Flying in the 60s compared to now!
 

Amazing differences according to this: http://mysite.verizon.net/vze6l53f/w...ikeinthe1960s/

A few of the majors:
1) All airfares to a particular destination were exactly the same.

2) no security of any form. You could even go out on the tarmac to board your plane unattended, or watch the planes on an observation deck.

3) Wearing a t-shirt or jeans would have caused a major disruption

4) fliers were mostly men and the stewardesses would dress sexy to entertain them

Regarding flying in the 60s and 70s, you might get a kick out of this post:

TWA FIRST CLASS DEN-JFK 1972 ~ The Good Old Days

many of those same stews are still flying today, but with updated uniforms and job titles.

Kids (as I was then) got junior pilot wings and anyone could get decks of playing cards with the airline logo.

We had to dress up in "school clothes" just to enter the airport (ICT) to meet our dad coming back from a business trip. If we were in "play clothes", we had to stay in the car.

Another huge difference: The very first time Yours Truly flew on an airplane she was bumped up to First Class. Braniff ICT to Love Field in Dallas, 1966.

coach seats were fine.....6' 3" 200 lb.....sat in back of a stretch dc8 on weekly transcons, no prob.....did a $15 ug to 1st & thought it wasn't worth it....

the carriers were regulated & the employees loved it.....

Airports need more observation decks. They have them at most airports in Japan.

Fill in the blanks
With abundance of caution..........................................
New FAA regulation........................................ ....
In interest of national security........................
For your safety and that of your fellow passengers......................
In order to ensure aviation safety................................
In post 9/11 world.................................
I don't want to pay more in PFCs than already do.

I loved the obsevation decks. CLE, CMH, PIT, DCA. I can still smell the jet fuel.

I flew for the first time in 1972, when I was 2 months old. My parents were going on a trip and sent me to stay with an aunt and uncle for a week. My dad had an ex girlfriend who was a stewardess. She picked me up on her way to the airport and "flew me" to my aunt and uncle's city-they picked me up from her at the airport.

I can't believe this happened and certainly don't think it would ever happen today!

Started flying in the '60's--then versus now
 

--Standby prices @ 50% of regulated coach fees
--Folks dressing up to fly
--Cabin bags (a smaller version of messenger bags) for flights over 4 hours, paid for and delivered by your travel agent (remember them?)
--Decks of cards
--Drinks in all classes
--Champagne upon boarding for flights from PHL to the islands, even in coach
--Tables at some of the seats, real tables with folks sitting facing each other
--Some empty seats on flights
--No screening or security of any kind
--Baggage checked at the curb and delivered within a few minutes of landing
--Visits to the cockpit
--A much nicer feel that travel was, indeed, special as were you as the flyer

and on and on.

In the early 70's I was flying PSA for $12 on their nightly Midnight Special between LAX and SFO.

Complimentary cigarettes.:confused:

Then - the 4 engines 707's and 747 (flew my 1st. one in 1971 on AA) in the non-smoking section, boarding from the rear (up the stairs on the 707 and via jetbridge for the 747, SFO-JFK) 2 pc. of checked luggage up to like 28"+ free.
Cashew nuts/peanuts, soda/coffee or tea to be followed by meal services, etc. in any class of services.

Now - the 747's are still flying, updated but still rule the skies as far as I am concerned. Non-smoking flights only. Practically nothing is free & everything else is extra (okay, elite/status flyers having flown a million miles & the carrier is still in business) Peanuts & edible meals in coach - NOT on North America routes.

The few things I remember as a child then.

Horrible cigarette smoke in the main cabin. I never flew first as a kid. But probably smoke there as well.

Hats on the Stewardesses. Nice dresses. High heels. Manors from EVERYONE flying. Oh, many men wore hats too, but took them off on the plane.
Yep, we walked right out to the plane. No security. Nothing. Like boarding a pleasure boat.

Mom and dad and all other passengers dressed to the nines. It was a special thing to fly. Like going to church. Guys wore suits. Women wore dresses or skirts (too young to remember exactly what).

Pilots all looked like they were out of Esquire magazine. To a kid anyway.

Hey, this could be just the distant memories of a kid in the 60's. But that's what I remember.

Couldn't tell you - us lay people couldn't afford to fly back then. My father had a friend who traveled for work a couple times a year - even for him it was a big deal that required lots of prep time and planning. I cant imagine doing it regularly back in those days - would be so much work.

It definitely was more romantic, and I do remember going to the airport and not having to go through security - I remember dropping someone off - forget who - but not only could we walk straight through security - they even let us on the plane to get to see what pone of them looked liked inside! I did fly shortly after deregulation. I remember loading being a much longer but much more relaxed and comfortable process. That could of course also be because planes were rarely over 2/3rds filled. Never an issue with carryons. Always got meals. That's why they still have such a bad reputation. Of course I also remember that a short flight from BOS to IAD at least got a sandwich if not a meal.

But I also think that we probably block a lot of the more unpleasant bits - the fact few people could even afford to fly and a trip to Florida was once in a lifetime. Flying was great if you were a straight white male, but if you were a single female, well, just watch it. Hope you didn't want to breathe, because there was smoking and might as well be smoking class. Luggage was a pain to carry, connections required changing airlines, safety was certainly more lax, and buying a ticket and selecting a seat took a few days and required professional assistance!

^ to this. If I were around in the '60s, I would never have set foot on a plane. I kind of like the current system where even someone on an average US/European salary can afford to jet off to pretty much anywhere in the world.

Bingo.

I was born in 1967. When you listen to my parents talk you realize that back then flying was a perk for the well-to-do.

In 1971 my parents flew our family back to England for a holiday - 2 adults, 2 kids. They had to take out a bank loan to afford the coach class airfares.

You want to experience free meals, good seats, free liquor and good service transcon today? Buy a business class ticket. You'll still pay less, indexed to today's dollars, than an economy class ticket transcon would have cost you in the 60s.

...a fact most people choose to conveniently forget.

It was easier to fly to Cuba from the U.S. in the early '60s.

In the 60s we had C 47s, 2 engines AA out of Indy, and they even let you on the plane to look around while it was on the ground....

TSA guy were bagage handlers back then working for tips...

Yeah, whether you wanted to or not! :D

Youth Standby half fare. This is when I reallly started flying as kid. I never was deined a flight, always seats. One Saturday I was suppose to get a haircut. I flew standby CLE-PIT on a NW 727 and got my haircut at the PIT airport. From what I recall price was only 7 buckes each way.

I remember NO storage bins above the seats, just corded racks, like being on a bus.
Strangely, I was on a plane that had this configuration in the late 80's during a peak travel holiday. They must have dragged this airship out of mothballs to cover the holiday load.

I had a similar experience around 1987, but it wasn't a mothball situation. I was flying El Al, on a 707 (the last time I can remember being on one of those aircraft). They had the open storage racks on that plane. I remember, even then, thinking that it was odd.

Yes. My flight yesterday, CO 47, FRA to IAH, was staffed with several seniors.

The #2, #3 and #9 on the seniority list were on board and gave better service then those many many years younger on previous flights.

No wheeled luggage in the 60s!

Not so odd now that you mentioned it, on a mainland China flight CAT to HKG in Feb. 1986, might've been a narrow-body 707, a 40 minutes flight to the good old Kai Tak Airport. Boarding from the tarmac on stairs and the plane started moving before everyone find their seats & stowed their luggages into the bins overhead, corded racks/bins like those on Greyhounds. FA handed out tiny 8 oz juice boxes and a fruit, perhaps it was a banana (you start losing memory with age ...) as it was a very short flight and seat belt & no-smoking signs were on most of the time, not that many pax cared - could barely see from end to end with them lighting up, LOL.

Even the kid's wearing a blazer
 

Except for the cigarette thing, I'm ready to go.
Transport me back to 1961!

http://ocdeals.ocregister.com/files/...eFoodOnset.jpg

Compare with now...
 

http://images.dailydawdle.com/need-pants-t0-fly.jpg



Mods, if this post is deemed offensive please delete it!
Just meant as humor :)

LOL!!! :D

Classic!

This actually is kind of how I remember flying as a child in the 1970s; at least, it captures the sense of occasion I felt. Except on TAA (long ago absorbed into Qantas) they served salmon ribbon sandwiches in economy. With branded, non-disposable, salt and pepper shakers. And chocolate mousse if you were lucky. But the tea and coffee were as undrinkable then as they are today.

Cockpit tours.
Sitting in the cockpit for landings at Kai Tak.
The brace position was head on knees no matter where you were sitting in the cabin.

Just going to the airport, to see off grandparents leaving for a European grand tour, or to pick someone up - you ALWAYS picked them up from the airport in those days - was a major event in itself. I truly believed I could see my grandfather waving to me through the window of a taxiing plane as I stood on the observation deck!

Great thread!

In 1967, I was on a trip to Europe with my parents, grandmother, and brothers. We were at the gate at LHR waiting for a flight to Oslo when a BEA (British European Airways) employee came up and said apologetically, "Ladies and gentlemen, your flight to Oslo will be delayed for approximately two hours due to mechanical problems. Please follow me."

She led us into some room somewhere (an airline lounge?) where we were treated to a buffet of generously sized sandwiches and tea.

Imagine that happening nowadays!

I fly to go places, not to eat or drink, but the one thing that was definitely better in the old days was the seats in Y. I've been the same size since I was a teenager, but I never felt cramped, not even on trans-Pacific flights, until the early 1990s.

Good service on a transcon?

Maybe (with luck) on CX flying YVR-JFK. When was the last time you got great service on AA/UA/US ? :rolleyes:

Also, buying a business class ticket doesn't throw the slobs out of the plane. People wearing flip flops, sweatpants, eating stinking fast food and spilling a McD Milkshake over their seat. Even in F... I guess the atmosphere is the biggest difference in flying today ./. the 60s/70s.

Last month. Flying on AA, YYZ-LAX. The FA memorized all J passengers' names on her first pass through the cabin and addressed each of us by name throughout the flight. Constantly coming through checking on drink refills, food, making sure everything's okay, and/or just to chat; I don't think she sat down the entire flight. Absolutely top-notch.

Is that TWA Tea he is getting?

I flew TWA as a kid around 1970.
--I remember that seat selection was performed at the gate. The GA had a seatmap with a sticker for each seat. Your pointed to where you wanted to sit and she would affixed the stickers to your tickets.
--You received a printed menu even in coach (or 'excursion' or 'tourist' class).
--They had tissues on the headrests that were replaced between flights.
--On some TWA planes the lavs had small, individually wrapped bars of soap like you would find in a Holiday Inn. You were free to open one for your own use and discard.
--Cocktails were free, even to a 15 year-old, as I found out when I was able to sit 10 rows behind my parents.

Recalling my first semi-transcon, ACT/DAL/BNA/WAS (1950s) in a series of DC-3s, 2/1 seating, plenty of room, but about as comfortable on a Summer afternoon as your average roller-coaster, the old days left a lot to be desired. DC-6s, and the twin Convairs were not exactly smooth and quiet on some runs. The 2 best service on "Y' class jaunts I remember were an Alitalia Caravelle from Franfurt to Naples (1962) and a BCal 747, IAH/LHR(1981) followed by a helo transfer to Gatwick (or maybe the other way around, but a low, scenic overflight of Windsor) due to a late arrival. The worst? The rebooked connection to EDI in a BOAC/BA? Viscount shuttle, the dirtiest worst maintained cabin in memory. I was shocked to find BCal used tea bags in Y, destroying the expectation of teapots....

The "Cigarette" thing really was horrible for me right through the 70's when they finally banned cigarette smoking. Being in a tube filled with smoke was not fun - as a lifelong non-smoker. Yes, there was a smoking/non-smoking section, but that was like restaurants where two tables away, someone was smoking and it was "OK' because they were in a smoking section.

That picture looks more 50's era than 60's. It's not what I remember. 60's was a little more modern. I tend to think there were pull down shades on the windows, if memory serves.

It was a glorious time to fly IMO. I wish I was older and could have appreciated it, but if that were the case, I'd be long since retired now.

Our airport had an "Observation Deck" where you could stand outside and watch the planes come up to the terminal within about 30 yards from you. I'd always love to watch the pilots and stewardesses get off the plane. It looked like the scene in "Catch Me if You Can" where DiCaprio was walking through the airport flocked by pretty Stewardesses. Sorry folks, we're talking ERA talk. They were Stewardesses back then, not Flight Attendants! ;)

The ONLY thing I've seen since then was about 10 years ago at a Hilton near an airport in NY. Lufthansa flight crew walking through the lobby. Men looked like models out of a 60's airline magazine. Women looked like they were frozen in time. Even wore the hats. Amazing.

Perhaps what has changed isn't the airline or service, but our lives. Back then, flying was part of the whole experience. Heck, even into the 80s you looked forward to the flights as much as you did to what you are getting there for.

Nowadays, flying is just one little part of your whole trip. In many cases the whole trip is less than pleasant, you are not doing it for fun, you are not doing it to relax - you are stresses, worn out, short on time, and stuck as a prisoner in a travel time warp. The last thing you want to do is have to get all dressed up and prim and proper. This is relax time - the few hours you have where you can kick back, know no one is going to interrupt you or drag you away, there is nothing new about it and everyone flies these days. We dont necessarily WANT it to be something special. Perhaps that is where trains come in again, or cruises.

Ditto YYZ->YVR biz class on AC a month back. Same story.