Cheaper by Air

The Cunard White Star Line, which prides itself that its Queens are the fastest ships in transatlantic service, last week took the lead in something else. It announced a thumping increase in fares. Sir Percy E. Bates, Cunard board chairman, said that when the Queen Elizabeth begins peacetime service this fall, the minimum rate for first-class passage will be "on the order of $360, perhaps more."

The new first-class fare was higher than Cunard's own prewar rate (about $287), only $15 less than the present air fare from New York to London. (If the Civil Aeronautics Board approves, airlines will soon cut their New York-to-London fare to $325.) If Cunard's fares were any indication of what other luxury liners would charge, airlines could confidently expect to capture much of the first-class travel. Cunard apparently hoped to fill the luxury staterooms of its Queens with passengers who do not like to fly. But airlines were confident that price would tell, that most first-class passengers would choose to go the faster and cheaper way.

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