Airfares in the 1970's
 

Hello,
I'm researching material for book about the 1970's - primarily California and Hawaii. I am looking for airfares from 1971 to 1975to and from Hawaii and San Francisco on United Air and PanAm. Also PSA intra-state airfares to and from San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego - same time period.

Also, did United have a Piano Bar aboard some of it's 747's to and from Hawaii.

Thank you

Well, I remember that you could fly for $10 from San Francisco to LA, but I don't remember if that was PSA or People's Express. Are you looking for proof, or just "memories"?

They were pretty reasonable fares to Hawaii back then - but half the time I was going on business - so really don't remember.

You might ask one of the travel companies - and not sure what the current name is for Pleasant Hawaiian Holidays - but they had a ton of flights/tours to Hawaii.

Ahh - here it is now - under Pleasant Holidays: http://tinyurl.com/cra9ctq

And I don't know if United always had someone playing a Piano on the 747 - but early on - they did have a cocktail deck for use by the First Class - and I think others could buy a ticket, space available.

Later I think they converted the area into seats, or somehow changed the configuration.

May not help but I distinctly remember flying first class (on free miles) on TWA from NY to europe - on a 747. they had converted the upper deck to seats - but all seats were incredibly comfy lounge chairs. And they served 6 course dinners with wines matching each course (if you wanted). It seemed you were half way to London before the dinner was over.

In those days a coach ticket NY to London was about $550 (I remember since my free first class ticket included an upgrade to first from the cheapest coach fare - and we often did it twice a year).

And yes, there was People's Express. You could often get cross country flights for $49.

sf7: What I remember back in the early 70's - from SF to LA - on PSA (Pacific Southwest Airlines) - on Friday nights? - at midnight? - you could fly for $10 (space available) or some incredibly low fair.

We would get loaded and go to the airport - and have a great time at my roomie's parents' place in LA (or up at Uncle Morrie's in Beverly Hills :)) - and be back in SF on Sunday night.

I don't know about airfares, but I can remember a time when Lobster was served on my flights to Hawaii. Now you're lucky if you can even eat the garbage they serve and you have to pay for it too.

I remember when the one way fare on PSA from San Diego to LAX was around $10

In 1970, Western Airlines, later purchased in bankruptcy by Delta, had a $100 "No Frills Fare" between LA, SF, and Honolulu. The aft section of a 747 was reserved for this fare and passengers could by a box lunch as a meal. Non-alcoholic Beverages were free.

I took advantage of this with a group of friends just once. On the way to the airport we stopped at a deli in San Francisco and purchased food for all of us. (This was long before there was any security screening of passengers.) Of course, we ended up with far more food than we needed and were able to give some sandwiches to the flight attendants in return for reheating our food.

As the aroma of the food moved around the plane a passenger came back from the middle section and asked if we were on the $100 air fare. When we admitted it, he observed that he was paying a lot more than we were and was eating much less well. He asked, "When your are done eating, would you come up to my seat and kick me around the plane?" One of my friends immediately offered him a half a sandwich, probably with a 1/2 pound of corned beef in it, and he bought us a round of beer.

Adjusted for inflation, most fares are cheaper now. I had a San Diego to Honolulu for $168 on Alaska last month

<<<In those days a coach ticket NY to London was about $550>>>

I flew from JFK to London in 1972 for $99.00 each way on BOAC.

Tom, yes, it was the "midnight special"!

Not exactly in answer to the OP, but in 1976 United inaugurated nonstop service from SFO-CLE, using DC10's (I believe). To celebrate the first few flights, they had an in-flight California wine tasting, with a number of different wines, all-you-can-drink, plus cheese. By the time we arrived in Cleveland, the passengers were either laughing, singing, or asleep.

Well - these were not last minute - had to reserve about 3 months in advance - since we were getting 2 RT First Class for About $550 or so. Did this to London, Paris, Rome, Munich and a bunch of other cities. And they also allowed open jaws. Did many vacations with air fare like this, hotel or airine points paying for most hotels and sometimes even car rental. Often cheaper to do this than to do 2 weeks at Cape Cod.

In August of '75 - my law school roomie and I flew from LA direct to Frankfurt - on Condor Air (a charter type outfit - owned by Lufthansa) - on a 747 - for only $349.

They also served two meals and wine - and were on time.

A two month - first class Euro-Rail pass was well under $200 - and we tried to live in $15 a day/apiece - (there were 3 of us most of the time - as our other roomie joined us in Paris) - and we came pretty close, using Pensiones, camping once in a while, etc. :)

<<<hotel or airine points paying for most hotels>>>

The first FF and hotel loyalty programs started in the very late 70s or early 80s.

I was a travel agent back in the '70s. I used to issue tickets on PSA LAX to SFO for $9. At that time, they were in a booklet of PSA only tickets. Each destination had a different design on the ticket. You wrote the name/date on the ticket and the stub you you kept attached to the booklet. No computer back then. Boy, have times changed.

Can't speak to this from personal experience but my grandparents did the Frommer's style travel of Europe in the 70s. They also were on a grand-opening flight of Hawaiian Air and it was a really fun experience.

But I wanted to mention that one book I kept when my grandma died was called "Vacationing in Five Continents" by Air France. It is a large book at 223 pages and I just loved all the retro photos of the places you could go on Air France. There are no airfares in this particular one, and not the right destinations for you, but I wonder if there are other private-label publications the airlines put out that would have photos of that piano bar.

Back then in the 1970's, airfare was cheap as heck
You could literally fly from SF to LA for like $10. Nowadays,
$10 can get you a seat strapped to the wing on
the outside of the plane on a flight to LA.

Uh . . . TravelerUS, And just how much did you earn back in 1970. I can fly from SMF to LAX or SAN or LAS for $59-$70 one way (in a seat inside the plane >) ) . . . . And I make nearly 20X what I did in the late '70's so airfares are actually much cheaper now in relative terms.

. . . Oh, and welcome to Fodors, good job digging up such an old thread to top.

I think in the mid-1960's the fare from HNL to the west coast was about $125 in coach one way.

I also need info from 1976 for air fares from Columbus CMH to St. Louis STL!
If it cost $100 to go from LA or SF to Hawaii, I'm thinking about $35 for this flight? I'm thinking a Delta flight via DC-10 since that's the only plane I've ever flown on. Any help is greatly appreciated!

Where did you come up with that $100 fare? Were you there along with the rest of us who were?

I should know as I lived in Columbus at that time, but I don't remember. I don't think it cost $35, though, even in 1976, that wasn't that much money. And I lived in LA for about 15 years after that and never got a $10 fare to anywhere, I don't think that as common. PSA has their own history and quotes fares on here, more like $50 end of 70s from LA to LV or SF. http://www.jetpsa.com/index/history.html

Given PSA was a super budget airline with lower than normal fares, I doubt you could get from CMH to STL for $35 at that time.

I think this question doesn't make any more sense than it would now -- airfares vary all over the places based on when you book (how far in advance), time of year, etc. They can easily vary by double just for booking far in advance or not. And airfares mid-day midweek in a non-holiday period are totally different than peak periods or holidays. Not to mention how much they differ for one way vs. RT on most routes.

That PSA website is very nice, too bad other airlines don't have that. Airlines weren't deregulated until after that, 1978, which is when the hub system really developed, and airfares dropped some when that happened.

food for thought http://www.theatlantic.com/business/...oticed/273506/

No, it was American Airlines that had the unique addition and it actually was an electric organ type as a piano was not suited for an aircraft. Some examples actually still remain and pictures of them and where they are can be found 'online". I read American actually hired Frank Sinatra to sing on one of their cross country flights to drum up business. I only experienced the TWA 747 coach lounge (they installed them on all domestic 747's, L-1011's and 707's) but it was some way to travel. United called their 747's "Friendships" while American's were Luxury Liners. Coach seats were roomy and cabins fully staffed. Everything was not free though, one paid for headsets to listen to the music channels and watch a movie, later those were handed out at no charge. Drinks/Wine also also cost $1.50 but that charge was frequently waived. As I recall one was permitted 2 pieces of check luggage (weigh limits of course), and carry-on's were few and far between. Airlines competed on service back then, imagine such a thing today!

There was an airline that existed in the 60's-70's called Northeast and they served all coach passengers a "steak dinner" on the trip to Florida. That was their main advertising theme. Regardless of the length of your trip though, one was always served something and usually one had a choice, too. Of course there was no charge for anything expect alcoholic beverages but even then, that was frequently. waived. Even a slight delay the crew would announce "Drinks are with the Captain's compliments". One can only dream of such things today.

You might want to double post this in the Airlines forum.

Hopefully, by now Jimmy has the information he was seeking.

For this kind of information you should really post on Airliners.net | Aviation Photography, Discussion Forums & News, the largest airline enthusiast discussion forum on the Web.

Not sure why this was dredged up, but the thread is from 2012 (heck, tomsd was still posting) and the OP must have given up on his book idea.

thanks janisj. obviously i hadn't noticed that.

Don't feel bad suze, it was also dredged up in 2015.

But it's still kind of interesting. But all the posters who were quoting "cheap" 1970s airfares aren't taking inflation into account. $500 in 1975 is equivalent in purchasing power to $2,278.07 in 2017. I'm going to Europe for less than half that this year.

I don't know why these old threads are considered relevant especially when the question from the OP is no longer relevant the OP probably no longer posts here.
Seeing tomsd's post gave me a fright there for a second.

I agree. They're not relevant. We need a closed thread option that should be used by our additional moderators. Judiciously, but yes. It's annoying. And of course I was wondering about the "quite a fright" and I see that his profile claims he has "posted on no threads" so he was apparently banned. Or something. I just don't know all the past stories of longtime posters enough.