RosemaryT

It's Christmas and Christmas is about nostalgia, so I thought it'd be fun to share a few stories with the youngsters here about what flying was like back in the day, pre-TSA.

In the early 1990s, I took my mother to the airport in Norfolk and we were checking in at the counter. This was the "dinosaur days" when you got a boarding pass from a real human being.

So I hefted my Mom's old Samsonite to the agent behind the counter and he looks at my sweet, 70-something, white-haired mother and asks, "Now I'll need an honest answer to this question. How many bombs did you put in your suitcase for your trip to California?"

It was kinda funny. And we all chuckled.

The point (which may be lost on our TSOs here), is that it was so absurd to imagine my sweet-faced, white-haired mother doing anything malicious that the agent felt foolish even asking her "the bomb question."

Can you imagine such a thing happening today?

What's your favorite happy memory?

IrishDoesntFlyNow

Pre-TSA? My most favorite memory goes back to pre-security-of-any-kind. My very first commercial flight happened in the 60's. I was a teen. My first trip to Europe, off to a summer at La Sorbonne. I remember walking across the tarmac and savoring the excitement of this incredible way to travel. Standing at the top of the boarding stairs and waving to my parents (seeing me off from the edge of the tarmac) and feeling oh-so-sophisticated. Sitting in the jumpseat in the cockpit next to the navigator and learning about the mysterious methods they used to find their way across the ocean.

Pre-TSA, but post-security, I remember going through a checkpoint looking for my driver's license when my badge case fell from my handbag. The security officer picked it up, perused it briefly, and asked "Officer, are you carrying your weapon?" "Ma'am," sez I, "look at it again; it's the Health Department. We're not usually armed." I flashed her a smile and we all laughed -- I and the passengers within earshot, AND the security officer. They had a sense of humor then.

~~ Irish

Pharaoh

I vividly remember my first airport in the mid/late 1960s. Bradley Field (Hartford/Springfield).

Gates were gates. Really. After tickets were pulled everyone was marshalled in a small outside area (maybe it had a roof, I don't recall) with a few picnic tables, just outside the terminal. It was surrounded by a three foot high anchor fence and there was one small anchor fencing gate, just like you see nowadays (but not at airports!).

The agent opened the gate (I believe this was pre-boarding cards) and we walked out to the DC-3 or, if you got the "new" plane, the C-580.

It was all Allegheny back then for me. Later on I recall being on their brand new, shiny DC-9 for the PHL-BDL flight. (They now competed with Mohawk's BAC 111 jet.) Man, that was great!

VH-RMD

in the 70's myself and my two sisters used to fly CBR-MEL each Sunday and return each Friday.

Ansett DC9's and 727's, chain fences and a real gate, boarding passes were hand written.

Very similar to Pharaoh's experience 10 years earlier.

vicarious_MR'er

this is from as recently at early 2001.

Buying large Swiss Army Knives onboard SwissAir from their duty free sales, and being given the knife on the spot

LessO2

Buying a last-minute bottle of wine at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris.

(I refuse to buy anything from airport concession stands since the liquid insanity took effect)

Drince88

Seeing my Dad off at the gate on business trips. And being there to greet him right as he walked through the doorway.

I actually had a 'no security' experience just 6 years ago. In Bora Bora, where the only planes hop to other islands. It was VERY surreal. (You did have to go through security/etc on Tahiti before getting on the 'big plane'.)

sobore

Almost sounds bizarre by todays standards.

vicarious_MR'er

I know!

If I hadn't bought several myself, I'd think i was lying. LOL

Foxhat

I remember always carrying a small Swiss Army knife in my backpack as I traveled around the globe. The only place they ever questioned it was in Japan where they made me promise not to take it out of my backpack during the flight.

meisterau

In 1993, my husband flew from Chicago to meet me in Rome. He had our baby in a back pack - she was one year old, carrying a car seat and wheeling his suit case and the baby bag. The agents helped him around security bypassing the machines and wished him good luck. One agent helped him change the kid's diaper. Guess they felt sorry for him

mozgytog

In 1989 my grandma went to Europe and after she was there for 2 weeks we picked her up at the airport. The pilots of the flight that was leaving the gate before her plane arrived saw my sister and me looking excitedly out the windows and took us on an impromptu cockpit tour even though we weren't flying anywhere.

It was the best trip to the airport ever.

catocony

My favorites? Waking up at my house in Arlington VA at 6:00 AM, grabbing a quick triple-S, out the door at 6:30, driving 10 minutes to National, arriving at 6:40 - and sitting in seat 1D on my US Air flight by 6:50AM, perfectly on-time for a 7:00 AM departure, stress free and looking forward to my flight and my work day.

No "we close the door 10 minutes early" crap. No TSA crap. Just a five-minute walk from the C section of the garage to the C gates (sometimes B), sans boarding pass, with a one-minute stop for security, then checking in and getting my boarding pass a measly 15 minutes before scheduled departure.

I only did this, on average, around 4 times a month for about 3 years.

LessO2

You made a one year-old carry a car seat, wheel daddy's suitcase and carry its own diaper bag?

(I know what you meant....just trying to lighten the mood around here)

RosemaryT

Here's a picture of the "gate" (chain-link fence) at Norfolk Regional Airport in 1953 or 54. My mother is standing there with my two older brothers. Note how she's dressed.

I think she is boarding a DC 4 (but not sure).