About 1981 or 82, I flew Eastern Airlines from IAH-ORD. (if memory served me correctly, they Houston was the hub & lots of flights fanned out from there) They had $49 O/W airfares but the catch was either you could not check any bags (or you had to pay extra to check bags--forgot which)& they were redeyes. Basically they were cargo flights & Eastern decided they could make some extra $ by adding pax to these flights. Worked out great for me. $98RT. This was before mileage runs, etc. Ticket was nonrefundable,etc. Could not beat the price! Only did it once.