The availability of cheap fares, both cheap airplane tickets and discount travel packages, is greater than ever before. Today travelers are able to get to more places on a single airline, often with just a single connection. Also there are far more nonstop international flights from the U.S.
Some travelers yearn for the days of pre-deregulation of the airline industry (prior to 1978) when airline amenities and attention to service were far better than they are today. Steak sandwiches used to be served in coach as snacks. Seats had 34 inches of seat pitch (the distance between seats) vs. todays economy seats which offer 32 inches and often far less space between seats.
Even though fees and surcharges are up significantly and in some markets so are airline ticket prices, airfares are significantly lower than in the 1970s when adjusted for inflation.
The cheapest plane tickets are about as cheap as ever, meaning hundreds of millions of people around the world get to fly each year who literally wouldnt be able to if not for especially low cost carriers and others who have to compete with them, according to Seth Kaplan, a managing partner for trade publication Airlie Weekly.
Today is the golden age of flying in terms of affordability whereas the 70s were the golden age of service and comfort. Flying comfort has suffered not only because airlines have added seats to their plane but because the average traveler is much bigger today than 40 years ago.
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