DA20, I presume you mean Pounds Stirling, not lbs mass? Pity the Brits switched to Metric, was always fun trying to work things out over there.Yes, air fares were expensive back then, I paid $1750 to get to the UK in 1959 , however, the drop in fares generated by the advent of turbine aircraft coming into wide use brought fares way down to the point that we used comercial to rotate pilots to various parts of the world as it was cheaper than we could do using our RCAF aircraft. Having said that and having survived for twenty one years operating our own outfit I can assure you that the present rock bottom fares are a sure path to going belly up in the long run, most are only covering the DOCs. As to AC picketing to keep Max out of the sky, what the hell is the difference between this and Porters stand vis a vis Jazz? It would be nice to text you on this subject, but the bastions of free enterprise in the Sand Box wont let this happen of course, so much for free competition and open doors!