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Booking an airline flight and searching for the lowest fare?
July 8, 2010 Updated Jul 8, 2010 at 2:25 PM EST

Booking an airline flight and searching for the lowest fare? You might be surprised to learn that in many cases, ticket prices have actually not kept pace with inflation.
Air travel analyst Terry Trippler conducted a random survey of schedules and airfares comparing ticket prices of today with those from 25 years ago for 27 different cities. When 1982 prices are adjusted for inflation, Trippler found that today's prices are actually lower.
In 1982, there were three roundtrip flights from Boston to Los Angeles, with the lowest fare costing $298. Adjusted for inflation, that ticket should cost $635, but Trippler found that, not only are there 9 roundtrip flights instead of 3, the lowest fare was just $199. Flying from New York to Miami? in the 80's there were 21 flights, with the lowest fare costing $188. That same ticket should cost $400 in 2007 dollars, but Trippler found that the lowest fare was actually $158 and there are now 25 nonstop flights. So take some comfort when paying for that ticket. You could be paying a lot more.

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