A parenthetical note about the costs of air travel.

As I’ve written elsewhere, our minds tend to become stuck about prices. We think of the number of dollars we spent for x, however many years ago, forgetting that our dollars become worth less every year, because the government inflates the number of dollars every year.

So if, for example, you spent $25 for something in 1990, you’d probably need just over $50 to buy that item now. Often the thing hasn’t increased in price – your dollars have just deceased in value.

So what does this have to do with air travel?

Travel by plane now is vastly cheaper than it was 50 or 60 years ago. A ticket on TWA from Chicago to Phoenix in 1955, for example, cost $138 round-trip. Adjusted for inflation, that’s $1,168.

In 2021, on the other hand, you could fly that same route for as low as $61.

But – people are quick to respond – air travel was so much nicer then, with comfortable seats, responsive service, and nice food and drinks.

And you can get that same level of service and amenities now. It’s easy. Just buy a first class ticket.

On our Chicago to Phoenix route, the round trip fare would be $1,023.

Which is still cheaper than our 66 year old trip. And the reality is that most people don’t care that much. We like to grumble about air travel, but for most of us, our only concern is getting to our destination safely.

What’s happened is that we’ve essentially created what we now call economy class, and moved what was considered normal travel to what we now call first class. But here’s the difference: now we have options.

I can fly first class for – in this illustration – just over $1,000. And I’ll get treated very nicely, with comfortable seats and good food.

Or I can save almost $1,000 by flying coach. The seat will be small, I’ll get a soft drink and pretzels, but we’ll both arrive at the same destination.

What this has done is made air travel possible for almost everyone.

So if you don’t like the riffraff back in coach, feel free to buy a first class ticket. But since we’ll both get there at the same time, and hopefully in one piece, I’ll save my money, and spend my savings on something nice when I get there. Or maybe I’ll use my savings to fly a lot more times. Just don’t complain about air travel not being what it used to be. I’m glad it’s not.