Originally Posted by
sany2
Traveling back then took much longer to go the same distance. Also, airfare was easily more than twice a first class ticket now.
I obviously didn't travel back then, but I traveled in the 70's in economy class, and the tickets were more expensive (inflation adjusted) than the first or business class tickets I buy now. I also had to stop at many different airports and change airlines to get anywhere.
Yes, but if you were going from, say, New York to LA, and you wanted to stop in Las Vegas on your way out, it didn't cost any extra.
It is true that prices have been held down by deregulation and competition... but I don't think that is/was very good in the long run. Competition based on price led to reduced services, narrower seats and less legroom.
If they'd charge more for each seat... let's say 20% more, and improve the overall experience then people might learn to love to fly again. But that will never happen because the airlines compete for the vacation traffic instead of the regular/business passengers.
Rita