Originally Posted by
brewdog11
I respectfully disagree.
Pricing out a r/t between AMS and PHL, most viable dates for business travel price out at around $3k to $5k. I'm not sure what they charged for business back in the 1980s, but that's hardly cheap.
Transatlantic business class in the 1980s was also similar to today's domestic F (slightly wider recliner seats with more pitch than economy, but nowhere near lie-flat), so it's a bit of an apples-to-oranges comparison. But if lie-flat seats were even available (maybe in TATL F), I'd be shocked if they were as cheap as $3-5k in the 80s.
Aside: here's a
nice rundown of how "business class" became a thing