vis a vis the "you get what you pay for lobby!"
Before the "jet age", seats were wider and had more leg space. Even after the De Havilland Comet's intoduction, seats were comfortable.
However, there was a 2 tier class system for long-haul, and as 1 class system for shorts. Even in the early days of the 747, we had spacious cabins with seating of 2-3-2 in economy!
Indeed, even today, by IATA agreements, ALL fares within Europe are supposed to be at "C" class (Business).........any other code on your ticket is a "special" excursion fare. If all our tickets were "C" rated, I can assure you seat size wouldn't be an issue!
It is the harsh reality of Profit v What the Public are Prepared to Pay that determines how many people we pack into each aluminium tube!
You will also appreciate, if you're in business, that it's very easy to reduce prices but extremely difficult to harden them again once the public have got used to bargains!
When you see flights to Mallorca advertised at £29 return (cheaper than I can drive into London and back), don't you just know it's going to be a "knee in the chest" job!!!
Regrettably, in this life you do get what you pay for and, human nature being what it is, most people would rather "rough it" for 8 hours on the aircraft and have a better hotel for their two week holiday, than pay for better seats and downgrade the hotel!
Can I suggest a topic for Diastrous Holiday experiences?
