What was flying like back in the day?

The first time I flew in America on a domestic flight was 1979 I think? There was airport security. You had to go through a metal detector. Liquids didn’t matter, you kept your shoes on. I don’t remember if we took our coats off before 9/11, but I know I didn’t have to take off a cardigan sweater or sweat jacket. I’m trying to remember if we showed ID at security? We did to get our boarding pass. You didn’t need a boarding pass to go through security. Family would walk you down to the gate, or meet you at the gate.

Almost all flights had meals even in coach. All the big brands like TWA, American, United, Pan Am, done of the discount airlines didn’t or just had a snack. When I say meal I mean meat, a starch, a veggie. My first flight was 2.5 hours from DC to Florida coach and I are steak and potatoes. A small portion, but still there is nothing like that on domestic coach today in America that I know of.

I’m just remembering that not long before 9/11 I flew to Mexico with 4 bottles of water I brought from home in my carry-on luggage. Although, 9/11 didn’t change the liquids rule I don’t think. Wasn’t it some other attempted bomb after 9/11?

The seats had more leg room, or I’m just bigger now.

Many Americans talk about flying long ago when people dressed nicely for the occasion, more class. Here’s the thing I think that complaint is garbage. First, in case of a fire, God forbid, it’s best to be wearing natural fibers and comfortable shoes. Have you ever seen polyester near a flame? Do you want to jump or go down an evacuation slide in 5 inch heals? Do you want to try to rest on a red eye in a suit? Comfortable clothes make sense for a flight.

I flew from Bogata, Colombia to Miami in 1998 I think? More or less. You queued up at the ticket counter and on that line all your bags went through X-ray and I think we went through metal detectors. They opened every bag if I remember correctly. A woman next to me was having trouble, because they wanted her to open the box of cereal for her baby. It’s the kind you add water to, similar to Cream of Wheat. I don’t know if they let her travel with it.

Still in Bogata, after getting my boarding pass and checking luggage, at security everyone – everyone – was frisked. At the gate, before you board the plane there is another metal detector right before you step on the gangway to the plane where they check your boarding pass. I don’t remember if I needed my ID out at that check point?

reserved to insects and pterosaurs

Early on, like in the 1960s, there was no security – family members could go to the gate to see people off, or to greet the plane. There were no metal detectors, there was no security—you could walk down the hall with the person, and that was that.

In the early 70s when hijacking became more common, everyone was still allowed to go down the concourse, but everyone had to walk through the metal detector. So it was a little intrusive, but behaviour didn’t really change—you could go to the gate, or go to dinner, with the person who was traveling.

That changed in the late 70s or 80s when hijacking and terrorism became more common. At that point, only the traveler could go down to the gate. Everyone else (with very few exceptions) was turned back at the security gates.

Others have mentioned some good points. We bought tickets from travel agents at travel agencies. They had actual stores where people sat at desks. It was also possible to call an airline, but then you couldn’t compare flight schedules or prices.

I remember flying in the 70s. Everyone went to the gate after passing through a metal detector. People saw you off. That changed after 9/11 when only ticketed passengers were allowed down to the gate.

The latest change is automated check in at airports now. There was a line to stand in and people checked you in. I use automated check in, of course, but I miss the social interaction.

I first flew in 1958 from New Orleans to San Francisco. I was with my mom, big brother and big sister. It was a Constellation. In the middle of the flight, the stewardess took me up to the cockpit and put me in the copilot’s lap and he explained as well as he could to a four year-old how they “drove” the plane. They gave me candy. I remember looking at all the controls and out through the front window over the nose and into the clouds. For years I wanted to be a pilot.

I first flew alone in the summer of 1969. My mom and dad walked me out of the terminal onto the tarmac to the stairs leading up to the plane to say goodbye. There were other people there, right next to the plane, saying goodbye also. Everybody dressed in those days. Suits and ties, a-line dresses. We were all served a tiny filet mignonette, some browned Irish potatoes and some steamed vegetables on a tray in-flight. That was coach. I have no idea what first class was served, except a lot of times they got complimentary champagne. I don’t remember seeing any security in the terminal, but I imagine they were there somewhere. Maybe they were outside smoking cigarettes.

Almost everybody smoked cigarettes. You couldn’t smoke during take off or landing – there were no smoking signs that lit up during those times. When the lamp went out, everybody lit up all at once. I don’t remember any smoking sections until the 1980’s. People dressed well and behaved on flights in those days. I saw none of the belligerence or entitlement I frequently see today until the early 1980’s. I think people expected some discomfort and weather, especially with prop planes, and just hunkered down until the flight was over.

In 1971, for about 50 bucks to the pilot, I and a friend rode in a DC-3 mail plane from LA to Honolulu. My friend knew a guy who knew a guy who knew guy… something like that. The flight was famous for surfers to go back and forth. We just showed up in the cargo area, the guy met us, took our money, and off we went. We rode in jump seats in back with the mail. Bumpy ride. Nobody said anything on either end. No IDs, nothing. We weren’t even supposed to be on the flight.

In the early seventies, there wasn’t a lot of security checks at the gate of domestic flights. If you had a ticket, they took it and you got on. I used a roommate’s ticket to go home one Christmas. The rule was that your name had to be on the ticket, but nobody checked IDs at the gate. You showed an ID when you bought the ticket, not when you presented it. That all began to change when crazies began hijacking planes to Cuba.

You could buy a ticket through a travel agency, with a credit card over the telephone and have it waiting for you upon presentation of an ID at the counter, or you could buy one directly from the airline at the terminal before the flight. I don’t think there was any internet purchasing until the mid-1990’s.

I flew to Germany to meet my dad in 1975. That was totally different. I had to present my passport at the counter and the gate before boarding. Stateside, that was about it. No frisking, nothing. A passport that matched the name on the ticket was all that was needed.

Germany was another story completely. They had been going through all sorts of shit with the Red Brigades, the Red Army Faction, the Baader Meinhoff Gang—all leftist radical groups that had been throwing bombs, hijacking passenger aircraft, knee-capping politicians, kidnapping and murdering CEOs, children of CEOs, the Italian Prime Minister, you name it. They made the American Weather Underground look like a bunch of kindergartners. Then there was the whole 1972 Olympics thing. We landed in Munich.

There were helmeted men in black fatigues and submachine guns throughout the airport. Our passports were scrutinized, there was a short interrogation while they went through our carry-on bags, we were all frisked. Most of us on the flight were Americans and we were freaked out. One middle aged woman started crying, men looked worried and confused—nobody lost their temper like they do today. I must say, the stewardess warned us over the PA system before we landed that there would be “added security measures” at Munich “for our own safety,” but we had no idea. Americans, especially GIs who had been previously based in Germany just after the war, were surprised at how cold and weird the place was. Outside the airport, everything was fine. They’ve dialed it back since then and are a lot like we are today.

The first flight that I remember people dressed like they were going to Disney World was in a 747 from Kennedy to Stockholm on Halloween night, 1982. We were packed in coach like sardines, the service staff were way undermanned, lousy leg room. It was weird. I resolved to get a little sloshed as we left Kennedy and ordered three vodka tonics. I didn’t get the first one until we were over Greenland and never got the third.

For the next ten years I had no desire to take planes. I was in Europe and took trains. Often first class and very nice sleepers, or coupe’s. Not much security, that I remember, but they checked tickets but not ID in transit, but asked people to show visas and passports only at some borders. Then Europe unified into the EU just before I left and they just checked tickets after that—in the West anyway.

When my father was transferred from San Francisco to New York in 1963, the company flew us First Class in a brand new 727. We didn’t have boarding passes, we found our seats by the book of matches that had been personalized with our names and pinned to the top of the seat.

I rode most of the way at the “conference table” next to the galley so that I could play cards and stretch out.

When I was in high school, I lived near San Francisco Airport. when we were bored late at night, we’d go down to the airport and wander around. There was no security at all. A friend of mine was a bit high one time, snuck into the baggage handling area. Next thing I know, he was riding up the conveyor belt at one of the carousels.

We flew from St. Louis to Washington D.C. for Carter’s inauguration in 1977.
My cousin stupidly packed my aunt’s jewelry in the luggage (she was supposed to carry it on).

Airport security X-rayed the luggage, opened the locks, opened the bags, removed the jewelry, and put everything back like it was untouched. Thousands of dollars worth of gold and silver jewelry gone without a trace.

Air travel was never all sweetness and light.

@ibstubro That’s just stupidity (as you said) to check things so attractive to thieves. Not that people always are there to steal, but you have to be prudent. I once had $80 in the small pocket on the front of my checked bag and the cash was there when I retrieved it at my destination.

It wasn’t the stupidity that was so shocking, @JLeslie, as the fact that the bags arrived intact and unscathed.
The locks were unlocked and re-locked. Nothing was forced or damaged. At the time the airport employees were using the X-ray machines to shop for things to steal, and had the necessary tools and anonymity to take what they wanted.

My aunt was a top official at the time of the theft (President Carter bussed her on the cheek twice in recognition) and the stuff was just poof, gone.

I was 10 the first time I flew, alone, from Texas to NY. It was 4-prop plane. I still have a photo. I wore a new suit and tie. I was treated like a prince by the hostess and allowed to sit up ftont with the pilots for a while.

When I got home a week later my parents picked me up in a new Chrysler that was equipped with a very fancy new feature: air conditioning.

My first flight was in ‘71. Although the ‘Golden Age’ of flying was winding down, airlines were still ‘selling’ the idea that air travel was fun, safe, and convenient. Customers’ flying experience and pleasure were still a priority.

I usually purchased tickets by phone, either with a travel agent or directly with the airlines. I received the tickets by mail.

There was no security. The only lines were at the check-in counters. Even with the large airlines, it wasn’t unusual to walk out onto the tarmac to enter the plane on the moveable staircase, similar to how a president enters and leaves Air Force One. Non-ticketed people could go anywhere in the public spaces that a ticketed passenger could go.

For several years, I considered a visit to the airport as a cheap date. Terminals had observation decks where we could go outside (big balconies) to hear, see, and smell the world of airline travel up close. Parking fees were cheap or non-existent. People watching was fun. People meeting arriving passengers would do so right at the exit gate, with an exuberance I rarely see anymore. One of our games: I would mix in with the mob of arriving passengers, and my girlfriend would pretend she was there to greet me. We would excitedly greet each other as though we’d been apart for months. We’d make-out in the middle of the concourse surrounded by hordes of people. Our public display of affection wasn’t out of the ordinary.

Flying in those days was expensive. A route I flew regularly was $400; in today’s dollars, that’s about $2400. I flew the same route last month, and the cost was $360!

One thing I don’t miss is pay toilets. That was the era of pay-to-poop in public men’s restrooms. I could pee for free at the urinal, but the stall doors had coin boxes to enter. The earliest I remember, it cost a dime. When they raised the fee to a quarter, it caused a public uproar, so they provided one stall that was free to use. I could count on it being the dirtiest, nastiest stall in the restroom.

Well, as others have said, security wasn’t so tight, although there was every reason that it should have been. List of hijacked airplanes..

The biggest difference was that you could smoke on the planes. That kind of blows my mind today. Anyway, if you’re on a plane that has an ashtray built into the arm of the seat, that plane is pretty old!

Was it also allowed to stab the smoker next to you in the throat? Because it should have been.

Nope. Nobody freaked out over it then.

The first time I was clocked for smoking was at the student union when I was in college. I was between classes and usually went there to hang out and watch M*A*S*H reruns. This was about 1977.
They had tall ashtrays next to the out side seats. One time I lit up. This guy in front of me turned around, gave me a really dirty look, and started fanning his face with some brochure.
I immediately put my cigarette out—but he kept fanning his face, and making disgusted sighs for the next fifteen minutes. He didn’t even realize I’d put the damn thing out. I mean, how badly could my cigarette it have annoyed him when there was no cigarette being smoked?
That was my first encounter with a person who Has The Need To Be Outraged Everyday.

It was the stupidest, most passive-aggressive bullshit I’d ever seen.

To be fair, spousal rape was also accepted back then.

Thanks everyone.

@ragingloli What are you going on about?

Not getting up in arms about smoking, was not a good thing.
It is assault.

OK. And?

The first time I took an airplane trip was sometime during the 1970s. My memories don’t go back to earlier times, before there was any airport security or when people wore their nicest business attire to travel. But, many things have changed during my own years of experience:

- There were smoking and nonsmoking sections on every plane. Smoking was permitted in either the front or back half (I forget which). I always thought that this was a ridiculous idea; smoke migrates, and it doesn’t respect or stay within an artificial barrier!

- Seats were wider.

- There was much more legroom. Someone sitting in an inside seat could actually get up and leave while the other people in that aisle stayed seated.

- Except for very short flights, airlines served meals. Nobody had to pay for a snack box; full meals were included in the ticket price. Airlines even accommodated special dietary needs, such as vegetarian or kosher.

- Flight attendants walked up and down the aisles, offering magazines, pillows, and blankets.

- There was no nickel-and-diming with fees. No airline charged extra for checked baggage; luggage service was included.

- On a more delicate and serious matter, the U.S. rule was to cooperate with hijackers and meet their demands. Until September 11th, that had been the best approach to keeping passengers safe and avoiding disasters.

I’m thinking that the seats weren’t wider then, you were smaller.

@Dutchess_III “I’m thinking that the seats weren’t wider then, you were smaller.”

Hey! Bite me, Val. :) :)

If you must know… One day last week, I wore a denim skirt that I’d bought when I was a senior in high school. During 1974. And, no, I didn’t need to cover my body in Crisco to slide in!!!

I meant, smaller, as in you were younger, a child. Sorry!

@Dutchess_III

Tee hee! Thank you for thinking I’m so youthful. During my earliest days of airplane flying, I was already a young adult. Life was good then, and it’s still good now, which makes me very lucky.

#midgetshaming

LOL @ragingloli!

The airport in the 1960’s: two story building. Long row of airline desk/counters. Allegheny to TWA. As many bags, whatever you wish to take. All walked back to gates. Tickets several pages in a booklet. Each stop tears out their portions. (Long travels= ticket booklets in a thick stack and Passports never leave your person. Ever.) You walked through a door to outside tarmac, over to jet, upstairs to hatch door. Family could walk you to stairway but come immediately back inside. Or you could run pell mell up stairs near departure gates and sprint out to stand on open roof to see if flyer in plane could open/close window roll-shade to show where seat was located or wave. Tower next to roof. Most clear unobstructed view of all parts of a flight I will ever see. Upon return- reverse order.
Across all the runways was a small building. Tucked on the side, now closed up. First airport building for flights in the 1930’s. Dad took flights from there.
Airline personnel uniformed down to gloves. Travelers dressed nicely. Jeans not acceptable until later in decade. ( girls weren’t allowed to wear pants at all until same times then…pant suits until 66–67. )
Larger airports, international flying. Great seats. Three-isle-three. Space under seat in front to a metal bar- Carry teardrop bag. Space to store under your seat to metal bar- purse, containers, etc. Overhead bins. Seats recline so even if person behind gets up to move- still no need to put seat up- roomey. Flight magazines. Barf bags that actually had instructions on ‘how to’. Complimentsry drinks, almonds. Meal. Real plates, silverware, some even cloth napkins. All classes- not just first. Playing cards, flight pins, travel bag of airline was given when you scheduled flights and had tickets. Each flight bag was unique to each airline- size, colors, shoulder strap&handles, zippered, all built really well. They sell for $ now.
Always offers of trips to see pilots. Door to cockpit usually opened- curtain at first galley partially closed.
Short flights: drink, smoked almonds packets.
Long flights: drink/snack. Meal: 2 choices meat dishes- 2 veggies- roll- desserts another drink or coffee. Am: warm Hot! towel, breakfast- full nine yards again. Drinks- etc.
Smoking went from everywhere to smoking sections- and those who snuck them in restrooms- though not legal with sectioned planes.
The event of 747— Three-isle-four-isle-two or three seats.Three sections. Rentable headphones for in-flight movie. Prices were at beginning of films on flights $1.00, Later 747—$5.00. In bathrooms, small bottles of hand cream and freshener spritz and mouthwash-
in long boxes- to use and take.
‘If It’s Tuesday This Must Be Belgium’ types of movies. Comedies made people laugh while others sleeping. So not too funny plot lines. Projector came down out of ceiling- over seats, in the middle of the two back sections of 747. Screen was white wall on back side a galleys 2&3. Lights to read when dark- sharp light not too bad if next to one on. Stars outside over oceans – stunning. Long flights, lots of stewardesses and people walking to stretch. 747 was first introduced- male stewards also. Not many.
Duty-free shopping discounts/taxes were killer. Just don’t drop wine or liquor bottles in the terminals. Many did. Some cried.
Airport restrooms awful. Stopped putting purseholder hardware up high on inside stalls for handbags. Thieves reach over and steal. Then hooks on mid- point inside stall doors – little kid problems. Then they introduced a flat piece of metal- like old apartment’s attached ironing boards to pull down to rest purses on. Jeesh!
1970’s, later years. Metal detectors. Not really serious. Munich Olympics changed things. Hijacked planes to Cuba, etc. Sometimes people killed. Made sure to never book on Israeli Airline nor transfer flights because they Always stormed planes- and whomever got shot- was collateral sacrifices or hijackers.
Northern European Flights and KLM- food offerings included fish-different styles of food.
British Air, AirIre, ect- had magazines besides flight mag (in all seat pockets)
Prop planes- or puddle jumpers in US- always had Dramamine. Wow.
Next, metal detectors, no sharp items in 1980’s. Any pocket knives, scissors, keychain metal screwdrivers, etc- not with you in flight. Only in checked bag. Airline personnel still wore uniforms- but not to the regimented styles, sizes, etc, of mid1900’s. People travelling still looked and dressed nicely. No really awful or lounge clothing was worn.
1980— Airports now begin to make people go through checkpoints- yet goodbyes could go to gates also. No problem with if you had tickets or not.
1990— Still they don’t touch you. Xray handheld bags. Indiscriminate searches of luggage in some countries airports. Everything checked. Some were real jerks about it. Depended on country.
Customs upon return or country to country. All different ways to handle things. Questioned about prior stamps, etc. Again, stinkers. More stewards. Outfit uniforms wear more like street clothes. If you ask to see pilot——Non-uniformed Flight Agents will get all up and personal.
Eurail passes for trains, et al- could get you anywhere in Europe. Sometimes safer than planes.
Taxis, subways, jaunty carts, trucks, buses, you wanna go- you took them.
It was wonderful to fly.
Change of century screwed everything.

We still sometimes board or deplane up/down some stairs from/onto the Tarmac. I just did it on my last flight a few weeks ago. Upon arrival we deplaned that way.