Professor Elam

THis Yout Tube depicts flying in another era.
The date of 1958 cannot be right. The 707, referred to as the Jet Clipper in the promo was not certified by the FAA until Sept of 1958.  I would guess the actual date is early 1960s. I have sent this on to our resident expert Prof Richard Green.  Prof Green flew 707s for TWA!

Note that everyone is dressed up, no tee shirts and sneakers.  And as they used to say in the military, the smoking light was on!

The managerail cost take is that originally spacious interiors justified the high price of flying. As flying became more and more of a price conscious commodity, space was used to maximize seating, consider that photo of the powder room, hardly what one enccounters today. Flying the plane is a fixed cost as to the plane crew and fuel.  Increasing hte number of passengters lowers break even point. And now of course airlines routinely cancel flights for most any reason. And still the airline industry has not made money on passenger flights over the course of its history.