The "defunct airlines" thread got me to remembering flights from years ago, and it reminded me of a frustration I experience on every international trip.

When I was a youngster in the 70's, it seems like every time we'd return to the U.S., the pilot would make his "prepare for landing" announcement, and would always close with "We thank you for flying with [whatever], and if you're an American, welcome home. " It was such a wonderful thing to hear. I wonder why you don't hear this anymore.

And not just for Americans, obviously. Why don't you hear "If you're a French citizen, welcome home" when descending into Paris, etc.?

And while I'm on the topic of pilot announcements, why is it that you so seldom hear "We'll be landing shortly," and so frequently instead hear "We'll be on the ground shortly"? It always makes me think they're not too sure about the "landing" part.

Was quite surprised to hear the Customs guy in DFW say "Welcome home, Sir" on arrival from Mexico a few weeks ago. Thought that was a nice touch & agree with you (OP) that we should hear it more often.

Edit to comment that the expression "Welcome home" carries weight with Vietnam vets. It still means a lot to hear it.

Nice gesture - as long as they also add something like "And if you are a visitor, welcome to the United States". Makes us feel wanted...

Citizenship doesn't mean the same to Europeans as it does to Americans. A lot of people here are not citizens of the country they live in. We move about a fair bit (just like Americans might move from Connecticut to California), and within the EU people usually keep the citizenship that they were born with. As a UK resident (but not a British citizen) I would feel slightly offended if someone were to make a distinction between British citizens and British residents. "If you live in the UK, welcome home" is fine. "If you're a British citizen, welcome home" is not.

It seems like on most every flight I have, that the purser says, On behalf of the entire crew, we hope you enjoyed your flight today and we thank you for flying United. We'd like to be the first to welcome you to XXXX. If this is your home, welcome home. If it's not, enjoy your stay.

Often times, the pilot says thank you and enjoy your stay here in XXX, as well. Maybe you need to switch carriers.

Singapore Airlines does this every time on arrival at Changi : "To all citizens and permanent residents of Singapore - welcome home". During the peak of SARS (when I was flying them into SIN almost on a weekly basis), they even modified the announcement to thank all visitors for choosing Singapore as a destination.

After years of traveling internationally and living in different countries around the world, I had a customs officer in Canada say "welcome home" to me last month for the first time. Then he sent me to secondary inspection....

AA seems to have a rule about this, because always on landing the purser finishes up with "and if you're returning home, then welcome home" or something along those lines. I've also noticed US Immigration officers usually say "welcome home" to me when coming back.

Back in the 70s, all the passengers would clap after a landing on a transatlantic flight. I still get the urge to clap on landing...

Back in the 80s, flying Air France out of Moscow, all the passengers would clap when the pilot announced, "We are now leaving Russian air space". Not just clap, but wildly.

Air NZ welcome you home to NZ.

Gee, imagine how offended the Soviet citizens must've felt.

Oh, that's right...Soviet citizens couldn't leave, could they?

maybe they were as happy as anybody else leaving russia

Other than smooth landings in awful weather, and once or twice after a looooooong time making holes in the same piece of sky, the only times I remember clapping were when the flight deck on Flying Tiger flight F248 announced:

"Gentlemen, we are no longer in Vietnamese airspace" at about 9:00am local on November 28, 1967, and "Gentlemen, we have just crossed the California coast and will be landing at Norton Air Force Base shortly. Welcome home." at about 8:15am PST on the same day.

Some departures and arrivals are more memorable than others.

On ever El-Al flight I've been on the cabin erupted in applause upon landing in TLV. It's a nice touch.

That happens on many smaller, international airlines, but I do agree it is very nice.

Certainly none of this clapping nonsense on British Airways flights. We're far too reserved !

Except one evening arriving back at Heathrow from Edinburgh some years ago. The First Officer spoke and said it had just been the captain's last landing after 38 years with the airline. And afterwards the skipper stood at the door and said goodbye and shook hands, adding about 10 minutes to getting off the plane for those at the back.