The old regulatory regime had serious flaws, but I don't think we're comparing apples to apples. Sure, a few flights have become cheaper, if you fly at the righ

The old regulatory regime had serious flaws, but I don't think we're comparing apples to apples. Sure, a few flights have become cheaper, if you fly at the right time and play the game properly, and if you're taking high-competition routes. If you're taking low-competition routes, you're getting screwed. It's most likely that the reason for gross fares to decline is that a lot of those routes aren't flown any more, or there's one plane a week. They went from expensive to nonexistent, bringing the average fare down but reducing the quality of service. On the other hand, if you're going from one mid-sized city to another, you're unlikely to get a sub-$300 fare. If you go to Europe in the summer, you might see over $1000. We are far from being able to declare adequacy, much less victory, on the airfare problem. We need some regulation to crack down on seasonal hikes and a lot of the bizarre "custom pricing" nonsense (like differences in fares based on when someone makes the reservation) but probably not as much as there was before 1980.