Originally Posted by
JimInOhio
Inflation is what's measured on prices across all kinds of good and services. To say airfares are too low by this measure ignores the corresponding fact that there must by a whole bunch of things where the price is too high. Neither case may be true. The better measure of US airfares is to calculate airfare changes in the US domestic market vs in intra-Europe and intra-Asia markets. If those have fallen even more on an inflation-adjusted basis then that whole argument goes out the window.
Apples/oranges. I would categorically disagree with the notion that such cross-market benchmarking (US airfares vs. EU or Asia) over the same period of time has any value whatsoever. Whether or not prices rose/fell, for instance, in Asia amidst its own series of market liberalizations 20 and 30 years after our own, or concomitant with the growth of HSR in Europe, is immaterial to the US aviation consumer.
I understand what you're trying to say, but it does not at all undermine inflation-adjusted average US airfare as
the relevant benchmark if we are talking about purchasing power of the American aviation consumer.