When Air Travel Was An Experience

[breanna61]

May I have this dance?

This article did get me thinking back to the 80’s. Travel was a more social experience.

Air Canada planes once had a dance floor for flights heading from Toronto to Europe | insauga

These days, flying often means earbuds in, tray table down and hours spent in near silence. You might sit beside someone for an entire flight without exchanging more than a polite nod as each passenger tucks into their own digital bubble of streaming, scrolling or sleeping. But there was a time...

www.insauga.com

 

[zenvegas]

Ward Air served real meals on real china.

 

[breanna61]

Ward Air served real meals on real china.

I remember that; loved that airline.

 

[NittyOne]

I think most of this went away in the late 70s due to fuel costs going up with the oil embargoes.

Led Zepplin had a plane with a fireplace in the 70s.

My dad told me stories of flying on a 747 with a bar.

The Starship - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[WeCax49]

As much as I love hearing about these experiences -

Look at the inflation adjusted prices!

For the same price of an Economy ticket in the 60s, you can fly First or Business Class in a lie-flat seat with doors (instead of a recliner), endless amounts of entertainment, and some airlines still have the onboard bars (Emirates, Qatar, Virgin, to name a few)

If you're willing to pay as much as they did back then, you'll get a much better experience. But when you're spending $19 on Spirit...that doesn't leave much margin to invest in caviar, onboard bars, unicycle acts and strippers.

 

[thebeachbum]

Air travel is still an experience. It’s just not as pleasant.

 

[NYRA26]

When I'm flying solo when I sit down noise- cancelling headphones go on.
I'm not interested in making seatmate pals.

I will happily accept today's flying experience.
Smoking was allowed up until around the late 90's.
In the 3 rows of first class the "smoking section"was either 1 or 2 rows depending upon how many booked the flight.

Smelling like smoke after a flight...dusgusting.

 

[Mr Bulldops]

Look at the inflation adjusted prices!

For the same price of an Economy ticket in the 60s, you can fly First or Business Class in a lie-flat seat with doors (instead of a recliner), endless amounts of entertainment, and some airlines still have the onboard bars (Emirates, Qatar, Virgin, to name a few)

If you're willing to pay as much as they did back then, you'll get a much better experience.

This point is often overlooked. There are so many ways now to fly for free or dirt cheap ($19 Spirit/Frontier/Allegiant/ Basic Economy fares, credit card sign-up bonuses, Skiplagged, etc) that did not exist in the "great years" of flying. It was often a privilege reserved for business and the higher echelon of society while families road-tripped.

 

[vegaskid74]

Led Zepplin had a plane with a fireplace in the 70s.

I'm not a fire inspector or safety official of any kind, but this sounds like a bad idea to me.

 

[Jsmile898]

@breanna61 I remember my first trip to Vegas in the 90s and it was on Canadian Airlines (before AC bought them out, before Westjet)

 

[44inarow]

I think most of this went away in the late 70s due to fuel costs going up with the oil embargoes.

Deregulation also played a major role, at least in the US. Airlines had to compete directly with each other for customers, and usually the way to do that was on price; this in turn required airlines to cut costs in order to realistically offer the lower prices that we see today.

 

[NittyOne]

I'm not a fire inspector or safety official of any kind, but this sounds like a bad idea to me.

Apparently an electric fireplace but still kind of wild.

 

[The Rumor]

Deregulation also played a major role, at least in the US. Airlines had to compete directly with each other for customers, and usually the way to do that was on price; this in turn required airlines to cut costs in order to realistically offer the lower prices that we see today.

It also led to explosive growth in the amount people fly.

As much as I love hearing about these experiences -

Look at the inflation adjusted prices!

For the same price of an Economy ticket in the 60s, you can fly First or Business Class in a lie-flat seat with doors (instead of a recliner), endless amounts of entertainment, and some airlines still have the onboard bars (Emirates, Qatar, Virgin, to name a few)

If you're willing to pay as much as they did back then, you'll get a much better experience. But when you're spending $19 on Spirit...that doesn't leave much margin to invest in caviar, onboard bars, unicycle acts and strippers.

The only "old plane" I wish I'd flown was the Concorde. Sub 3 hour flight across the pond? Awesome.

Recently, I flew business on the Emirates A380. The bar is one of a kind - they have a polaroid to take your picture. They even let you in the bar for the photo. Oh, and you get a seat that's a bed with a 19 inch TV attached, plus a private lounge before the flight. The quality of international business class is astonishing. Even a decent American Airlines or Iberia business class product is miles ahead of what international air travel was 20 years ago, and the inflation adjusted price isn't bad. There's a ton of competition in this market.

 

[WeCax49]

Recently, I flew business on the Emirates A380. The bar is one of a kind - they have a polaroid to take your picture. They even let you in the bar for the photo. Oh, and you get a seat that's a bed with a 19 inch TV attached, plus a private lounge before the flight. The quality of international business class is astonishing. Even a decent American Airlines or Iberia business class product is miles ahead of what international air travel was 20 years ago, and the inflation adjusted price isn't bad. There's a ton of competition in this market.

I fly Emirates First quite frequently. It's an exceptional product, especially the new one on the 777s. Also - the shower on the A380. Pure insanity! I think about that, showering at 40,000 feet, after getting drinks at the bar, every time anyone tells me flying sucks

 

[MCann]

As much as I love hearing about these experiences -

Look at the inflation adjusted prices!

For the same price of an Economy ticket in the 60s, you can fly First or Business Class in a lie-flat seat with doors (instead of a recliner), endless amounts of entertainment, and some airlines still have the onboard bars (Emirates, Qatar, Virgin, to name a few)

If you're willing to pay as much as they did back then, you'll get a much better experience. But when you're spending $19 on Spirit...that doesn't leave much margin to invest in caviar, onboard bars, unicycle acts and strippers.

To be fair, I fly first class a majority of the time, and most of the time, the modern domestic experience in first class, is about the same as, or worse, than I remember in coach in the late 70s and early 80s. Seats were huge and had much more cushion, meals were served in economy on China with real silverware and glasses, and they gave out free playing cards, matches, blankets, pillows, gum, and OTC drugs, and lets not forget the little wing pins for the kids. I loved those things!

 

[deansrobinson]

Did I ever tell you kids about the time I flew Aeroflot form Moscow to Leningrad ('cause that's how it was spelled back in the good ole Cold War days)?

 

[topcard]

My 2nd flight ever was in 1978, and it was a Pan Am 747, IAH to JFK... sadly, it was in coach, but the quality of service, the staff and the amenities were top-notch.

The airline I miss the most, though, is Virgin-America.
They had two non-stops from Love Field to Vegas every day. The best part was the $50 cash-only upgrade-to-first that they offered (first-come, first served, space-available 24 hours before departure) on those flights.
I always booked coach, and over the course of around 6 flights, I never once actually sat in coach!
Then Alaska Airlines bought them out, and the very first flights they eliminated were the DAL-LAS flights. So sad!

 

[Ten_On_The_End]

Thanks @NittyOne and @breanna61 for the links.

I remember flying to Belgium in 1980 when they just left the bar cart at the back of the plane. Self service.

 

[pressitagain]

May I have this dance?

This article did get me thinking back to the 80’s. Travel was a more social experience.

Air Canada planes once had a dance floor for flights heading from Toronto to Europe | insauga

These days, flying often means earbuds in, tray table down and hours spent in near silence. You might sit beside someone for an entire flight without exchanging more than a polite nod as each passenger tucks into their own digital bubble of streaming, scrolling or sleeping. But there was a time...

www.insauga.com

You can still get up to dance (today). Finding an 8-track might be an issue….

 

[Sparky4]

My dad and stepmom were travel agents in from the 80’s to the early 2000’s. Prior to that my dad traveled for work, I remember him always dressing up to fly. When they bought the travel agency and I flew with them, they made me dress up, no jeans and tennis shoes. I did it long after they closed their business. I remember one time in the mid 80’s dragging a carry on, my purse and a trench coat , wearing 3” pumps hauling ass through O’Hare trying to make a connection to Austin. Misery!! It's only been the last 10 years or so that I’ve dressed more comfy on a plane.