Originally Posted by
PIONEER
jlemon, I totally agree. I did a lot of F travel to HNL on UA in the 80's, and a lot of Int'l travel on DL about 1985-1995. The experience on both airlines (and presumably others such as AA, not to mention departed airlines such as PA and TWA) was so much better than today that it's hard to describe. For example, when DL had 3 cabins, business class was great, and First Class was fantastic. For several years, int'l F on DL was so exclusive that you couldn't get an upgrade or free ticket...you just had to buy a full fare F ticket. The cabin service started off with Dom Perignon, then beluga caviar and frozen Russian vodka followed by great entre's. Other things different from today were that F was often not at all full , and those in F (or hoping for an upgrade) would often wear a coat and tie, or comparable for the ladies. But then came the discount carriers, and later the impact of higher fuel prices and 9-11, and it hasn't been the same since. Nobody's fault, that's just the way it is. (I just did a long Intl trip on DL, and thought it was fine, just not as great as 20 years ago.)
Right you are, PIONEER! I also fondly remember when DL had an intl. hub at PDX. The lounges were great and besides the transpac service one could catch a three class MD-11 to LAX and if I remember correctly a three class L-1011 to ATL. That was back in the day when little ole Monroe, Louisiana (where DL began ops as a crop dusting outfit) actually had B727-200 flts to DFW and ATL. Ah, those were the days! I'm currently Plat Elite with CO and while that has been nice enough over the years, who knows what shall happen when the gigantic "new UA" lumbers onto the scene?