It seems to be a common claim that the large transatlantic express liners such as Cunard’s Mauretania or White Star’s Olympic made the bulk of their profit from third class passengers. The available evidence does not support this conclusion.
This detailed analysis of Mauretania‘s financial data in 1910 demonstrates that first class revenues accounted for 59 percent of the total. Even allowing for the fact that a first class passenger enjoyed a higher standard of service and cost more to look after – the average *profit* per first class passenger was more than the average *revenue* of a third class passenger, even on the most cautious assumptions.
The number of third class passengers was 89 percent higher than the number of first class passengers, but it is not mathematically possible for them to have contributed more profit than first class, because the cost of the average third class ticket was simply not high enough.
It was first published in the Titanic International Society’s Voyage March 2026: Pages 78-79.
