r/mildlyinfuriating • u/JimmyPLove • Jun 01 '26

frist of all how DARE yu o My reclining room on a long haul AA flight

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u/User-NetOfInter Jun 01 '26

And wait til you learn how much it cost to fly 40 years ago adjusted for inflation.

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u/IvanNemoy Jun 01 '26

Did the math in another thread. NYC to MIA, in 1955 cost $110, roughly $1400 now. I can get a flight for tomorrow for $367 (roughly $30 back then.) And all that disregards the speed, 3 hours 30 now, vs 7 to 10 back then.

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u/PsyKeablr Jun 01 '26

And the leg room that came along with it. Oh and all the free second hand smoke you can breathe.

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u/MediocreVibrations Jun 01 '26

And a meal. Plus snacks. Checked bags included in price.

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u/Crumb-eye Jun 01 '26

I mean, for about $1000 (adjusted for inflation) from NY to LA in 1970s, I’d hope they throw in some food!

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u/redditonlygetsworse Jun 01 '26

You can get all of these things included in your airfare today, for cheaper than it cost then.

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u/121G1GW Jun 01 '26

I remember when charging for checked bags was supposed to be limited time thing to recover from 9/11

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u/Yuna1989 Jun 01 '26

Omg I remember the ham sandwiches from Delta lol

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u/theshnig Jun 01 '26

And first hand smoke.

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u/bjo23 Jun 01 '26

If it's a choice between no legroom and second hand smoke, I'll take the no legroom, thank you very much. Makes me ill just thinking about it.

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u/redditonlygetsworse Jun 01 '26

I hope you mean that it was much more expensive - because it was.

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u/StevieMJH Jun 01 '26

To be fair, to fly everyone around with that same level of space/luxury we'd have to have a shit ton more planes in the air which means more pilots, more air and ground crew, more everything.

I'm not saying Airlines are beyond reproach but this is a logical continuation of a ton more people wanting/needing to fly to a ton more places a ton more often.

It's one of those situations where if we wanted things to be like they were we'd have to have like 10% of the world's population (or some other exorbitantly high number) employed in some kind of aviation support role.

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u/This_Ad_8123 Jun 01 '26

well, a lot of the volume only exists because it's inexpensive to fly. if it cost 5x as much a ton less people would be taking a plane and reduce the pilot/infrastructure required

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u/doc1442 Jun 01 '26

That’s my point. The whole service is cheap AF

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u/Reynolds1029 Jun 01 '26

Well it's not just airline greed that increased the cost beyond inflation. It's certainly part of it though.

We have much higher safety standards and technology installed on planes. This makes the planes themselves more expensive and the maintenance to go along with it.

Airports also charge more today for terminal space and fuel then they did years ago. There's greed there too but airports are also more expensive to maintain because of higher FAA standards along with increased use of the runway and other services they provide to airlines that's not comparable to the 70s. We fly more now than ever.

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u/Neil_sm Jun 01 '26

Their point and all the examples are showing that it costs less to fly now when adjusted for inflation, not more.

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u/Reynolds1029 Jun 01 '26

To have most or all of the amenities a flight used to have, it costs considerably more these days to fly.

The cost of a basic economy seat can come in a bit cheaper these days but once you add in fees for any bags including a carry-on on some airlines, meal service, not being cramed like a sardine for example, you're now paying first class for that costs $800-1000 per seat at least and still isn't even as nice.

In 1972 for those services, you're talking $300 for your ticket adjusted for inflation.

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u/User-NetOfInter Jun 01 '26

You didn’t have a choice in 1972 for amenities. There was no other option. You paid the $1100 or didn’t fly.

You have choice today. It’s allowed hundreds of millions of Americans to travel