a cr from gmatclub

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a cr from gmatclub

by diebeatsthegmat » Wed Mar 02, 2011 7:45 am
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:

(A) Most people buying transatlantic tickets today use them for business trips, so airfare is refunded by their companies.
(B) There are fewer airlines in existence today than five years ago.
(C) People are taking shorter vacations and staying in cheaper hotels than they used to.
(D) Crossing the Atlantic by ship requires more time than most people can afford.
(E) Domestic airline flights have seen a steady increase in passengers
[spoiler]
can you guys please explain why not C? E and C are not able to weaken the argument. why is E better than C?[/spoiler]
Source: — Critical Reasoning |

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by maihuna » Wed Mar 02, 2011 7:59 am
Who says C is not weakening, it contradicts the conclusion that people are having more money to spend on vaccation.
diebeatsthegmat wrote: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:

(A) Most people buying transatlantic tickets today use them for business trips, so airfare is refunded by their companies.
(B) There are fewer airlines in existence today than five years ago.
(C) People are taking shorter vacations and staying in cheaper hotels than they used to.
(D) Crossing the Atlantic by ship requires more time than most people can afford.
(E) Domestic airline flights have seen a steady increase in passengers
[spoiler]
can you guys please explain why not C? E and C are not able to weaken the argument. why is E better than C?[/spoiler]
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by Night reader » Wed Mar 02, 2011 8:41 am
@maihuna, I think this CR entry was artificially complicated by its author(s). Choice C introduced an assumption which makes the conclusion not logical. BUT choice C, also brings about comparison of unknown relative data - shorter vacations, cheaper hotels ...

I think what artificially complicates this entry is adding flavor with the boom in airlines' industry. The choice E invalidates the conclusion of more money spent by customers for vacations by saying that that the growth in revenues of airlines was steady - that is nothing unusual happened this year than it was five or several years ago.
diebeatsthegmat wrote: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:

(A) Most people buying transatlantic tickets today use them for business trips, so airfare is refunded by their companies.
(B) There are fewer airlines in existence today than five years ago.
(C) People are taking shorter vacations and staying in cheaper hotels than they used to.
(D) Crossing the Atlantic by ship requires more time than most people can afford.
(E) Domestic airline flights have seen a steady increase in passengers
[spoiler]
can you guys please explain why not C? E and C are not able to weaken the argument. why is E better than C?[/spoiler]
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by GMATMadeEasy » Thu Mar 03, 2011 1:43 pm
Why no body considers D as a contendor .

(D) Crossing the Atlantic by ship requires more time than most people can afford.

D says crossing the atlantic takes more time then MOST people can afford , then it is logical says that's why they take flights. SO it is lack of time not more of money leading to more passangers and ,hence, the air fair increase.

Edit response: ohh, yes that's why it weakens the argument :)

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by nikhilsrl » Thu Mar 03, 2011 9:59 pm
I am not getting it, I think all of them weaken the argument.

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by bubbliiiiiiii » Thu Mar 03, 2011 11:29 pm
diebeatsthegmat wrote: can you guys please explain why not C? E and C are not able to weaken the argument. why is E better than C?
(C) People are taking shorter vacations and staying in cheaper hotels than they used to.
People are taking shorter vacations and staying in cheaper hotels in order to compensate for the cost they are spending on airfare. Thus, this weakens the argument and discarded as the answer choice.

(E) Domestic airline flights have seen a steady increase in passengers
Honestly, I reached this option by the process of elimination and have no precise idea on why this is correct!
If I comment anything on this point then I would be commenting just because I read the spoiler above! :D
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by sakali » Fri Mar 04, 2011 7:50 am
E is correct because E is out of scope.


It talks about domestic flights...the question is concerned with Transatlantic flights; not domestic.

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by mk101 » Fri Mar 04, 2011 6:00 pm
diebeatsthegmat wrote: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:

(A) Most people buying transatlantic tickets today use them for business trips, so airfare is refunded by their companies.
(B) There are fewer airlines in existence today than five years ago.
(C) People are taking shorter vacations and staying in cheaper hotels than they used to.
(D) Crossing the Atlantic by ship requires more time than most people can afford.
(E) Domestic airline flights have seen a steady increase in passengers
[spoiler]
can you guys please explain why not C? E and C are not able to weaken the argument. why is E better than C?[/spoiler]

I think E is the answer . We do not want to weaken the argument that says -"people have more money that they did 5 years back: - Option E is the only option that does not weaken; it suggests that peope, infact, may have more money, enabling them to take domestic flights in larger numbers.

Option C in fact weakens the argument, as suggested by some of the other members above...If people are taking shorter vacations and staying in cheaper hotels, they probably have less money than they did before.