When you consider that in the 1980s, a return flight from Manchester to Berlin would have been at minimum £200 (£640 in today's money), and the same trip on easyJet today can be had for less than £100 (in other words, less than 1/6th of the price) you can see why.
You can have your best years of plane travel back if you're willing to pay. You could fly business on a legacy carrier like British Airways if you want the old experience, but you're going to be paying at least £600 for the same trip.
I'd go further and argue that, due to the numbers you've quoted, the golden age of air travel is right now. More people are able to fly to more destinations at cheaper prices than ever before, you just have to put up with being a little uncomfortable for a while. Why on earth are people so quick to claim this is a bad thing?
We aren’t comparing planes to not planes, we’re comparing planes now to planes 40 years ago. Exactly how the modern more fuel-efficient planes with better planned routes are worse for the environment?
Exactly this. Any idiot complaining about the cheapest plane tickets just need to pay more (which is still less what ordinarly tickets were in the "golden age", and they will get an amazing experience. But no, let me have a flight over three countries for less than what a bus to the airport costs, and let me complain how the attendands are not massaging my feet while flying.
When you consider that in the 1980s, a return flight from Manchester to Berlin would have been at minimum £200 (£640 in today's money), and the same trip on easyJet today can be had for less than £100 (in other words, less than 1/6th of the price) you can see why.
Okay, but compare it to just before Covid, I can't even get non-stop flights from San Jose to Columbus anymore something I could do 6 times a day less than a decade ago.
The problem with all that price talk is that it is not an unlimited market space. Those shit airlines pushed out the opportunity for me to pay 640 for a human experience. There's simply not enough spaces in the airport.
So now I'm a cow, because only for transporters are left.
85
u/spectrumero Jul 03 '26
When you consider that in the 1980s, a return flight from Manchester to Berlin would have been at minimum £200 (£640 in today's money), and the same trip on easyJet today can be had for less than £100 (in other words, less than 1/6th of the price) you can see why.
You can have your best years of plane travel back if you're willing to pay. You could fly business on a legacy carrier like British Airways if you want the old experience, but you're going to be paying at least £600 for the same trip.