Beltway2A

You don't find one complains when you're dropping off the other?

SLC_IAH

They keep the crying babies off the flights too?
I don't mind the gadgets, just the toddler that's screaming. Every flight seems to have at least one.

1k-all-the-way

Are the sample fares O/W or R/T?

uastarflyer

The UNITED lettering looks similar to the last PMUA version. Couldn't tell if it has a winged "T" though (which is sublime)

GrayAnderson

This sort of pricing was the norm until the end of the CAB/ICC days: First would be 10-20% more than Coach, with the same applying to Pullman accommodations on trains and the like (with larger rooms incurring a somewhat increased charge on the trains). One thing to bear in mind is that it's not so much that F has gotten more expensive...it's that your discount "Y" fares have gotten cheaper. I actually went in and compared buckets on Amtrak on the New York-Florida trains: Mid-bucket sleeper and high-bucket coach were about on par with the relevant prices back in the late 1960s (when the trains were still under private ownership), but most coach tickets are sold at lower buckets. The same applies to the airline industry as well (compare your JFK/IDL-LAX ticket prices from that era).

A few years ago a ferry service started up between Portland and Yarmouth and the owners basically ripped their fare table out of this era:
The "room charge" was generally about the same as or less than the "transit fare" for two but if you didn't get a room you had to shell out a good portion of that amount as a "seat charge" to the effect was the same; also, the room charges were fixed and not subject to demand pricing, etc. On the one hand I was about giddy at the prospect (I split a round-trip with a friend as a graduation trip for said friend); on the other hand, it didn't last...

Peoriaman1

I think once upon a time, people tended to leave the rugrats with a relative when they traveled, instead of hauling them all over the free world with them every time.

Mystiqz

Thanks for the trivia =P

MarkyMarc

Unfortunately, I think this is worse out of SLC than any other market I've lived in. Literally every other flight into/out of SLC has one (sometimes upgraded on a CPU). I write it off to Sal Tlay Ka Siti.

When I Travel The World

To me what is amazing here.

$145.10 NYC-LAX sample fare in the 1970's in Coach

I just looked online and I can pick up at a fare for $135 non-stop one way on this route and its 2017.

And people complain about airfare prices ! (I know, I know, some markets are expensive)

GrayAnderson

Yes, but the difference is that the $145.10 fare would have been available as a walk-up for the next flight out and been refundable. To get the same deal today, "full flex Y" EWR-LAX on UA right now runs $900. Per at least one calculator, $145.10 in 1971 is the equivalent of $872.87 today.

Like I said above, the top-line fares haven't come down. They're really only used by corporations with tight spending policies (and even then, the difference can be so large that eating a certain percentage of no-shows or cancellation/change fees can be a logical decision).

mauiUAflyer

Probably a good "modern" approximation of a 5-across narrow-body would be the 717s HA flies...

jlemon

Ah, but that's standard coach on the 717 as well as on MD-80, MD-90 and also on the old DC9s, of course. And BTW, Midwest Express initially had 2-2 seating throughout the cabin on their DC-9, MD-80 and 717 aircraft.

The five across seating on the United 720, 727 and DC-8 aircraft were billed by the airline as being a cut above coach and were a bit roomier when compared with the 2-3 seating config in Y on the 717.

WalterSFO

I really miss Midwest Express... their free coach meals were the best coach meal in this country.... they also had good cookies.

Speaking of Milwaukee(Midwest's hub), it brought back memories of Northwest.... back when I was a kid maybe 9 or 10, my parents took me to Asia on Northwest. I can still remember the flight attendant carving the prime rib at our seats in first class of the classic 747-200. (as well her amused looked when I asked for the center part that was really rare)

If Darwin did a study on airlines, he would probably wonder why airline service in the U.S. kept going downhill...

BBSHOPSINGER

It was interesting seeing the commercial, because I remember seeing it live! Says something about my age.

I didn't do much flying back in the 70's except for flying with my college swim team.

WalterSFO

You can't be that old? When I was growing up, I watched cartoons on TV in black and white!