Small Comfort: The Sky-High Cost of Airline Travel in 1954

Next time you find yourself squished into a non-reclining middle seat situated near the filthy lavatory on a long transcontinental flight that left three hours late, try to derive some solace from this improbable thought: You're getting a pretty good deal for your money.

Yes yes, contemporary air travel does have the effect of making passengers feel like steerage. It's no wonder some travelers wax nostalgic for the days before the U.S. airline industry was  deregulated — when stewardess were polite, the food was free, and passengers were issued souvenir carry-on bags emblazoned with sporty airline logos. Heady days. What we tend to forget, however, is that these perks were enjoyed by a privileged few. Airline travel was glamorous then for the same reason Louis Vuitton handbags and 1996 bottles of Dom Perignon are glamorous today — it was an expensive status symbol. But how much, really, did it cost?

While digging through the corporate archives recently, Telstar Logistics  came upon a 1954 brochure from Trans World Airlines promoting TWA's daily service to San Francisco.  Included in the brochure was the table shown here, listing some typical fares to and from SFO.

Here's how those 1954 fares would convert in 2006 dollars:

San Francisco to New York, round-trip:
First Class: $2198
Sky Tourist: $1448

San Francisco to Chicago, round-trip:
First Class: $1587
Sky Tourist: $1106

So economy-class tickets on these routes can now be purchased routinely for roughly one-third the price of what they cost in 1954. This is a salient thing to keep in mind when enduring the rigors of a dirty and cramped airline seat.  Yes, it's unpleasant. Objectively, it may even be as grim as taking the bus. But the difference is, the bus took days to reach San Francisco, and in 1954, that may have been all you could afford.

So you've got that going for you.

Meanwhile, some things remain unchanged. Here's what it says on the back of the TWA brochure:

GRACIOUS METROPOLIS OF THE WEST
One of the most extravagantly admired cities in the world, San Francisco has been called "sophisticated," "cultured," "urbane," "gay" -- and it is certainly one of the most cosmopolitan of cities.

Amen to that.