Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: San Diego Area
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In the early 70's, I took PSA from SFO to LAX. As I remember, the walk-up fare was $16 each way ... and the red-eye flights were $10 each way.
Based on data I found on line, the Consumer Price Index went from 40.5 in 1971 to 189.3 in 2004. Hence, by my calculations, 16 1971-dollars equates to about 75 2004-dollars.
CPI well may not be the most fair index to use for the comparison (e.g., I was paying sometimes as little as 19.9 cents a gallon for gasoline in Texas in 1971), but it does put things in perspective.
Last edited by jmd001; Jan 20, 2005 at 1:20 pm
Reason: Forgot the ".9" on the "cents per gallon"