Discount Travel

When I was a small boy in the early 50's, my parents would take me and my younger sister to the Minneapolis airport to watch the commercial airplanes take off and land. I would ask them why we never flew on one of these planes. He would shake his head and say that air travel was only for the wealthy and, since we were not wealthy, it would seem unlikely that we would ever do any air travel. This appeared to be a truism as I noticed that nearly all passengers, who were mostly, men were dressed in suits and wore hats. My father never dressed like this for work so it seemed that I was doomed to a life of travel by car.

Little did I know that I would some day become a businessman and travel on a fairly regular basis. Even my parents eventually became semi regular travelers by air in their later years as they went back and forth between their summer home in Minnesota and their winter home in California. I did not spend much time on airplanes merely because I traveled for business, like most people, I can now afford to fly commercially. Competition has created discounted airfare not to mention discounted hotel prices and discounted auto rentals.

In the early 1950's most families had only one wage earner and the median family income was probably only about $5,000 per year. Today, most families have 2 wage earners and family incomes are more like $70,000. Until the recent recession, families have had much more disposable incomes than previously and that combined with discounted travel has significantly increased air travel.

The world we live in has brought discounted travel but it has also impacted us negatively at the airport.  We have to endure long security lines and searches and our good byes greetings must be said far away from the boarding areas. We live in fear of hijackings and other forms of terrorism. Instead of nice meals, the majority of us have to settle for a small bag of peanuts and a soft drink. The gorgeous stewardess has been replaced by normal looking women and male flight attendants.

On the other hand, I certainly do not have to wear a hat and when I take my grandchildren to the airport, I am not taking them to watch the planes, I am taking them on a plane with me.



Steve Kujala is in the insurance business in California. He has written multiple articles and ebooks and operates a discount travel site at http://www.airandgoods.com