PJ2
Enjoy your posts and invariably learn from them. I ran the $780 figure you quote for a trans-Atlantic flight in 1958 through the CPI converter, and it works out to just under $5,000 in today's dollars (am using U$D, not Canadian here). Which, curiously, $5,000 is just about the cost of a first-class ticket nowadays over the Atlantic. Back in 1958, pre- Freddie Laker et. al, nearly all over-the-ocean airliner travel was first class by today's standards. There were sleeper berths in the 377s and Connies. Mind you, the trips took longer and were made more exciting by four flaming (at night) Pratts or Wrights out the portholes, but nobody in the pointy end ever fell asleep from ennui. So really, we're paying the same for first class travel today as we did back then. At the risk of sounding elitist, perhaps the transport industry should haul the steerage clientele on ships and require those truly in a hurry to pay the 1958 price.