We thought it sucked, at the time.
You were stuck with whatever movie the airline chose to show, and no one ever wrote home about the food (though I don't think it was quite as awful as it is now - for one thing, you'd often get a lump of meat instead of everything being cut up and smothered in sauce, so you could at least tell what you were eating). Seats were definitely better padded and a bit longer. I really never understood why smoking was permitted, between the smoke and the open flames in such a small space with so much downside if anything went wrong.
I recall flying on Ward Air, a Canadian airline that served dinner on tablecloths and china even in economy class.
The big thing was you didn't have to get to the airport so much in advance, security wasn't such a huge deal, and people seeing you off could walk you to the gate.
wg