arollins

FA back then where there to service and assist you. Today's FA is there for your safety. That speak volumes in itself.

SeeBuyFly

Don't miss:

neckbreaker J seats on international flights

slantboard J seats (wait...they still have some?)

JDiver

About $2,250 in today's dollar.

MrAndy1369

Wow, when did AA do away with the midcon MTO sundaes? And which midcons received this service? I'd guess longer ones like ORD-LAX, but I'd be very surprised if shorter ones like DFW-PHX received them. I don't remember any midcons getting MTO sundaes since at least 2001, so I'm very curious!

PUCCI GALORE

Yes - as always you hit the nail clean on the head. I suspect that was the fare that would apply at TWA and United. They competed on inflight service. All drinks and headsets were extra (Sorry! I forgot that in the USA drinks still are)

I then remember the $99 fares with the same service. Something had to give. The yield just evaporated

sbrower

In fairness, I think that everything I put in the OP was post-deregulation. The early days of frequent flyer programs (and even airlines) had lots of benefits that no longer exist.

It is funny how those things change. Right now we are all used to the idea that the internet is substantially free. Will it cost $1/minute in another 5 years and will we all look back and say "Oh, that was before they figured out how to monetize it."

CMK10

I miss paper timetables, I still have a collection back home. Always fun to flip through the back and look at the seatmaps and the symbols showing which flights had a movie and which just a "Short Subject".

UVU Wolverine

That's a very important point. Just after deregulation, the competition in the US airline industry was intense. It lead to a lot of innovations and creative ideas. It also lead to a lot of turmoil in the industry though.

I'd said deregulation was definitely a good thing, but it also created a few ideas that simply don't make economic sense in the current environment. Even JetBlue is charging for bags nowadays.

LINDEGR

I had one LGA-MCI in 1996! It was my first AA flight ever and I thought AA F must have been a dream come true!

CMK10

I looked back at some of my old trip reports. Looks like on an ORD-PHX flight in May, 2004 there were made to order sundaes. That was during a period when AA made their F product better and midcons were even getting three dinner options.

makfan

I also miss the blocked middle seats, but an empty seat is so rare today that it feels like a lottery win when you get one.

I'd take a regular coach with the middle empty over a MCE with a laptop user on the middle. In fact before the 738 change I usually selected one of the two rows with the blocked middle.

zrs70

While I enjoy nostalgia, were the good old days really that good? (Do we want to "Make America great again")?

I don't miss smoking sections.

I don't miss the overhead movies and the poor quality sound that came through the pipe headphones.

I don't miss that airline food catered primarily to meat eaters.

I don't miss that airports had fewer amenities.

I don't miss that the early international business class seats has less space than most premium economy today.

I don't miss lack of wifi.

I don't miss the very high relative cost of flying.

I don't miss the sexism on flights (and what female FA's often had to endure).

FWAAA

Nope. Almost completely incorrect.

AA invented the 30-day super saver in March, 1977, and with those discounts the cheapest AA NYC-LAX/SFO transcons (nonstops) were about $230 to $250 round-trip, based on my receipts.

Prior to the Apex fares, AA charged $388 round-trip for walk-up transcons in main cabin and $506 round-trip in first class. Night fares were available for $310 in main cabin and $388 in first class.

Yes, in certain classes and at certain times of the day, AA's prices are lower today in inflation-adjusted terms, but your examples include excessive exaggeration. No need to exaggerate. Edit: The New York Times remembers advent of the super saver fares:

http://www.nytimes.com/1977/03/16/ar...cans-plan.html

No, not even close. You were mislead by bad data (and perhaps by an inflation calculator on the fritz).

$227 to $270 in 1977 (the actual discounted Apex transcon fares) would equal $901 to $1,142 today, while $400 in 1976 ("forty years ago") would equal about $1,692 today:

http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl

Quite a few of my napkins over the past decade have featured the button hole stitching but the hole itself has not been slit, and it's not been easy to cut that slit without my trusty pocketknife.

Decorative buttonholes aren't very useful.

Huh? Real GDP growth has very little to do with the price of airfares, but if you review the data over the past 50 years, real GDP growth rates since deregulation have been consistently lower than pre-1978.

sbrower

Not an argument, just a comment. I don't agree with most of your points. I have never smoked, and no one in my family smokes, but I grew up at a time that it was so common that it didn't bother me. The overhead movies didn't bother me (yes, I like modern IFE better). There was no WiFi in the world, so I didn't miss it on the plane. I have been a member of the Admiral's Club (paid) since I started hard flying (1983) and joined the Pan Am club a few years later. The high relative cost didn't deter me from flying since I still do coach on some of my international vacations (although, having just completed my first "round-the world" vacation, 2/3 of it in business, I may be changing my position) on that one. I certainly don't support any overt sexism, but the 70's and the 80's were different times.

kmandrew

One of the best perks from the 80's was the fly so many segments get a domestic roundtrip free. AA ran this promotion all the time, if I remember right the r/t's were good for around 3 months. I can't remember exactly how many segments we had to fly to earn one but I'm sure there are members here that recall.