<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by greg:
TW:
You won't be alone. It's getting more clear by the day this is exactly where we're all headed. In the long run, we may all be better off. I started flying in the mid 70s. Although the cheaper fares were higher back then, ironically the full fares were only a bit more than the cheapest ones. I looked back through some old records recently. In 1978, Delta's unrestricted first class roundtrip from DCA to ATL was $178; unrestricted coach was $148; and supersavers seemed to be around $100. I was just out of college and commuting (at my own expense)between DCA and ATL every few weeks. About half the time, I just bought the full fare first. Any economists out there who could adjust these fares for inflation? </font>
The 2002 dollar equates to about 36.16 cents in 1978. So each of those fares you found should be divided by .3616 (multiplied by 2.7654):
supersaver: 100* 2.765 ~ $276.50
unrestricted: 148 * 2.765 ~ $409
first: 178 * 2.765 ~ $492
The only way this artificial fare structure could make sense is in a competition-limited zone where the prices do not fully reflect supply and demand pressures. Hence the "nostalgia" we sometimes see amongst high-fare travelers for the good-olE days when they could rattle around in half-empty planes and "coffee tea or milk" go-go-boots stewardesses. what corporate traveler wouldn't pay $500 today for grand-piano service on that DCA-ATL route?
A quick fare search just now reveals super saver fares DCA-ATL in the $100 r/t zone-- or $36 in 1978. No one was allowed to charge so little in 1978. And yet now airtran and jetblue and WN and the like can make money charging that little.
Certainly no consumer would think they got a super saving deal at $275 today.
p.s. this uses the latest money conversion factors from:
http://www.orst.edu/dept/pol_sci/fac/sahr/sahr.htm