Times fly

The average plane ticket in 1980 was almost twice the cost of a ticket today- in actual numbers. When you adjust for inflation, that “double sticker price” becomes much more shocking. Air travel used to be more of an experience. But most people don’t fly for the experience nowadays. They want to get from point A to point B in the fastest, cheapest way possible. The pomp and luxury of air travel gave way to efficiency and speed. And honestly that’s not so bad. If you decide to go to Disney, would you rather spend a few hundred dollars and a few hours on a plane- or spend several days or weeks on a boat or train in luxury? Depends I suppose- but I can go without the steak dinner if it gets me across the country in 6 hours for $31.

(That’s not an exaggeration either. JetBlue for Halloween had $31 trips coast to coast. I almost booked a ticket to Orlando, $62 and some incidentals seemed like a good price to pay for a day at the beach in Florida. But I had a project that needed my attention so I couldn’t.)