How did we travel before low-cost airlines came along? Did we… | Jonathan Hinkles | 30 comments
How did we travel before low-cost airlines came along? Did we travel? The answer is a resounding “yes”, and this week’s Throwback Thursday Timetable Tale goes behind the scenes of the UK’s bygone world of seat-only flying. Before deregulation, licences for scheduled services were tightly...
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How did we travel before low-cost airlines came along? Did we travel? The answer is a resounding “yes”, and this week’s Throwback Thursday Timetable Tale goes behind the scenes of the UK’s bygone world of seat-only flying.
Before deregulation, licences for scheduled services were tightly controlled. Whilst nascent airlines could obtain licences, these generally allowed them to fly only from nowhere to nowhere on routes no other airline wished to serve. Air Europe’s Gatwick-Palma licence in 1985 was a rare breakthrough. Charter flights were a different story - but they were only allowed as part of a package holiday.
Rather inevitably, the enterprising charter sector came up with a work-around. Flights were indeed part of a package – as this 1989 timetable for Pilgrim Air, the specialist to Italy, shows.
Radio adverts might well have mixed “Come Fly With Me” with “YMCA” – for if you read the small-print, you’ll find that your airfare includes basic accommodation in each of the Italian cities to which you could fly. Just so you know, there was no refund if you chose not to stay at the Pensione Tassi in Bondeno after landing in Bologna.
Charter flights ran to many European cities – and Pilgrim Air’s compatriots specialised in particular countries, such as GTF to Germany, which mostly flew with Dan-Air and latterly Air UK Leisure. And it wasn’t just city destinations – until UK deregulation in 1992, your flight-only seat to the Med would include a week’s pitch at a campsite. That would be “ancillary revenue potential” nowadays!
Despite these strictures, seat-only flying before low-cost airlines was big business. The likes of Thomson, Airtours and Aspro all had their own brochures. Fares were presented in grids; headline prices would be for a Tuesday night flight to Reus in May. In pre-internet days, you’d spend hours scrolling through Ceefax on your TV before calling the agent advertising the best deals – generally to find prices were higher.
It’s fascinating to see the Thomson 1992 programme featured just one weekly flight (on Wednesdays) to Dalaman from only Gatwick, East Midlands, Manchester and Glasgow. It’s a far cry from today’s concentration of the UK holiday sector on Turkey.
And if you think customer pricing is complicated, wait until you see the airline flying programmes of 30 years ago! Behind the scenes at Britannia and Air 2000 in Summer 1994, schedules lay out the inner workings of this intricate play. Most aircraft flew three daily roundtrips – the third being overnight. This was helped by flights being 15-30 minutes quicker than today - Luton-Palma in 2h10 and Gatwick-Corfu in 2h55 are firmly consigned to history. There’s progress!
But at least 2024’s Med campsites are freed from airline block bookings to be able to take your reservation, should this be part of your holiday plan. Not for me, thanks…
