CMK10

Uber is another one I forgot. No more worrying about finding a cab, calling a cab or whether the cab was going to take credit cards. Plus you can earn Starpoints from them.

PAX_fips

all of the above - and this forum of course :-)

CALlegacy

I started flying in 1945 so the list might look like this:

1. Safety
2. Reliability
3. Speed
4. Accessibility, meaning cost, schedule, and routings
5. Convenience (with qualifications)
6. Comfort (with qualifications, but just contemplate smoke free cabins for one and noise for another)

I rate electronic amenities on airplanes as a negative rather than a positive.

Q54701

I appreciate a quiet landing without applause

V800

LCCs allowing me to fly one way or not stay Saturday night for a reasonable fare.
Non smoking flights.
Online booking and e tickets.
Online check in and avoiding the window seat without a window allocated by the vindictive check in agent.

ajGoes

Just remembered something else which has improved since my first flight. As the one family with "babies" (actually the youngest of us kids was four), we were seated at the bulkhead. At mealtime, the FAs gave us thick pillows to balance our trays on. The bulkhead seats didn't have tray tables.

Beven12S

1. There are more flights/day now for certain O and D routes which is offset by the inconvenience of connecting when you are on a non-O&D route.

2. Information (internet and its implications) is much better which has nothing to do with aviation.

3. No smoking (again has nothing to do with the airline industry).

4. For a passenger like me (generally will not pay for J/F, although I pay for EvenMoreSpace/EconPlus/and its ilk) the option of E+ is nice. However, that is offset because airlines make E+ passengers pay for standards that existed before (I'm guessing 1990).

Austin787

Improvements which benefited me most:
* Google flight search
* Online booking
* e-tickets
* Online check in and kiosks
* Airplane safety
* PTVs including flight map
* Power plugs on planes
* Wifi in airports
* Lie flats
* Extra legroom seats
* Seatguru
* Flyertalk, and the information on how to improve my travels
* Uber
* Google maps app
* Flight Aware

Proudelitist

The most fundamentally good change has been the online aspect. When I started flying frequently in the early 90's, you still had to call the airline to do anything..including booking, changing seats etc etc. Now you can do most of that online, and more. I can monitor the seat map until the last possible second and get the seat I want. I can book, cancel, apply miles, change reservations and even check the turbulence forecasts on my own. Online check in has saved me a line up..and I love printing out the BP before I arrive at the airport. Aside from Security and Boarding, I can avoid lines all together.

And while the drop in average airfares has allowed the unwashed lumpenproles to crowd the planes, the basic services have improved. I don't complain about loss of meals on domestic. They were crap..no point complaining about losing a crappy meal. But lie flat seats never existed back in the day. In seat screens, wireless, on-demand content...back in the day you would watch a projection movie on a screen. F seats were just big Y seats. The A380 has a freaking SHOWER. Singapore Airlines has little suites with beds in them. Sooooo much better than it used to be.

Q54701

I assume you mean using it in flight with your GPS and offline maps cache :-)

travelmad478

Many things that others have also mentioned (online booking, e-tickets, flat bed seats, AVOD)...and GLOBAL ENTRY.

darthbimmer

Several huge things that have improved since I started traveling on my own 20-25 years ago are not travel industry changes but are broad technological or social changes:

1. The information age. Find virtually any necessary information online, conduct commercial transactions, stay in touch with friends.
2. Hand held devices put all the power of #1 in my pocket.
3. Wireless connections mean #1-2 work in virtually any populated area.
4. Credit cards accepted very widely, virtually eliminating the needs to carry lots of cash. (When my grandfather traveled in the 1950s and 60s he carried cash equal to $4000 in 2015 money for a week-long family trip.)
5. International banking, so that when I do need foreign currency it's completely reasonable just to walk up to an ATM in the airport arrivals hall and withdraw it.
6. Broader social acceptance of women traveling. (People who know I'm a guy may think it strange I include this point. I do so because I remember to this day the moment in 1996 when my then-fiancee (now wife) and I checked in for our first hotel stay together and the manager leaned over the counter with a scowl and said to her, "Do your parents know you're doing this?")
   

A few things specifically travel industry related that have improved:

1. NO SMOKING ON AIRCRAFT. (Okay, not specific to the travel industry, but good lord, what a difference in confined spaces.)
2. The cost of air travel, in real dollars, has plummeted compared to even 20 years ago.
3. Airports have lots of food choices now, not just the nondescript cafeteria.
4. More and more airports have free wifi.

TravelerMSY

Generous bank and airline marketing has really improved travel for most of us here by allowing one to amass millions of miles without flying a single revenue ticket. As well as establishing a shadow market for premium cabin tickets that would be out of reach otherwise.

This site, and many like it, simply wouldn't exist without bank marketing.

danielonn

What has really improved and helped me since I began flying is Flyer Talk here I can learn a lot about travel, frequent flier miles, upgrades and more. I also like Social Media and being able to Tweet an airline during a delay. Also online checkin is a godsend as I can avoid the long lines of the checkin counters and just go to the Bag Drop.

The internet has helped me to find good deals on flights, compare hotel rates and more. Without the internet my travel would be boring.

RustyC

I get your point but I think it still depends a lot where you're going. All over the U.S. people are making banksters rich by buying even $2.22 hotdogs at Quiktrip on credit/debit cards (saw a guy try to do that last night and get DECLINED), but in regions like SE Asia it's a different story. Because banks over there WON'T cover fraud losses on their cards the acceptance among locals is much lower, and merchants in many places can charge extra for cards, unlike in the U.S. There's also rampant fraud, which makes it a good thing your U.S.-issued card will cover fraud losses.

It's certainly better than, say, 30 years ago, but I'm not as sure about now vs. the late 90s in a lot of places. Today you've got a lot more fee gouging and even credit cards trying to charge in USD to get 3% or so and issuers still charging conversion fees on that, etc. Banks have really targeted the whole area for piling on fees, and this was well after ATMs had already saved them billions by replacing people.

In Europe it's pretty undeniable that the euro has saved a lot of hassle if going to more than one country. Though people will swear the conversion was used as an excuse to raise prices.