[Roundup] What’s In The Sky Above You, And How Long Your Trip Would Have Taken In The Past

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About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Comments

  1. Been studying passenger manifests for immigrants to the U.S. during the period between the War of 1812 and the Civil War. At that time, New Orleans was the second-busiest port after New York. Immigrants from Le Havre, France and Liverpool, England (the two busiest ports to the U.S. at that time) to New Orleans took about 8 weeks to make the passage. This did not change significantly until the advent of steamship travel post-Civil War.

    During that time, passengers in steerage (the vast majority) provided their own bedding and food. They were limited to one piece of luggage (usually a trunk) that they marked themselves. More than one trunk was extra. The master of the vessel provided an assigned place to sleep, drinking water, a place to cook meals, and a place to wash one’s self and clothing, and for bodily waste elimination.

    Contrast this with coach (steerage) travel to and from Europe on an airplane today.

  2. Great site thanks. I once read that the seat a typical non-business class passenger has on a Trans-Atlantic airliner is about the same size as the space allotted to a slave on the Middle Passage. Granted you’re not sitting there chained for weeks, but it is something to think about.

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