"The sky is big" is a fallacy in aviation because aircraft don't move unconstrained in 3D space. Typically they are restricted to narrow corridors where collision probability greatly increases.
I imagine the same applies to air commute, considering most people will be converging into a small number of waypoints.
I was in what you could define as the "gifted program" throughout middle and high school.
Even though I ostensibly received a more advanced and tailored education, I still shared classes with students much less engaged than I. I was always at the top of my classes and was never truly challenged. I also never had the opportunity to participate in any kind of maths or informatics competitions.
Having never been exposed to excellence, I chose to go to the much cheaper state school (their education will be just as good, the counselors claimed...).
There too I excelled in my classes with minimal effort, took multiple graduate level courses, and received glowing recommendation letters from my professors.
By the time I entered my PhD in a tier 1 university, I was so woefully unprepared -- both academically and emotionally -- that my eventual dropping out was a foregone conclusion.
I spiraled into a deep depression and wasted a couple years of my life playing video games and living with my parents. I ideated suicide almost daily and willfully put my life in danger (standing at the edge atop tall buildings, driving very fast, imbibing liquor until I blacked out).
Now, a decade later, I've mostly come to terms with my mediocrity, but perhaps I could've risen a bit from it had my intellect been properly fostered. But more to the point, had I been exposed to other smart kids and participated in competitions earlier on, my ego could've been slowly molded over my youth, rather than shattered in a few months.
I imagine the same applies to air commute, considering most people will be converging into a small number of waypoints.