American pilots take a fare trip down memory lane

It's 1932. You need to find a way to get from New York to Los Angeles in a timely fashion without totally breaking the bank. What do you do? Fly American Airways Inc of course. A "coast-to-coast" ticket - that includes an initial train ride to Cleveland or Columbus - costs $155. Long, comfortable seats, a "delicious dinner" and refreshments await you.

Fast forward 76 years and a one-way New York-Los Angeles flight on American Airlines, with a little dexterity, can be purchased for as low as - drum roll please - $146 if booked far enough in advance.

So how can airline ticket prices not have changed in nearly 80 years when the price of everything else has? That's the rather astute question posed by American Airlines' pilots union, the Allied Pilots Association (APA), in its latest private message to membership.

Using the government's inflation calculator, $100 in 1932 would be an equivalent of $1,597 today, notes the APA, which is calling to task management's claim that the price of oil is to blame for the industry's current woes.

"Even former AMR CEO Robert Crandall has recognized this flaw by airline managements. Since this past spring, Crandall has appeared on numerous cable news programs and print interviews pointing out that airlines struggled when oil was $20 a barrel, $50 a barrel and now at more than $120 per barrel," says the APA.

"He recognizes that the problem isn't fuel costs, or labour costs, or any other cost - it's the continuing devaluation of ticket prices as the price of everything else increases."

That's why the APA insists it has "drawn a line in the sand" with its latest contract proposal. And it ain't budging. Theirs might just be the ticket to ride.