At first glance, this one may not seem that impressive....but given the circumstances it was definitely the earliest overall flight experience I ever had prepare for:

August 1990 Pan Am Tel Aviv to Paris
Departure 6:00 am
Mandatory 3:00 am check in

First busses get to the airport around 5, so I had to take the last bus the night before. Got there at 11:30, had to wait til 3:00 to check in.

I thought it would be a waste of time checking in at 3:00. Despite being one of the first in line I was subjected to incredible security scutiny (I was a college kid backpacking). I barely made my 6:00 flight...after being interrogated for at least 2 hours.

And the kicker: they couldn't believe that a 19yr old college kid (blonde hair, blue eyed honkie) would have accumulated enough miles to earn a free ticket to Israel...that's what set off the initial interrogation.

Absolute nightmare. Made the coach service in the twilight of good ole Pan Am seem like the lap of luxury.

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AA PLT