Air Travel of Yesteryear

I got to sit on a pilot’s lap during the flight

You dressed well to fly. Crying kids were beaten into silence. Stewards were treated respectfully and returned the respect the passengers.

You never heard a woman's voice as a pilot. Pay phones at the terminals had long lines in front of them. OJ Simpson was an airport icon.

r2, They easily gave blowjobs too right?

No security at all (this was in the pre-hijacking era.)

Anyone could accompany you all the way through to the boarding area. And wait there for you to deplane.

I flew to London several times in the 80s when I was a teen but I don't recall how smoking on the plane worked. I didn't smoke, but it is unfathomable now that anyone would be allowed to light up in their seat and stink everyone out.

We do this thread every year, but I like them.

R8 then shut up and enjoy the flight.

There was a smoking section, usually towards the rear. You had to walk through the cloud of smoke if you needed the lavatory.

R7 You could smoke just about everywhere then, and most people did. My dentist used to take ciggie breaks right next to me!

When I was a kid, the bathrooms were full of sample soaps, lotions and perfumes that I would grab handfuls of and take back to my seat.

R7, I was very young when smoking was allowed, but there used to be smoking rows on planes. It made no difference that these were the designated smoking rows as the smoke just went to other rows and recirculated through the entire cabin. I recall that boarding passes used to have "Smoking" or "Non Smoking" or their respective symbolss even on domestic airlines until the early 2000s (?) because some international airlines still allowed smoking.

Pan Am and Eastern used to give kids wings and a small plush toy. They used to put "Master" before one's name on the boarding pass if one was a boy.

[quote]Walk right up to the gate?

That wasn't yesteryear, that was air travel in 2001 before 9/11 happened. I'm a "millennial" and I remember what that was like.

r14 God forbid if your last name was Bates.

r15 True, but pre-9/11 there had been minimal security (metal detectors.) But before the hijacking era, there was NO security of any kind.

In the late 1970s, you’d go to a department store, travel agency or American Expess to buy your airline tickets. There weren’t many options for cross-country flights: airlines were regulated. So, you mostly had to fly to Dallas, St. Louis, Cincinatti, Cleveland or Chicago and change planes to your destination.

Metal detectors were implemented in the mid 1970s nationally after the wave of international hijackings. R17 has it correct.

I was in the military and my trip early 1979 flight from Texas was San Angelo to Dallas to St Louis to Philadelphia. It was a bus from there to Newark to take a military flight to Germany. My first return flight was Frankfurt to McGuire, Philadelphia to Dallas, Dallas to El Paso. I remember that trip took 24 hours.

Even in coach, there were actual meals you could eat. Food, served hot. Usually a choice of chicken or beef. Vegetarian meals had to be special ordered and it was good luck getting them. I brought my own meals on board most flights. Back then, Lufthansa had the best food of any airline. The first time I got bumped to 1st on USAir, they served lobster. I was stunned.

Environmental controls on the plane were ... less pleasant than today. You always brought a coat and there were always blankets and pillows in the overhead bin. You didn’t see as many people bringing suitcases on the plane. There weren’t entertainment options on the plane. There was one movie being shown, and you’d pay for the headset in order to watch the movie. The headset had a hollow tube connector in the armrest, and usually was around $4 for the rental. There was always a notice “Edited for airline” or something. Essentially, it was cut to the time format allowed for the flights and anything scary about air travel was removed.

Seats were bigger and on overnight flights you could sometimes actually sleep because the seats reclined - even in coach. Kinda of. They actually dimmed the cabin lights during the night, too and asked passengers to be quiet.

When I was in college in the 80's, I'd often end up in smoking, if I was traveling with friends, even though I rarely smoked. A fraternity brother always said that is where the fun people were, the smokers and drinkers. It was often a bit of a party back in the smoking section.

R6 that still happens - just not in the USA.

R7 Then I imagine the idea of three or four men smoking their cigars and pipes would render you catatonic.

It was quite common actually. Pipes and cigars were banned first. Then they tightened he regulations on cigarette smoking to flights of a certain length. Then eventually in the 90s, it all ended. Yes, it was bad in some ways: it made out hair and uniforms stink for the rest of our trip(up to 4 days.) and it made one's eyes red. But yanno what? Many of us would gladly sign up to work the smoking zone because the smoker were so nice and cool about everything. They were a whole different temperament of flyer. So when we had our first big fatal crash in the mid 80s, I found it somewhat karmic that the ONLY passengers who survived were in D zone: the smoking section. And that included the one surviving stew as well.

Baudy!

Mohawk's Gaslight flights

They didn't show any of the "Airport" movies.

In larger cities, major airlines would have ticket offices in the downtown area. A ticket office was sparsely decorated, usually with a model of one of their planes in the window, a ticket counter, and nothing more.

I'd be willing to sit in a smoking section today, so long as there were no screaming fucking brats or their sanctimommies on the flight.

From 1938 to 1978, fares were regulated by the U.S. federal government. The price of a ticket from Point A to Point B was the same no matter which airline you chose.

You would not only get a wings pin, but could usually get a logo-branded deck of cards if you were a kid. Denver's airport terminals had a rooftop observation deck where you could go up and watch your Dad's plane depart. I still remember the smells of kerosene exhaust and the incredible sound of 707 engines revving up.

The thing I remember is that usually flights weren’t sold out, let alone oversold. Every flight I’ve been on in the past five years at least has been jammed. On the other hand, the cost has come down...

AIR TRAVEL OF YESTERYEAR

"We do this thread every year, but I like them."

That's because most DLers first plane ride was piloted by the Wright brothers.

Smoking. Zero security. But long-haul flights were LONG, with several stop-overs. I remember flying Melbourne to Europe once stopping in Darwin and Teheran and once stopping in Perth and Mumbai. Also island-hopping across the Pacific: SFO to Honolulu to Pape'ete or American Samoa to Fiji or New Caledonia to Sydney.

I also remember when smoking was banned in steerage but you could still smoke in First. Kind FAs would allow steerage smokers suffering from withdrawal to sneak into First for a smoke.

People dressed up. My mom wore Jackie Kennedy-esque suits and pillbox hats. We kids wore our Sunday bests. We got the little Pan Am bags as souveniers. Later we flew Branniff and the stews wore hot pink hot pants and hot pink metallic fishnet hose.

They pushed the staircase over to the plane and we boarded out in the elements. I remember us kids running around and the parents trying to corral us as we played airplane. Everyone could smoke and the food was actual food, fragrant and good.

I think my first flight was probably in the late 1960s. Mom, my sister and I flew from LaGuardia in NY to Boston, MA on Eastern. We walked out of the terminal onto the tarmac and up the stairs to board. I don't remember anything else about the flight.

I do remember my next flight, NY to Austin, TX in 1972. I flew on Braniff. My father walked me onto the plane, made sure I was in my seat, probably told me to behave, spoke to the stewardess and left. can you imagine that happening in 2018? I was taken care of, got to visit the cockpit, arrived unharmed, exited the plane and was met by me sister and brother-in-law.

I think '72 was one of the last good years to fly. We had already experienced Palestinians abducting and then murdering Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics and soon Palestinians would be hijacking planes, keeping travelers stranded on tarmacs and murdering some others. Travel has never been the same, it certainly isn't as enjoyable...

[quote]Everyone could smoke and the food was actual food, fragrant and good.

You could smell the "fragrant" off the food in that smoke-filled cabin?

I detested people smoking on the plane. Sure there were smoking and non-smoking sections but you can’t stop smoke from drifting. It was awful

In the '80s, there was a discount airline called People's Express. Fares were really cheap, and you paid for your ticket on board. A flight attendant came down the aisle to take your credit card.

I remember being on one of the last smoking flights. I was in non-smoking and the row behind me was the start of the smoking section. No bulkhead or divider or anything. But back then you could still smoke in bars and restaurants so we were used to it. Weirdly, long after smoking was banned you'd still see the no smoking light next to the fasten seatbelts one overhead. Its only in the past couple years that it's switched to no cell phone.

Bea Arthur, the cunt in 4H, snatched 3 tins of caviar (meant to serve 21 people) right out of my cart!

R15-By the early 1970's hijacking was already a concern. The first time I was flew on a plane in 1979 you had to put any carry on items on a conveyor belt to be x-rayed.

You could slap women that got hysterical.

I didn't wear jeans on a flight until I was in college and first flew by myself, in about 1988. My mother wouldn't allow us to wear such casual clothing on a flight. She always wore a skirt and heels. All our luggage matched. The parents sat in smoking and the kids sat in non-smoking, a few rows away. I remember airlines always having branded decks of cards. If you asked for a deck of cards, of course you could keep them.

[quote]the food was actual food, fragrant and good.

Sorry but the food was almost always terrible. No better than a Swanson TV dinner.

Some of you have rose coloured glasses on when looking back on yesteryear's air travel.

Don't you remember the shitty headphones (which resembled a stethoscope) and 10 music channels ? Or the one film shown for entertainment on a long haul flight (where you had to crane your neck to watch it on the projection screen up front)? Or the noise from the gas guzzling turbojet engines?

r32, that seems like such an enjoyable experience. Dam Arabs. Fuck political correctness.

[quote]Dam Arabs. Fuck political correctness.

Fuck spelling too R42? d a m N

r43, Yawn. No one likes a technical cunt.

R44 No one likes a crap speller.

r45 > r44

Who remembers the multi-page paper tickets with red carbon paper?

It was much better, like everything else. But then the Jews convinced Americans that being "too white" was a bad thing.

Now Americans believe that when white people become a small minority, it will be big progress.

As if high crime, low class, simmering race wars, and plummeting intelligence are good things.

Oh well, at least it's good for the Jews.

My Dad was a pilot with Eastern in the 40’s through 70’s and i flew a lot from a young age. I proabably do remember it with a rose colored tint because i was young and didnt have to deal with all the real hassles. I was just along for the adventure which seemed glamorous and exciting. I forget about the long, slow, noisy and often smelly flights. However, we were used to the existing conditions and it really was much more fun, relaxed and casual, in a way. But we did always dress up and were required to be quiet and mannerly.

Let's not dwell on the regressive, civilized past. Let's celebrate progress, and the demographic destruction of civilized, productive white people.

[quote]Some of you have rose coloured glasses on when looking back on yesteryear's air travel.

You can say that about everything in the past. Very much rose colored glasses.

How did this simple thread about air travel devolve into a racist train wreck in 5 minutes?

Just FF and ignore the Nazi r52, don't give it attention.

In the 90s, I flew across the country at least a couple of times a month on business, usually more. I got to know the FAs and as a regular, several knew me well enough to call me by my given name and what to bring me to drink before takeoff. I had the timing to make the flight down to the minute; imagine arriving at the airport 15 minutes before the plane was scheduled to depart, breezing through security (no luggage to check; one of the benefits of spending so much time on each coast was having homes in both Boston and San Francisco), and just walking on to the plane as they'd close the door. The food was pretty good in first class. I'd use the time to read, mostly, unless I ended sitting next to someone interesting who wanted to chat. I met actors, politicians, and other celebs. Of course, this was before reality television really took off and the celebs were interesting people, not just Kardashian trash.

When I first started commuting back and forth and hadn't reached the status in the frequent flyer programs that I automatically got upgraded, to help accrue points my hubby (then to-be) would fly under my name so that I'd get the points. Imagine trying that today!

But then. Hubby was on one of the planes' last completed flights; I picked him up at Logan on 9/11 at about 2 in the morning, arriving late. I'd flown Flight 175 several times and was familiar enough with the FAs I recognized one of their names. I said to my hubby that morning that it was good that we had sold the business and were moving across the country; the days of enjoyable flying had ended.

I was just talking yesterday about the one time I got stuck in the smoking section of a plane back in the 80’s. I think the reason was because I accepted payment to get bumped from my original flight and the only available seat on my new flight was in smoking. The flight attendant apologized for where I had to sit, which one of the smokers overheard. After I sat down, that smoker turned to me and also apologized, adding for my information that she and her husband were going to “smoke a lot!”

My parents and I took a BOAC jet in 1971 from Toronto to Jamaica. The flight was empty. We were in this huge cabin and had at least 4 "stewardesses" waiting on us. Free and UNLIMITED champagne, great food on porcelain plates and real utensils. Of course, there was no security anywhere. Everyone was relaxed on board and laughing. It is such a great memory.

Old Southern Airways commercial:

Old paper ticket

You could walk up to an airline counter at the airport, pay cash for your ticket, get your ticket and boarding pass and walk straight to the terminal. I did that many times for short hops on Southwest. How freaked out would the airline be if you tried to pay cash today? How many forms of ID would you need to produce?

I'd read a tip that the vegetarian meals were tastier than regular, maybe because they were heated and served one at a time. At any rate, I flew a lot for work and tried it. They were tastier. I ate them with my stainless knife and fork. Collecting branded flatware was a hobby for some travelers. When I bought a set of flatware in a chest, I found some TWA spoons.

How many of these did you fly in yesteryear?

I still have an Air Canada Royal Doulton bowl that I swiped. I use it as as feeding bowl for my cat.

Airports smelled like jet fuel, which was oddly, somehow glamorous.

Originally, people smoked wherever they were seated. Then when "smoking sections" started becoming popular in restaurants, many airlines put the smoking section in the back 1/3 of the plane and often those were the lowest priced seats. Either way, it was awful if you weren't used to cigarette smoke. You ended up leaving the plane with your clothes smelling like smoke.

I knew Nazis, real WWII-era Nazis. Nazis were my "friends". R50 is no Nazi, R53.

Airline food is actually much better today than it was back in ten day. When you can actually get food, which you cannot, except in first clsss. But it is pretty good in first class when you can get it.

I remember First Class going to London, Barcelona and Paris with TWA. There were like 4 rows and 1-3 were non-smoking and 4 was smoking. I also remember that for the afternoon service they would bring out a whole smoked salmon and they carve it next to you. Now, a reheated sort of pizza will do in business.

Some of the older white female passengers could speak jive.

[quote]. I also remember that for the afternoon service they would bring out a whole smoked salmon and they carve it next to you.

I flew from Washinton, DC to L.A. in 1996 and there was still chef-like meal service in First Class. Business Class does not get that type of food service.

Through the early 90s, in the Classified ads of The Village Voice, you would see people trying to sell half their ticket. An ad would read "Male Traveller. One Way. JFK to San Francisco. $299."

Also, before 9/11, a fun way to travel was as a courier. Basically, you shared the expense with the courier service. They used your baggage space and you had to only have carry-on luggage. In NYC, there was a courier service and you would call their recorded line and they would list all the destinations they needed people to go. Sometimes you could get international flights really cheaply, but you had to be ready to go within 24 hours. I often called the recorded line just to hear destinations and in the early 90s, there were several weekly trips to Brussels. Are there any courier services like this left?

The stewardesses really were model-glamorous, not the old seniority-obsessed battle-ax Flight Attendants of today.

Delta's female flight attendants have to pass a surliness test coupled with a resting bitch face standard.

I will not fly DL for this reason. They are awful.

I first started flying in the mid 60's when I was a child and I remember loving it. We of course had to dress up to fly and the stewardesses took really good care of you, they would take us up front to meet the pilot and give us those little metal wing pins to wear. There were also games to play, cards and other stuff they would give you, sometimes they even let us sit in the big employee lounge area. Lots of great food and full course meals, which my brother would always spill on himself......!!

Also flying was expensive back then so you seemed to have a better class of people who you would travel with, there were never any disruptions or bad behavior.

As for smoking I think when I first started flying people were allowed to smoke in whatever seat they were in, it was only later that they added a smoking section which was usually further back in the plane, but as other have said there was no divider so that smoke would drift.

I also remember that there were seats that had plastic 'RESERVED' signs on them, and I remember taking some of those signs home for my collection of stuff, you know how that is when you are 9. Also me and my brother usually flew alone and it was never an issue. Flying then was fun and sorta glamorous.

[quote]Delta's female flight attendants have to pass a surliness test coupled with a resting bitch face standard.

Air Canada has an Overall Visual Pleasing Effect test. You can see standard test results below.

Open seats and most people wore their office clothes. You had bigger seats and they actually gave you a meal. They did not cry poor all the time and they treated their passengers with respect. People did not try and sneak 3 crying babies on board at one time. Flying was usually for adults.

I did not smoke and other peoples smoke rarely bothered me. Everyone was not a tightass, asshole.

Food was not good unless you were in First Class or Business Class. Food in those classes is still good today; I got to fly in Business Class once and the food was excellent. But you pay astronomical ticket prices for that, the difference is far more than the cost of eating at a fancy restaurant. In coach or economy today, you don't even get food unless you pay an extra charge on the plane, and even then it's not that great.

I flew quite a bit in the 1980s. The food in coach wasn't dreadful. I flew mostly around when they were serving lunch. It was usually something like a turkey sandwich on a roll with tomato and lettuce, a bag of chips, carrot sticks and a cookie. In coach, I never expected gourmet and was never disappointed.

Sometimes your seat mates are interesting. I once sat between a woman (imagine Lana from Three's Company) and this skeevy guy with a porn mustache. He kept talking over me to the woman trying to pick her up. It was like I wasn't even there. Towards the end of the flight, he said he would walk her to her connecting gate. She didn't even acknowledge he said that. I felt sorry for the poor woman because it was obvious she wasn't interested in him.

I feel sad that I never got to fly pre-9/11. My first flight was to go to a college interview when I was 18. I found it more annoying than anything else with all the waiting and layovers. If you can get a direct flight somewhere, you're in business, but God help you if you have a connection or a layover. Airports are super depressing to me for some reason.

If we took vacations as kids, we just took our family car and drove, so air travel sounded like it'd be so much better, but sometimes, it's really not. I've had layovers that were so long before that I could have driven there quicker.

I had my very first 1st class experience a few months ago and I thought it was lovely. My meals were very good and I loved the entertainment options on the little touch screen. The headphones they give you are pure shit, though and make it sound like everything was recorded in 1910. Switch them out for more professional headphones and it sounds great. I was very happy with the choices they had on the flight. I usually tend to like to watch more happy or uplifting things when I travel, so it fit the bill.

[quote]The headphones they give you are pure shit, though and make it sound like everything was recorded in 1910.

How old are you, r78?

Hijacking the plane and extorting big bucks was so much easier too.

I remember when I was very young being at the airport with my grandmother when she was taking a flight. She would buy life insurance out of a vending machine just for that one day.

One bonus of not being able to wait at the gate with someone else who's flying is that you don't have to stick around waiting for their dumb plane to take off.

People used to actually do that too.

I remember when the airlines got deregulated in the 80 and Peoples Expresss started flying from Columbus Ohio to NYC for 45 bucks roundtrip! It made it super affordable to go to NYC for just a few days a time and to get to really know the city, probably also why I decided to move NYC to finish college in a big fun town.

I even flew Peoples Express to London, I think it was around $300 bucks round trip from NYC, quite a bargain in those days. Oh, and yes you had to pay for you flight when on the airplane!

Food is still not good in Business. It is good to excellent in First Class. I have been lucky enough to have flown Lufthansa and ANA First Class and the food has been excellent but Business Class in AA, UA, Delta, BA...is usually rather mediocre. I make sure that I eat before the flight (If flying east) and sleep.

I used to fly standby. Boston to London and back. Buy the ticket in the afternoon and then wait to see if there was room on the flight that night. Always got a seat. In London I could buy it at the BA intown terminal near Victoria Station in the morning and was guaranteed a seat that day. It was so cheap.

I remember seeing courier flights advertised in the travel section of the newspaper classifieds. I had friends who did it, they were bonded because they worked in (British) casinos so they had their pick of flights.

Air travel sounded so comfortable and civilized before the Islamists showed up to ruin it, like they ruin everything else.

The Islamists didn't ruin it, R85; deregulation of the airlines got that ball rolling and the hijackers just finished the job.

R58's ticket is $576 from Melbourne to Sydney. That's a lot of money when adjusted for inflation.

The first time I flew first class in a 747, the first thing I did once we took off was go up the spiral staircase to check out the lounge. I was so disappointed to find it was, instead, stuffed with coach seats. Not at all what I had expected.

Airlines that no longer exist that I can remember flying... Eastern, Braniff, Republic, and USAir. This thread got me rummaging through a cabinet and yep - I have a deck of playng cards from National Airlines. And yes, this was an actual commercial for the airline... it was a very different world.

We flew Barcelona-Hong Kong and watched 3 movies and many tv series!

Those two porkers in r73's photo would never get hired by Singapore Airlines.

Stinkfish

Another agreement here - I used to wear suits as a child whenever we flew. No questions asked. You had to be dressed up. Food was OK - but the prices of tickets were a lot higher back then.

The price of tickets to Miami have not really changed much in 30 years. If bought in advance, I believe I paid around $200 roundtrip in mid-80's and flew for around $226 last year. That same ticket with inflation would be over $500 now.

Economy tickets to Europe would cost around $3000+ now if prices had kept up.

To be fair they changed the cabin air a lot more frequently back in the smoking days, so the odor really wasn't as bad as you might think, especially since you were used to people smoking everywhere. That said, when they limited smoking to those back rows it really turned into a ghetto. I smoked then, but I avoided sitting there on flights because everyone back there had a cigarette going from takeoff to landing.

Yeshteryear

My worst flight ever was in 1974. Bangkok-Mumbai-Beirut-Tehran-Paris on Air France.

It was a nightmare that never seemed to be ending. And the flight attendants were CUNTS.

ME: How long are we going to be stopped here?

FA: I don't know. I don't care. I'm getting off here.

Mrs. 'Arris Goes to Paris

[quote]Air travel sounded so comfortable and civilized before corporations showed up to ruin it, like they ruin everything else.

Fixed.

Western Airlines was the only way to fly.

So, concerning the print ad in OP's post, what if the plane hit turbulence while people were seated in the 'lounge' area? I don't see seat belts.

They were drunk so they rolled with it.

Age 5: flew to the Midwest with family to meet relatives on TWA. I got a little pair of pilot's wings and a deck of airline-branded cards, which people kept as a souvenir of the trip. Once we were in the air the flight attendant took me into the cockpit. I do remember the life insurance booths in the airport, and the fact that if you were meeting someone you could go right up to the gate.

Age 16: flew cross-country on a school trip. I had started smoking so I spent a good deal of time standing in the back of the plane, sharing the tiny ashtray built into the armrests of the seats. No one thought twice about smoking in planes then, or for that matter about older teenagers smoking.

I also remember a rack by the first row of seats, which had magazines in plastic binders. People would stop to peruse and select a magazine to take to their seat. Today people would have a stroke at having to wait while someone leafed through magazines.

Some neato photos here:

I was on a flight from New Zealand to Australia, maybe vice-versa, and they overbooked the flight. There was a tour group onboard, so they let the guide sit in a jump seat in the cockpit. I remember the door to the cockpit was open the entire flight. This was in the late '70's.

On flights with my parents I only remember wearing regular nice clothes but on my first long flight by myself, aged 15, my mother made sure I wore a blazer and tie so I'd look older.

And in the olden days the stewardesses always tried to get me into a seat where I could stretch out my legs completely because I'm 6'8", though every airplane seat used to fit me back in the early seventies. Now I'm cramped in business class and I wonder what NBA players do when they travel frequently. I need three days to recover from the discomfort now!

The blankets were 100% wool back in the day I stole one and still have it. I use it on cold winter nights when I'm sitting on the couch and watching the telly.

Best Flight Ever: From Aukland to LAX. The only people in business class were me and the National New Zealand Cricket Team.

This site has lots of historical photos and menus of airline meals from all over.

I would fly People Express between Houston where I worked and Newark every week. My mother was having cancer treatments at St. Barnabas in Livingston NJ. I'd fly out of Houston on a Friday and return on Sunday. One late Sunday, there were only a handful of passengers. The attendants knew me as this was something like my 15th R/T. Free drinks and I did get the number of a People Express manager flying into Houston for a training session. Didn't make the Mile High Club, but I still remember him.

I remember dragging my old, wheel-less suitcase from the bus to the checking terminal for my senior class trip to Orlando.

Adding wheels must have facilitated more people bringing their luggage on board. There's no way I would lug wheel-less luggage through an airport today.

I have a full color certificate of membership in the "Sky Cradle Club," given to me by American Airlines on June 27, 1960, when I was 3 months old. It was my first flight and it was from Fort Worth to San Diego, aboard American Airlines Flagship. It was signed by the captain and a stewardess. I still have it.

I also still have the certificate of my fist skydive jump, 18 years later (which I only did twice).

During the 70's and 80's my family and I flew often to South America as that is where my father is from. I remember distinctly being wakened in the wee hrs of the morn (around 1-2 am) to Maj the connecting flight to Miami International. For a young child it was actually quite overwhelming and scary being in such a large terminal with bright lights in pre- dawn hours and honestly my tendency was to be whiny at first- but God Forbid I even let out so much as a peep- my father made absolutely certain we marched onto the plane like martinets. I remember on one occasion my mother had me dressed in a crisp blue sailor dress with a bright red bow, white knee-high socks, Patten leather shoes- my best as others have said even though it was practically the middle of the night. The stewardesses on the flight- many Latin American- spoke excellent English, and had the most impeccable manners. And we wanted for none of the comforts such as blankets and pillows. And FYI the best part of such trips, if you are ever inclined to take one- is seeing the sunrise over the Andes. My father used to tell me the pilots purposely timed it that way- the better not to slam into the mountains, lol.

Airline travel was much more dangerous in the old days. Jeopardy was present with every flight.

Flying is such a pain in the ass now, I drive if it's reasonable.

Summer, 1971. I'm headed to Colorado to visit family there, my first flight. I'm dressed in my usual summer attire: T-shirt, cut-offs and flip-flops. My father is taking me to the airport, and as soon as he sees me, he orders me to get dressed properly. "You're getting on an airplane, not going to a flop house. Put on decent clothes instead of dressing like trailer park trash." Today, shorts, flip flops and T-shirts on planes is de rigueur.

R115, I am fortunate to frequently travel with my 71 year old father. Just this past year, 2017, I convinced him that a nice pair of dark jeans would not bring down a plane.

He agreed, since we were flying to the West Coast. Had it been East, no.

I find the recollections of people who fly commercial so very fascinating and exotic.

Northwest Orient, Airlines.

MGM Grand. I had a friend who flew it once. Staterooms, bedrooms, loads of celebrities.

MGM Grand

@R118 - I still recall the carrier's slogan: "Northwest Orient . . . Aiiiiirliiiines!"

LOL R120 the 80s were so tacky.

I thought it was "Northwest Orient Airrines".

It was 1985. I was a smoker.

While flying from Hartford to Seattle, monstop, I booked a ticket in the "Smoking Section." By the time I reached Seattle, I was nearly comatose from the cigarette smoke. (I never lit up.)

Nonsmoker ever since.

Well, so long as we don't go TOO far back!

I hated it when they allowed smoking on airplanes. The airlines, however, were thrilled when it was outlawed (or prohibited by FAA regulation, same difference since you can be arrested for violating the orders of the stewardess) because it meant they didn't have to open the vents to refresh the air in the cabin nearly as often, which costs the airline more than keeping them shut.

I read some time ago that on any flight over 3 hours, by the time the plane lands the air in the cabin is so filthy that it should be considered toxic.

[quote]I read some time ago that on any flight over 3 hours, by the time the plane lands the air in the cabin is so filthy that it should be considered toxic.

Recycled air in an airplane IS filthy.

^^^ My manager travels internationally, nonstop, quarterly.

Even though they fly Business, they are always sick when they return.

We really move our tail for you!

"Men Only" flights... cigars, pipes, steak dinners.

^ Was that code for gays only?

On cross-country flights they served actual three/four course meals that were 'cooked' on the plane. You would choose from a small menu as if you were at a restaurant. If you were vegetarian you'd let the airline know ahead of time and they made special provisions.

And there were complimentary magazines!

If you had wings....If you had wings....If YOU had WIIIIINGGGSSSS.

Someone mentioned that the corporations ruined air travel. Well, the airlines were always corporations but they were smaller and often run by the founders. Kind of like Steve Jobs and Apple. There was Juan Trippe at Pan Am; Eddie Rickenbacher at Eastern; Robert F Six at Continental( I think) and others like them. The executives didnt make 500X the average worker salary then and it was a more personal endeavor.

Stewadresses would give out little five-packs of cigarettes during flights.

I remember flying several times a year in Europe in the 70's/80's/90's and all of the alcohol was free, even in coach (cattle) class, the parties in the smoking section started at take off and we all usually landed with a drink in our hands. I even remember being given extra miniatures of vodka/gin etc to take off the plane if I remembered to ask.

You were also given unlimited wine with meals and everybody smoked

Not sure how we ever got to our apartments, I presume by taxi?

On 11/9 (9/11) I'd just landed in Malta (smoking banned by then but the stewardess allowed me a cigarette in the crew area, still drunk though) and everything changed.

Flying is so fucking miserable now.

I wonder if people got sick less from flying back then because the cabin air was refreshed more? Also smoke has cleansing properties.

I'd say so R138, the extra Fresh Air circulation due to smoking seemed to reduce the incidence of post flight sniffles.

Does anyone else remember the little 4-pack of cigarettes the airlines put on your dinner tray?

Well, I don't know if they all did this, but Delta sure did in 1967.

R140, I don't if anyone does, but R136 remembers the little five-packs of cigarettes.

Here

Omg. Old Gold's! I smoked them for years and loved them. I don't think they make them anymore.

Old Golds were good smokes r143! I'd get them from time to time instead of my usual Marlboros. I haven't seen them in years.

Not long ago I watched the Warren Beatty movie "The Parallax View." There's a scene where Warren HAS to get on a plane so he runs out while the stairs are still there, takes the first available seat, and pays the stewardess once he sits down. No one bats an eye. Blew.My.Mind.

How and why did the world have to get so fucked? But it did.

In "Outrageous Fortune" Bette Midler and Shelley Long showed up at a ticket counter in the airport with no luggage, paid cash for a ticket, and got right on the plane.

Honey, you don't need a ticket.

One of my biggest regrets is not having the money to fly Air France's Concorde.

R148 random fact: the reason Reba McEntire ended up doing Annie Get Your Gun was that she was supposed to fly to London on the Concorde, but the food truck knocked the door loose and she got stuck in NYC and went to see Bernadette in the show and then decided she had to do it.

My first overseas flight was in 1969 flying Vancouver to Amsterdam via Martinair - ( originally a Dutch charter company now specializing in cargo).

In those days we had to stop in Keflavik Iceland for refuelling.

Keflavik was an American forces base at the time - monitoring submarine and marine traffic during the Cold War.

Flights had no entertainment at all - no audio and certainly no TV screens .

However, the welcome on board drinks went on for the whole flight.

The entire passenger load would then achieve a level of intoxication that would last until people would just fall asleep or pass out.

Then the flight attendants would retire to the back galley and smoke.

I was 16, my brother 13 and coming from an abstaining family and being on our own, it was the first time we got drunk.

Oh...and the cigarettes were handed out to whoever wanted them - Marlboros.

What a summer- I could write a book.

We find it strange that DL sisters are ballistic about tobacco smoking yet they take drugs like crazy!

Better than eating shit like you're so fond of doing, Erna.

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

[quote] One of my biggest regrets is not having the money to fly Air France's Concorde.

Do you have something against British Airways?

Concorde is gone but the next generation of SSTs isn't very far off.

The Trump administration's fiscal year 2019 budget proposal for NASA includes full funding for an experimental supersonic airplane that could one day transport commercial-airline passengers faster than the speed of sound.

Known as the Low-Boom Flight Demonstrator (LBFD), this X-plane is scheduled to make its first test flight as early as 2021 and "would open a new market for U.S. companies to build faster commercial airliners, creating jobs and cutting cross-country flight times in half," the White House budget request states.

The goal of supersonic aircraft like LBFD is to make commercial airplanes that can fly faster than the speed of sound without generating a loud and obnoxious sonic boom, an ear-splitting noise associated with shock waves generated by an aircraft as it breaks the sound barrier.