regular US menu, the restaurant has a rotating range of "global favorite" dishes.

These were advertised heavily on digital screens throughout the restaurant.

This was the global line-up when I visited the restaurant in mid-May. The menu featured three burgers, a portion of fries, an ice cream, two doughnuts, and three flavors of McPops. The items came from McDonald's menus in Spain, Thailand, Hong Kong, Finland, Japan, and Canada.

I opted for the Samurai McSpicy chicken sandwich from Thailand. Like with other burgers and sandwiches, you could turn it into a meal.

You could also customize the sandwich. I added pickles and tomato, the latter of which came with a $0.39 price tag. The sandwich came to $7.38, or $8.25 after tax.

The global menu burgers were priced similarly to the items from McDonald's core US menu, which surprised me. I had expected higher prices — I'm sure that diners would have paid a few extra dollars to be able to sample the chain's international cuisine.

When I completed my order at the digital kiosk, I was told to take a number and place it on my table. I don't eat at McDonald's often, and I'd never been to one with table service before.

While I waited for my food, I looked at the decor. The restaurant seemed quiet for a Saturday night and was impressively clean.

There was a range of seating options, and I liked these sleek light fittings.

One part of the restaurant contained a long table with 18 stools and a door so that it could be closed off. I wondered if McDonald's used this for private company events.

Though you could order at a cashier, there was an emphasis on digital kiosks, which typically bring in bigger revenues for restaurants. There were QR codes on each table so you could order from your phone, too.

Source: Business Insider

There were also dedicated shelves for customers to collect mobile orders they'd placed in advance.

On one wall, McDonald's had a large world map, with Golden Arches that the chain previously said were lit up to indicate which countries were included in its current global menu. When I visited, all the Golden Arches were lit up apart from the one over Russia. McDonald's sold its Russian business in 2022 after the country invaded Ukraine.

Sources: McDonald's, Business Insider

It took less than five minutes from me placing my order for it to arrive at my table. I was very impressed by the speedy service. Though I hadn't ordered a drink, it was served with a cup of water.

Sadly the sandwich was served in a plain ol' box. For many products, McDonald's has custom packaging.

The only part of the presentation advertising my meal as anything out of the ordinary was this piece of paper covering the tray.

This is what my sandwich looked like. My first thoughts were "that's a lot of lettuce" and "this is going to be messy." The sauce had already oozed onto the box.

The sandwich was made up of a McSpicy patty, teriyaki sauce, mayonnaise, and lettuce, served in a sesame seed bun. I'd added on pickles and tomato.

The sandwich was dripping with teriyaki sauce. I have a low spice tolerance, but the sweet and sticky sauce and mayonnaise meant that the McSpicy patty wasn't as hot as I'd expected.

It was a delicious burger. I really enjoyed it, but it was perhaps a bit too messy thanks to all the sauce — and there was simply too much lettuce to hold in the bun.

I decided to get a dessert, too. Sadly, quite a few of the desserts from the McCafé menu were out of stock. I opted for a pack of three White Chocolate McPops from McDonald's Spain for $3.99, or $4.46 after tax.

This time, there was just two minutes between me placing my order and it arriving at my table. And, once again, it was served with a glass of water.

The McPops were slightly smaller than the palm of my (pretty small) hand. They were essentially doughnut dough with a gooey filling inside.

They tasted fine but, if I'm honest, quite boring. I would have liked them to contain more of the white chocolate filling, too. I regretted not ordering the Boston Cream Donut from the Canadian menu or the Hot Fudge Waffle Cone from Japan.

Overall, visiting the global menu restaurant was a fun experience. I would have liked to have seen a wider range of international items — perhaps some drinks or another side in place of some of the desserts. McDonald's France, for example, sells a range of company-branded flavored water and McDonald's Germany sells chili-cheese pops.

The Samurai McSpicy tasted great, but what blew me away was the speedy table service. It was a new experience for me and I was very impressed.

• Billionaire Larry Connor will travel to the Titanic shipwreck site in a two-person submersible.
• Connor's voyage comes after OceanGate's submersible imploded in June 2023.
• Connor is a thrill-seeker who set a world record jumping from a hot air balloon.

An Ohio billionaire who's flown to space and explored the Mariana Trench has set his sights on a new adventure: the Titanic shipwreck.

Real estate investor Larry Connor, 74, will take the ocean voyage with Patrick Lahey, cofounder and CEO of Triton Submarines. The submersible manufacturer confirmed their collaboration in a May Instagram post, calling it "groundbreaking."

The pair told The Wall Street Journal in May that they would travel to the Titanic wreck site to prove it can be done safely after last year's OceanGate tragedy.

OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush and four other passengers died after the company's Titan submersible imploded on the way to the Titanic shipwreck site.

"I want to show people worldwide that while the ocean is extremely powerful, it can be wonderful and enjoyable and really kind of life-changing if you go about it the right way," Connor told the outlet.

Even before announcing his deep-ocean ambitions, Connor has sought thrills on land and in Earth's orbit.

Here's what we know about Connor.

Connor is a real estate investor who founded The Connor Group, which has $5 billion in assets.

Connor's entrepreneurial mindset led him to the real estate industry in 1991, when he launched Connor, Murphy, and Buhrman with only one investor, according to his company bio.

He later bought out his partners and, in 2003, created the luxury real estate investment firm The Connor Group, which is based in Ohio.

He has a $2 billion net worth, according to Forbes.

The firm's website says The Connor Group specializes in luxury apartment communities with more than $5 billion in assets in 18 US markets.

The Connor Group — with over 1,300 investors — has properties in Atlanta, Chicago, Charlotte, Miami, Phoenix, Louisville, and more.

He founded The Greater Dayton School.

The Greater Dayton School is described as "Ohio's first non-religious private school for under-resourced students" on The Connor Group's website. The official campus opened for students in November 2023, according to the school's website.

The school's website said 105 children were enrolled in Pre-K through fourth grade as of October 2023.

Connor is also passionate about racing and has over 70 wins.

Connor's bio said he's a "two-time winner of the Baja 1000 and Baja 500 in the Trophy Truck Spec class."

He also claimed first place at the Formula Atlantic National Championship in 2001 and 2002 before emerging victorious at the Petit Le Mans in 2003, his bio says.

Connor visited Mariana Trench, the deepest known place on Earth, in April 2021.

Connor's upcoming voyage to the Titanic shipwreck site won't be his first time traveling with Lahey.

The pair completed dives to the Sirena Deep, the Challenger Deep, and a seamount in the Mariana Trench over five days in April 2021, according to The Connor Group.

Connor and Lahey used the Triton 36000/2 designed by Triton Submarines. A press release from Triton Submarines said Connor and Lahey "gathered high-quality video footage and samples in the 'hadal zone,' or the area of the ocean below 20,000 ft. — the final frontier of exploration on Earth."

Scientists planned to study the information Connor and Lahey gathered on their trip for medical, commercial, and evolutionary research.

He piloted a flight to the International Space Station one year later.

Connor became the first private astronaut pilot in April 2022 when he flew members of Axiom Mission 1 to the International Space Station, his firm says. The four-person crew flew aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon spaceship on April 8 and returned to Earth on April 25.

NASA and aerospace startup Axiom Space first announced the flight in May 2021.

"While on board the ISS, the crew completed 25 different experiments, logging over 100 hours of research," a press release from The Connor Group read. "Larry partnered with renowned medical experts at Mayo Clinic and Cleveland Clinic on four different experiments to study the heart, brain, spine and aging."

He made a world-record jump from a hot air balloon in September 2023.

Connor and four other men hold the Guinness World Record for the highest HALO — high altitude, low opening — formation skydive at 38,139 feet. The crew set the record in September 2023.

"Larry and the Alpha-5 Team prepared for over one year to make the HALO formation skydive. They jumped from a hot air balloon and made the jump to support the Special Operations Warfare Foundation (SOWF) charity," the Guinness World Record website says.

• Scammers tricked Gooding, Idaho employees into sending over $1 million to fake contractors.
• The payment was intended for a wastewater project but was diverted into the criminal's account.
• The Gooding Sheriff's Office and FBI are investigating, but recovering the money could be tough.

A small Idaho city just accidentally gave away over $1 million.

Officials in Gooding said this week that an employee sent a payment of $1,092,519 meant for contractors working on a wastewater project, but it went to scammers instead.

Gooding has a population of about $3,700 residents, so that's no minor mistake.

According to a city press release, the scammers impersonated representatives of a contractor hired by city officials, using a tactic called "social engineering" to gain the employee's trust.

Social engineering fraud broadly refers to techniques for gaining and then exploiting a person's trust, usually through social media. Scammers often gain trust by pretending to be someone they know or a company with which they do business.

In the Idaho case, after the scammers gained the trust of the employee, they told the employee the bank information needed updating before sending payment.

"In this case, the request to change payment information was done with legitimate appearing documentation," city officials said. "The conspirators then waited for the city to transfer the vendor payment. After the funds were unknowingly deposited in the scammers' account, they were diverted to a different account."

The city's bank says it hasn't recovered the funds yet.

It's notoriously difficult for banks and law enforcement to recover money lost to scammers. Police in Florida said they were only able to recover about $40,000 after an older woman lost over $400,000 in a fake sweepstakes scam in April.

"You go obtain subpoenas and then the bank takes their time about getting data back, the money is gone, long gone," the local sheriff said during a press conference at the time.

If you lose money to a scammer, the Federal Trade Commission recommends asking whatever payment service — credit card, bank, or transaction app — you sent the money through to help recover the funds.

The Gooding Sheriff's Office and the FBI are investigating the incident, the city said.

The FBI Salt Lake City office — which oversees investigations in Idaho — did not immediately return a request for comment from Business Insider.

• American Airlines employs more than 15,000 pilots to fly its fleet of Airbus and Boeing planes.
• New hires spend 19 days doing ground and simulator training before flying passengers.
• Students train for everything from wind sheer and go-arounds to engine and hydraulics failures.

Airline pilots, who are responsible for hundreds of lives daily, dedicate years of training and studying to earn their seats in the cockpit.

Most start their careers flying smaller jets at regional airlines and build up to flying Airbus and Boeing planes at the mainline carriers. Before they can fly passengers, however, new hires must complete weeks of ground and simulator training.

I recently toured the flight academy at American's headquarters in Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas, with Alan Johnson, American's managing director of flight training and standards and veteran captain.

"It's not a cakewalk; it's challenging," he said. "We put our pilots into stressful situations, and that's good because when they leave here, we want them to not only have the competence but the confidence to go out into the operation and do what the airline asked them to do."

New hires must complete about three weeks of ground and simulator training

Johnson said about 2,100 new pilots were hired by American in 2023, who joined the company's roster of some 15,000 others.

Most new hires will train to fly American's Boeing 737 or Airbus A320 family narrowbody airplanes. To earn their type rating, they must spend 19 days completing ground and simulator training, Johnson said.

The first half of the new hire course includes eight days of ground school, followed by an evaluation day.

The flight academy, which is open 365/24/7, has several classrooms and "visual flight trainers" that new hires use during the ground course to prepare for the FAA-approved tests.

"You need to show you can do things like set up different types of approaches and complete an originating pre-flight," Johnson said.

Once new hires complete the first phase of training, Johnson said they will spend five days in American's giant, multimillion-dollar full-motion simulators.

The 39-strong fleet of simulators is as close as possible trainees can get to flying a real jet from the ground.

These machines can simulate nearly every possible movement in a passenger jetliner, such as turbulence, wind shear, and landing. The latter involves a pitch-down motion to make it feel like the trainees are stopping.

"We want trainees to feel really confident with their skillset to fly around weather, be able to make the decision to divert, and know what to do when they have a medical emergency," he said, among other responsibilities.

I experienced a 787 flight simulator, and it was as real as it gets

American let me experience a Boeing 787 Dreamliner simulator and its full movement. It was as realistic as I imagined, simulating everything from takeoff and cruise to emergency alarms and landing.

A 787 instructor flew a simulated trip from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport to Mount Rainer and back, showing me how pilots use systems like the heads-up display, the flaps, and the autopilot.

Johnson said the training sessions last four hours and are split into two two-hour blocks with a short break in between. Two new hires will train together and switch between the roles of pilot monitoring and pilot flying.

Simulator training covers every phase of flight, with some sessions focusing on specific scenarios, such as go-arounds, slow flight situations, and steep turns.

Instructors will also throw emergency situations at the new hires, like engine and generator failures, flaps that don't extend properly, and pitot tubes that get blocked and give an unreliable airspeed.

"You've got sirens and clackers that you cannot silence, all those distractions," Johnson said, who has about 20,000 hours of flight time under his belt piloting everything from the MD-80 to the 787. "We train for all of it."

After those five days, the new hires will complete a few more evaluations before operating a simulated gate-to-gate roundtrip flight. This is all in preparation for the final type-rating test, which is conducted by the FAA at the academy in partnership with American.

American's most senior widebody captains make $447 per hour

Once pilots pass all of their necessary checks and have their type rating on the jet they trained to fly, they start their "operating experience," or OE.

Johnson said OE involves flying 25 hours of revenue passenger flights with a check airman, who is a specific instructor authorized to conduct line evaluations.

"All of the new hires we trained at American in 2023, 96% of them went through training without any additional time," he said. "That's a testament to our instructors."

Still, the schooling never stops. Veteran pilots complete recurrent training every year to maintain their proficiency and skills. Their seniority at American — and at Delta and United, for that matter — comes with a pretty paycheck.

At the US' three largest airlines, new-hire pilots start with a base pay of $116 per hour, or $111,000 yearly. 12-year widebody captains can make up to $447 per hour, or about $430,000 a year.

That's before per diem, bonuses, and other extra pay.

• Adjusting for inflation, airfares are much more affordable than they were nearly 30 years ago. 
• But plenty of Americans remain frustrated by flight prices. 
• BI asked experts why inflation-adjusted airfares have fallen and why some people haven't noticed. 

The last time you bought a plane ticket, you probably got a better deal than you realized. That's because, believe it or not, airfares are much more affordable than they were three decades ago.

In 1995, the average US domestic airfare was $292 — excluding optional fees, like ones related to baggage — according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. In 2023, the average fare was $382, up over 30% from 1995. However, the story changes dramatically when adjusting for inflation. In 2023 dollars, the average airfare fell from $584 to $382 between 1995 and 2023, a nearly 35% decline.

It means that flying, like the prices of televisions and toys, is much more affordable than it used to be. But if you ask some Americans, airfares have gotten out of control in recent years.

"There's little doubt in my mind that people think airfare is at historic highs and getting more expensive," Scott Keyes, an airline industry expert and the founder of travel-membership service Going.com, told Business Insider via email. "We are living in the golden age of cheap flights, but few people recognize it."

Additionally, Mike Daher, a transportation expert at Deloitte, said in a report published in May that there's "a perception that airfares and room rates are high, and some Americans are sitting out travel this summer as they look for softer pricing."

It's not just domestic flights that have gotten more affordable. Keyes said international inflation-adjusted airfares for US passengers have also generally fallen over the past decade.

Frustrations over flying costs could be among the reasons the share of Americans with a negative opinion of the airline industry is at the highest level since 2011, according to a Gallup survey of over 1,000 US adults conducted last August. The federal government seems to have taken notice. In January, a federal judge blocked the JetBlue-Spirit Airlines merger after the Biden Administration raised concerns about the impact it would have on flight prices. In April, the Department of Transportation announced a rule it said would protect consumers from "surprise junk fees" — such as the costs of additional baggage and reservation changes — and save fliers over $500 million a year.

To be sure, any frustrations about airfare prices haven't stopped many Americans from flying. When pandemic restrictions eased, Americans unleashed their pent-up travel demand on the airline industry. And that momentum has continued: on May 24, TSA officers screened nearly three million passengers, a record figure.

Still, the overall decline in actual airfare prices over the last two years suggests passenger demand "seems to have subsided" a bit, Kerry Tan, a professor of economics at Loyola University Maryland, told BI via email. He said this suggests demand could be normalizing and that some Americans balked at 2022's uptick in flight prices — even though tickets remained more affordable than pre-pandemic levels when adjusted for inflation.

Going forward, airlines will continue to be impacted by Americans' perception of flight prices. To the extent this perception influences Americans' broader feelings about inflation and the economy, it could play a role in the presidential election this fall.

Business Insider spoke with airline industry experts to learn why inflation-adjusted airfares have fallen over the past two decades — and why some Americans don't seem to have noticed.

Why flights have become more affordable

Airline industry experts told BI that one of the biggest factors driving down inflation-adjusted airfares is the rise of lower-cost, budget airlines.

In 2000, United, American, and Delta flights accounted for 73% of US domestic passengers, according to an analysis of Department of Transportation data by the trade association Airlines for America. By 2023, their share of passengers had fallen to 52% as lower-cost airlines like Southwest, JetBlue, Spirit, and Frontier emerged.

This development led to cheaper airfares through what airline insiders call the "Southwest Effect."

"When researchers have studied airfare, they've found that when a low-cost carrier like Southwest or Spirit begins flying a new route, fares fall an average of 20% on all airlines operating that route," Keyes said. "That's because price is by far the most important factor for leisure travelers' purchase decision, and so competition from new airlines — especially low-cost carriers — drives down fares across the board."

Keyes said another factor that has pushed down fares is "more and larger airplanes."

In addition to having more planes in their fleets than they used to, airlines have retired smaller planes in recent decades and replaced them with larger aircraft. In 2005, 11% of commercial airplanes had at least 151 seats — compared to 48% as of 2023.

"Larger planes, better fuel efficiency, and more seats are lowering the overall flight costs for airlines, and those savings are being passed onto travelers," Keyes said.

Despite the competition of cheaper airlines — and the lower inflation-adjusted fares they helped bring about — airlines like United, American, and Delta haven't suffered for it financially.

"The decline in inflation-adjusted airfares appears to be uncorrelated with the financial performance of the 'big three' airlines," Tan said.

Keyes said the years between 2015 and 2019 were "among the most profitable ever" for US airlines. He said declining inflation-adjusted fares haven't hindered airline profits because their business models aren't as reliant on ticket revenue as they used to be.

"Today, airline revenue comes primarily from sources other than economy tickets," he said. "This includes premium cabin revenue, credit cards, business travel, ancillary fees, cargo, and other sources."

Why Americans don't feel like they're getting a deal on airfares

If airfare prices are more affordable than they used to be, there could be several explanations why Americans remain frustrated.

"Consumers may not always think about inflation-adjusted airfares, so their frustration could be due to the higher nominal level of prices," Tan said. "It could also be that travelers are more frustrated by their travel experience as there's been a slight increase in flight delays since the COVID-19 pandemic."

It's also possible that after airfare prices plummeted due to the pandemic, 2022's swift rise in airfares caught Americans off guard. In September 2022, airfares rose roughly 43% compared to the prior year, the highest rate on record.

Additionally, airfare isn't the only cost of flying — many passengers pay fees for things like extra baggage and seat assignments. These fees can be tacked on well into the booking process, something the Biden Administration is trying to crack down on. Fourty-four percent of Americans said they at least sometimes pay more for airfares than the initial price they were shown, according to a YouGov survey conducted last July. This year, United, American, and Delta have each raised their checked bag fees.

But while these fees may be costly to some customers, Keyes said they haven't done much to offset the decline in inflation-adjusted airfares. The Airlines for America analysis found that including fees for baggage and reservation changes, the average US roundtrip ticket was $406 in 2023. Since 2010, only 2020 and 2021 offered more affordable flights — much of which was due to the decline in demand tied to the pandemic.

It's also possible the rising prices of goods and services across the US economy have left Americans with less money to spend on airfares, which is what's making their plane tickets feel particularly expensive. Some people have stuck with their pandemic habit of booking flights only a few weeks in advance due to uncertainty surrounding their travel plans, Hayley Berg, Hopper's lead economist, told NerdWallet. She recommended booking at least one month in advance to get lower airfares.

For some Americans, plane tickets are among the most expensive purchases they make on a semi-regular basis, something that could make people particularly sensitive to price increases. For others, flying is something they rarely do — which could make them less likely to notice a decadeslong shift in inflation-adjuted prices.

Lastly, the unpredictable nature of airfare price swings could be frustrating for consumers, Keyes said. And when it comes to economic issues like travel costs, it's not uncommon for Americans to have negative feelings that don't jive with the data.

"Airfare is the single most confusing and volatile purchase we regularly make," he said. "Combine that with negativity bias and it's no surprise that even as airfare hits historic lows, people are more likely to think it's at historic highs."

Have you found a creative way to save money on travel or flights? Are you willing to share your story? If so, reach out to this reporter at jzinkula@businessinsider.com.

Apple hosts multiple events every year, including the company's Worldwide Developers Conference. These events are usually where new Apple products are announced, as well as product updates and keynote addresses from company leadership.

Apple's WWDC24 event will be held at Apple's headquarters — known as Apple Park — in Cupertino, California, on June 10, at 10 a.m. PT/1 p.m. ET. The event is invite-only, and those who wish to attend must apply directly to Apple well in advance.

The 2024 event is expected to unveil a major operating system upgrade with iOS 18, and most likely some new AI features.

Invitation applications are already closed for WWDC24, but you can still watch the keynote. Apple livestreams it on its website, YouTube channel, the Apple Developer app, and the Apple TV app. 

Here's a timeline of some of Apple's most iconic events:

1983: Lisa debuts

The first WWDC was held in 1983. At the time, it was called the Apple Independent Software Developers Conference. Attendees got a glimpse of the first personal desktop computer with a graphics interface, called Lisa, named for co-founder Steve Jobs' daughter.

1984: The Mac debut

Apple debuted the Macintosh computer at an event in 1984. The Mac featured a graphical user interface, known as GUI, and a navigational mouse.

1997: Jobs returns

When Steve Jobs returned to Apple in 1997, he walked on stage during a keynote to a roaring applause. He co-founded the company two decades earlier but was fired by the company's board in 1985. His return spurred a turnaround for Apple, which was facing bankruptcy at the time.

1998: First iMac introduced

Apple's introduction of the first iMac in 1998 was a hit with event attendees. With its colorful design and user-friendliness, the iMac was the first computer that "seemed cool and wasn't focused on the enterprise."

1999: Wi-Fi demo

At a 1999 event, Jobs made a show of demonstrating the iBook's Wi-Fi capabilities. He picked up the laptop and walked around while browsing the web.

2011: iPod revealed

During a 2001 intimate event, Apple CEO Jobs revealed the iPod. The pocket-sized product moved people away from CD players to MP3 players, and then to the music streaming that's ubiquitous today.

2007: Going 'ballistic' for the iPhone

When Jobs unveiled the iPhone in 2007 and described it as "an iPod, a phone, and an internet communicator" in one device, conference attendees "went ballistic." The iPhone remains Apple's best-selling product.

2010: The unveiling of the iPad

Apple unveiled the iPad in 2010, and the audience at the keynote address was surprised to learn that it only cost $499, about half as much as many people expected.

Also, at an event that year, Jobs demonstrated FaceTime for the first time.

2011: Cook takeover

Tim Cook took over as Apple CEO in 2011, following Steve Jobs' death. At an event that year, Cook introduced the Apple Watch, a new product category for the company. Cook used Jobs' iconic catchphrase, "one more thing," during the announcement.

2016: AirPods debuted

Apple unveiled its wireless AirPods in 2016 after the company had announced plans to remove the headphone jack from its iPhones.

2023: Mixed-reality headset

At its 2023 WWDC in June, Cook revealed the Vision Pro, the company's first mixed-reality headset. It was Apple's first major product release since the Apple Watch. The headset was released in the US in early 2024 with a $3,499 price tag.

• India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi had his power pegged back in elections this week. 
• It was also the 35th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre in China. 
• It's a week that highlighted the contrasting political journeys of Asia's major powers. 

Narendra Modi's strongman ambitions suffered a setback this week.

His Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) party fell short of the landslide victory many had predicted in the Indian elections.

As Modi becomes India's prime minister for a third time, his party will have to enter into a power-sharing agreement with alliance partners.

It's a chastening lesson from the Indian electorate for Modi, who, while boosting India's global standing, has been accused of stoking division and weakening India's democracy.

On the same day as the Indian election results, the world marked the 35th anniversary of the June 4, 1989  Tiananmen Square massacre, which saw a brutal crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Beijing.

In the decades since, China has slid back into Maoist-style authoritarianism.

The events this week highlighted how the competition between India and China is about more than raw power. It's also a competition between two very different political ideologies.

India is a flawed but thriving democracy

India is the world's largest democracy. Its first elections were held in 1951-52 after it gained independence from Britain. Free elections have been held in nearly every election cycle since, with a coup in 1975 briefly threatening India's democratic status.

It is a rare bright spot in a world where democracy seems to be in retreat. Even in the US, the global champion of democracy, former president Donald Trump is accused of launching an attempt to cling to power illegally after losing the 2020 election.

"India isn't a perfect democracy but it is still a role model for developing nations, large or small. And given trends in some Western democracies, I would have to say that there are several things they, too, should be learning from India," said Jabin T. Jacob, an expert on India-China relations at Shiv Nadar University, India.

India's democracy, though, faces a stern test under Modi, say critics. Global democracy watchdog Freedom House in 2021 downgraded India's democratic status, saying Modi's Hindu nationalist movement had menaced journalists, attacked Muslims, and corroded civil liberties.

Jacob said this week's results showed India's democracy remained resilient despite the pressures, while dealing a blow to a leader seen to have overstepped his authority.

"We have just seen an election in which the Indian electorate decided that their interests are best served by power shared more evenly among a set of political formations that represent diverse interests and aspirations. That is the essence of democracy," he said.

"The Indian electorate is a very mature one, and it has always intervened in a timely fashion against authoritarian tendencies in its rulers."

It's unclear whether Modi will now double down on the nationalism he's championed or seek a more moderate path based on economic reform.

China's rise comes at a high cost

There are those in India, though, who have been astonished at the speed and efficiency of China's rise to economic superpower status.

China has become the world's second-largest economy, and the lives of millions of ordinary Chinese people have been transformed. Though India has made huge economic progress under Modi, it still lags behind.

"Perhaps the greatest challenge democracy faces in India is that is has failed to deliver the kind of sustained economic development enjoyed by neighbors like China over the last four decades. It has also failed to eliminate extreme poverty," wrote Chatham House analyst Gareth Price in 2022.

But with prosperity in China, has come reduced freedom.

Since Tiananmen Square 35 years ago, China's Communist Party has rolled back many of the freedoms its citizens once had.

Its current leader, Xi Jinping, has imposed a draconian surveillance state and is considered China's most authoritarian ruler since Mao Tse Tung.

Dominic Chiu, an analyst with the Eurasia Group, told Business Insider that China's system had given it an economic advantage — but at a cost.

"China's one-party rule in the reform era enabled consistent long-term policymaking and economic planning," he said. "This benefited China's economy immensely when the leadership decided to liberalize markets, privatize industries, and open the country up to foreign investment." 

But, he said, China's repressive one-party system was also deterring investors. And with China's economy experiencing a steep downturn, this poses a serious problem for its future growth.

China and India vie for dominance

Having achieved economic superpower status, China is now seeking to assert its power more aggressively both regionally and internationally.

Tensions with India are increasing. In 2020, clashes along the countries' Himalayan border resulted in the death of 20 Indian soldiers and four Chinese.

Analysts told BI that building stronger alliances to counter Chinese aggression will be one of the core aims of Modi's third term.

And its commitment to democracy hands it an important advantage, said Jacob.

"India's democratic status is critical for its international standing. It is an opportunity to develop a model of economic and political development that is both equitable and democratic and thus distinct from the aggressive capitalism of the US or the authoritarianism of the PRC," he said.

In 2021, India entered into the "Quad" partnership with democracies the US, Japan, and Australia, to counter what is perceived as growing Chinese aggression in the Pacific and Indian Ocean.

It's a political alliance that would've been more difficult to broker if India was ruled by an authoritarian government, say observers.

Competing nationalist visions

Some analysts, though, say that the competition between India and China is not, at its core, about competing political systems but about competing nationalist visions.

According to this interpretation, both Xi and Modi are committed to restoring what they see as their nation's rightful place at the top of the global order.

But in his quest to strengthen India, critics are warning Modi not to undermine the commitment to democracy and pluralism they believe is at the heart of its post-independence success.

Jacob said those in India jealous of China's economic might should look more closely at the reality.

"Indians who argue against democracy using the China comparison clearly don't understand anything about the reality of China and the Chinese people," he said.

• Indian stocks plummeted this week after Narendra Modi won fewer seats than expected.
• Left-wing Claudia Sheinbaum's crushing victory in Mexico also spooked investors.
• It's a reminder that elections could fuel volatility in equity markets this year, analysts say.

It's the year of elections around the world — and 2024 served up its first major stock-market surprises this week, as the results of votes in Asia and the Americas spooked investors.

Indian prime minister Narendra Modi's narrow victory sent Mumbai-listed stocks plummeting, while Mexican equities slumped in the wake of Claudia Sheinbaum's crushing victory.

2024 is set to be the biggest election year ever, with more than half the world's population set to go to the polls in 50 countries — including the looming rematch between Joe Biden and Donald Trump.

Analysts say that the surprise results in India and Mexico are a reminder of the potential market volatility to come.

Modi's narrow win sparks a sell-off

Modi will remain prime minister after his Bharatiya Janata Party and allies secured a majority in India's lower house of parliament — but his slimmer-than-expected margin of victory disappointed investors.

India's flagship Nifty 50 index had its worst day since the start of the pandemic, tumbling nearly 6%, while the rupee slipped against the US dollar and 10-year government bond yields edged up. The stock market erased those losses later in the week to close higher on Friday, however.

Modi's social policies, often aligned with right-wing Hindu nationalism, have proved controversial during his decade-long tenure as prime minister.

But his economic approach has boosted India's economy, drawn in huge amounts of foreign investment, and won the approval of big Wall Street names such as Jamie Dimon, Elon Musk, and Tim Cook. 

Analysts said that the sharp sell-off in stocks and the rupee reflected investors' concerns that Modi's narrower-than-expected majority will make it much tougher to pass his pro-growth, pro-business reforms.

Russ Mould of UK-based broker AJ Bell wrote in a research note: "The fear will be that if he has to rely on alliances with smaller parties, any market-friendly policies will be diluted."

Sheinbaum's landslide triggers Wall Street freak-out

Half the world away, Mexico's Claudia Sheinbaum is celebrating a much more resounding victory.

The leader of the left-wing Morena party won more than 60% of the votes in Sunday's general election, meaning she's set to become the country's first female president. However, her triumph triggered a stock-market slump.

According to Reuters data, Mexico's main stock-market index dropped 6% on Monday as investors reacted to Sheinbaum's win, while the peso tumbled 4% against the dollar.

Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley cut its rating on Mexican equities, with strategists saying that the "unprecedented" scale of Sheinbaum's win had put the bank in "wait-and-see mode."

Sheinbaum has promised to press ahead with government spending projects despite worries about Mexico's high fiscal deficit, which the World Bank expects to hit 5.4% of GDP by the end of 2024.

"We saw a big drop in the Mexican stock market," Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB UK, told Business Insider. "There's fear now — because Sheinbaum did win a supermajority that means she could meddle with the economy, and that's really freaking out investors."

All eyes on November

The European Parliament is holding elections this week, while the UK will go to the polls in early July. And in November, Biden and presumptive Republican nominee Trump are set to face off in a contest that oddsmakers are pricing as a coin toss.

Investing gurus have long flagged the US election as a potential source of uncertainty — and the dramatic stock price swings in India and Mexico should be a reminder that there's more volatility to come, according to analysts.

"It's often said that markets don't like uncertainty and with around half of the world's population going to the polls this year the only sure bet is that, in the short term, uncertainty is here to stay," said Danni Hewson of AJ Bell.

"Watching the market reaction to India's election, which didn't quite deliver the result most people had been expecting, provides an insight into the volatility that could be in store as election fever migrates to the UK and then across the Atlantic to the US."

This week's results were a warning, XTB's Brooks told BI. "It's just generated so much volatility … it's a reminder of all the election risk coming up in the second half of this year."