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We had it all (lemmy.world)
submitted 1 month ago by to c/whitepeopletwitter@sh.itjust.works
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[–] 23 points 1 month ago (4 children)

And the average ticket was far more money back then as well. It was an event. You spent all that money so you dressed up for it. That's the difference between a luxury and a commodity.

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  • [–] 13 points 1 month ago (3 children)

    Prices were also regulated and fixed by the federal government. The federal government through the Civil Aeronautics Board set ALL domestic flight fares based on a fixed distance calculation.

    Airlines literally couldn't compete on price, so they competed on perks.

    In 1977, just prior to the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978, the average round trip domestic flight was ~$135. That's about $746 today. Round trip NY to LA was $148.20, or $820 today. Just looking at google flights for the next 6 months, The cheapest I can find pretty consistently for the same route is $239, and the highest I see is around Thanksgiving and Christmas for around $540.

    Call it enshittification, call it whatever. Flying is so much more accessible and cheaper than ever. And that has its benefits and drawbacks. The drawback is that people now look at price first and foremost and are generally unwilling to pay more for the perks beyond a little more legroom. The benefit is that it's ridiculously easy to just pack a backpack and go on a weekend trip across the country for dirt cheap.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 month ago

    Not disagreeing in general, but under a "fixed distance calculation" a NYC-LAX flight would have been quite expensive but today it's driven more by market efficiency and NYC-LAX is one of the most market-efficient flights so they can charge less per seat. You might get different results comparing something like LAX-Des Moines or NYC-Little Rock. Or maybe not.

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  • [–] 4 points 1 month ago (1 child)

    The drawback is that people now look at price first and foremost and are generally unwilling to pay more for the perks beyond a little more legroom.

    The bigger drawback would be the enviromental damage but I get where you're going.

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  • [–] 7 points 1 month ago

    Well, yeah I'm just talking from a consumer standpoint.

    Total global aviation only accounts for 2.5-3% of global CO2 emissions. Energy generation is 74-75% of global CO2 emissions. There are much bigger fish to fry on emissions.

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