milepig

I know it no longer is possible, but I certainly miss pulling up in a cab, getting out, and walking right straight to my gate. No "be at the airport 2 hours early."

A story to show how much and how quickly things changed.

On 9/13 I tried to fly AAR-CPH-ORD. Europe hadn't yet figured out changes for internal flights and I walked right onto the plane at AAR with no inspection whatsoever. At CPH they originally boarded us onto the ORD flight before scrubbing the mission. Again, there was zero inspection during the transfer.

3 days later at my delayed departure from CPH we were practically strip searched.

chrisl137

but they were still mostly pretty awful. Usually overcooked and oversalted. I prefer the BoB that they have today over the food then. It was something of a game to figure out which special meals were better and call and order them.

I still don't show up at the airport 2 hours early - outbound I generally aim to hit the parking lot about an hour before my flight time, and the gate just as they announce boarding. Return it depends on where I am and what ground transport is like, but 1 hour is still typical. And I don't have precheck.

pinniped

+1. In the '80's, everybody complained about how bad airline food was. It was reliable material for stand-up comics everywhere.

To me, a genuine enhancement in the 21st century is that *most* airports that are large enough to originate long-haul flights also happen to have good food options in the terminal. If you're flying Y, you can usually bring something pretty decent onboard.

I cut it about that close at airports I know very well. But for ones I don't, it's usually about 2 hours early, especially if there's an exit immigration check. Although to be honest, I probably always did this...behavior hasn't changed by more than a few minutes due to changes at security checkpoints.

Proudelitist

I know what you mean! Sometimes you have to leave the US to appreciate that there are still airlines in the world that have civilized service. I was in Brazil a few months back and had the pleasure of flying on a domestic Avianca flight..short too. GIG to GRU, maybe 35 minutes.

I was utterly stunned..IFE in each seat, free drinks, and a hot lunch. US domestic air travel has really lowered the bar.

Cloudship

A big difference is where things are located in regards to security. At one point airports were designed for people meeting and sending off family and friends. Concessions and services were offered per-security, and there were plenty f places to wait. Most airports had some kind of observation area, whether that was in a tower or just a window overlooking the runway. These days pre-security offerings are slim to none, while post-security is becoming more and more a shopping mall.

Jeannietx

The last flight we took before everything changed was HOU-TUC.

We came off the plane into the terminal and DH's mom, 2 sisters and nephew were waiting for us.

I had forgotten about that until reading this thread.

milepig

Yeah. We lived close to ORD and my mom would frequently travel from GRR to LAX via ORD. I'd meet her at the ORD gate to be sure she got to the next gate as she was a bit, um, vague by that point in her life.

PTravel

I'm not sure where you get that figure. I mentioned, earlier, $300 transcon tickets on TWA in 1980. According to this, that's only $869 today, or about 2-1/2 times as much.

http://www.in2013dollars.com/1980-do...016?amount=300

Would I pay $869 for a transcon today that offers the same amenities, comfort and convenience as what I used to experience? Almost certainly.

PTravel

I think our definitions of "good food" and "decent food" may differ rather dramatically.

ExpatSomchai

Those mixed BA cabins of smokers and non smokers. As soon as the light went out puffff and then bing as all the non smokers asked why everyone was smoking.

chrisl137

That was a very welcome transition that started in the late 80s! In the 70s, airport food (at least at DTW) was about like Woolworths, but it sat longer. It was a big deal when airports started getting regular fast-food places, with the sit-down, cooked-to-order meals an even more welcome improvement.

nsx

I once flew on another person's ticket this way. I even made sure he earned miles!

Other fun facts:

1. In the late 1970's and early 1980's Eastern Airlines offered an Unlimited Mileage Fare allowing 3 weeks of travel for about $300. I bought those two years and flew all over the Caribbean and the US. It was mileage running before flights earned miles.

2. Continental offered a "Get up and Go" Passport for seniors. For $1795 you could fly once a week, anywhere, for a year. I met a guy who said he bought two of them so he could fly round trip each week. This was 1988 and he earned triple miles for all those flights!!

3. As its financial condition weakened, Eastern offered lifetime Ionosphere Club memberships for $700, or $900 including a spouse. I bought one. Continental took over the obligation, and now it's a rare United Club lifetime membership.

4. In 1979 I paid $19 for a Pan Am 747 repositioning flight between SFO and LAX. There were only 7 people on it. Next time I saved $6 more by flying standby.

6. People Express flew 747's transcon but their galleys had no stoves. They served cold steak in First Class. The North Terminal in Newark was third world.

CDTraveler

My parents made several trips to/around the SU in the 80's. From one of those trips there is a photo of my Mom and the woman seated next to her who happened to be holding a basket with 3 live chickens. Elsewhere on the plane were several piglets, but Dad didn't manage to get a photo of them. I think that flight was to somewhere in Georgia.

IanFromHKG

Gosh, this brings back some memories. Especially the mention of smoking. I remember checking in for a flight on a Chinese airline (I forget which) in China back in the day when a large proportion of the population smoked like chimneys. I checked in, and then suddenly remembered as the agent passed over my boarding pass that I hadn't specified a non-smoking seat. So I smiled sweetly, handed my boarding pass back and asked for a non-smoking seat. Wordlessly, she took a rubber stamp from the side of her desk and stamped "No Smoking" on the boarding pass. So, hey presto!! I was in my very own little non-smoking section, precisely the size of my seat! Not that it would have made much difference - as someone once commented, having a no-smoking area in an aeroplane (he actually said restaurant, but the same applies) is like having a no-pissing area in a swimming-pool...

I remember interminable queues to check in (no bypassing that with online check-in), keeping your fingers crossed for decent seats or having to arrive indecently early to get them (my grandmother always insisted on arriving hours before departure in order to get an exit row seat), having to take books or puzzles to entertain oneself* or listen to one of the 12 audio channels on stethoscope-style headphones or if you were lucky watching the "main screen" film shown with a three-colour overhead projector (one of the colours was always misaligned), and for some bizarre reason every meal seeming to include canned tuna. Maybe that's just because I hate canned tuna. Oh, and on some airlines, the stewardesses (as they then were) coming round with baskets of boiled sweets before take-off and landing to help your ears pop.

On the other hand, as mentioned above, there was a glamour and novelty to flying that made it special. No bad behaviour, and a certain pathetic gratitude on the part of the passengers that they were getting any service at all.

Flying at the pointy end was a real privilege, and nobody needed to ask DYKWIA.

I loved it. I still love flying, but for very different reasons!

* Edited to add: Oh yes, someone above mentioned playing cards!! My family still regularly use a pack of playing cards from Singapore Airlines, which lives in our car and is hauled out each time we go to lunch so that we can play a game while waiting for our meal to arrive :-)

invisible

With LCC in Asia one can do name change with fee. Quite common to see messages at travel forums here in Singapore 'Selling Jetstar flights to XXX, will pay for name change fee'