A few of my recollections of Delta in the 1980s:

1. Really friendly and charming flight attendants. I remember an L-1011 flight from Frankfurt to DFW right after the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, when no one was travelling to or from Europe. There were about 12 passengers on the plane, and as a result the cabin crew just kind of mingled and socialized with the passengers for the entire flight. That would never happen now.

2. The Salt Lake crews were often somewhat eccentric, maybe a legacy from the acquisition of Western, wich was sort of a "Mom and Pop" airline.

3. For frequent business travelers, the agents would do pretty much anything for you to get you to your destination. I remember one occasion when they couldn't get me to Newark so they called ahead for weather forecasts and booked me first class to Allentown and even pre-booked a car service for me, too, Again, that kind of personalized service would never hapen today.

4. Food was awesome, even on short flights like Oakland to Salt Lake.

5. Upgrading was really easy. Frequent flyer award tickets were always available. Those days are long gone.