We still have the itinerary receipt from a flight from 1977: MCI-FCO R/T. $550 on TWA, via JFK.
That's $2,090 in today's dollars. I'm sure the chicken dinner was spectacular. I mean, people used to rave about airfood being Michelin star-rated cuisine, didn't they?
At the time, I'm sure we thought that was a once-in-a-lifetime trip. Thankfully, it wasn't, and I've flown to Europe numerous times for less than $500 R/T in 2013 dollars. (e.g., $340-370 all in pretty much every winter in the late 90's / early 00's.)
Oh, and that $2,090 Y fare earned $0 worth of miles. The $500 R/T fare earns $150-300 worth of RDM's depending on how you value your miles and your specific route and status. A couple of my $350 R/T's also came with winter route bonuses. AA Plat...one cheap R/T might easily post 25,000 miles.
Sort of makes the complaint "but I have to spend $10 on an airport sandwich" seem rather trivial, huh?
If I was going to do a nostalgia piece, I'd compare today's landscape against the late 90's or so:
- Loose mileage programs, lots of route bonuses and other bonuses
- Loose upgrade rules, no copays, no minimum fares (at least on AA)
- Crazy-cheap fares published every Tuesday. "Netsaver" emails were really worth reading. There was a group of us working together in Chicago...literally when either the AA or UA email dropped, people in the office would start buzzing about it. "Where are we going this time? Europe, west coast, somewhere warm, where?"
- Lots of overbooking on business routes making it easy to maintain a stash of VDB vouchers
- CTO's made it easy to use VDB vouchers, and the use of vouchers actually kicked out a couple of the international taxes making the ticket even cheaper
- Platinum Service Centers for AA, dedicated 1K desk for UA. Actual airport counters inside security at the hubs
That's when it was good. Who wants the 70's, with its expensive tickets and no real loopholes to work the system? I mean, I like chicken and all but not that much!!