To all those who wistfully talk about the golden age of travel in the past tense, I’d argue we are in it now.
Someone recently shared the video below with me. It captures what service was like onboard Korean Airlines in the 1980’s.
What do you notice?
Certainly, there appears to be a better dining experience in first and business class. Also, the economy class seats appear more comfortable.
But what is missing?
Business and even first class do not have lie-flat beds. There’s no personal IFE or wi-fi. Ticket prices, when adjusted for inflation, were much higher.
When people reminisce about the golden years of travel, epitomized by the pictures below, I have to wonder why their priorities are in the culinary experience onboard.
For all we complain about how bad travel is today, think about the position we are in now. First and business class passengers enjoy lie-flat beds, something that was never part of travel in the 1970s and 1980s. Seat pitch in economy may be reduced, but we can keep ourselves occupied with seatback screens or streaming entertainment or wireless internet…what an innovation from an overhead movie projector.
And the smoking…don’t forget how bad smoke-filled cabins were.
This idea of surly, angry, aged flight attendants ruling the American skies and dispensing miserable service and horrible food is simply not true. I’d say the complimentary meals of yesteryear were horrible and the new era of buy-on-board options actually offer better meal choices. Service is always hit or miss on U.S. and some European carriers and generally excellent on Asian carriers. That hasn’t changed.
CONCLUSION
We have regressed in certain ways. With Concorde retried, it is no longer to leave London in the evening and arrive in New York in the afternoon. Chateaubriand and lobster are long gone…unless you “Book the Cook” on Singapore Airlines. But on the whole, I’d say we are in a golden age, perhaps the golden age of commercial air travel.
That’s something I am deeply grateful for this day.
I recently flew United’s true Polaris product for the first time and I had the exact same thoughts. People complain about food, wine selection, etc and forget that they have a freaking bed in the sky. And this is now standard across most/all brands.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Passengers looked perplexed why a camera was just randomly focusing on them for 10 seconds
Back in the golden age of travel people would read magazines and books and actually talk to each other. They didn’t need external non interaction stimulations such as wifi and IFE systems. You would get real food and not this prepackaged crap served now. Prices were higher I’ll agree with that. Back then there was much less fights with incidents of passengers with anger issues and fights and crazy things occurring during the flight. So yes if all these added amenities is what you consider golden age of aviation now it’s not surprising unfortunately. But back then there was much more interaction and simple entertainment required back in the real golden age of travel…
Premium cabins pretty much have it better these days but economy was better back in the day. Flights didn’t have IFE, so people had to -Le Gasp!- read, sleep, or actually converse. The horror! Food was substantially better, service standards were pretty much universally higher, and most importantly, there was a good bit more leg room.
The reason why the melas were so nice in the 70s is because they had to treat it as your last meal. Your chance of being dead by the time you come back to Earth back then was fairly high compared to today which is minuscule. To quote Billy Joel “Terror in the Airlines”
What I remember – and miss – from the Golden Age is that travelers dressed in a way befitting the miracle of flight. True, today’s product is, in almost every way, better, but many consumers of that product look like they’ve just stepped out of their local gym. I was on QR last week, and the supplied White Co. pyjamas were actually a sartorial step up from the boarding attire of about half the J travelers. Go ahead, bring the abuse, yoga-pant wearers. I’m the guy in the fedora and sport coat, who’s being treated *very* well.
It’s only the “golden age” now if you have the means to fly business/first. For the average Joe schlepping it in the back, it’s worse with a couple of caveat’s – 1 that it’s cheap, and 2 the planes themselves are better technologically.
Yes and no. On the one hand, flying, which was once a luxury limited to the rich, is now accessible to the masses thanks to low fares. We paid more in even nominal dollars to fly to India in 1987 than you do today. Technological enhancements not only provide gadgets to pass the time, but make long-haul flights a lot more pleasant with fewer stops (I.e. getting to India DFW-XXX-MAA with a single stop sure beats DFW-JFK-FRA-RUH-DEL-MAA).
But on the other hand, “enhancements” like Basic Economy, 10-abreast Y seating in a 777, slimline seats, and the gutting of FF programs to the point that it’s virtually impossible for the average flyer to ever amass enough points for a premium cabin redemption are hardly things to be excited about.
I think folks draw a lot of false parallels about this topic, especially regarding in-flight/airplane technology. You could argue that we’re always in a golden age of travel – for our specific time period. There was no widely available internet in the 1980s. And CRT televisions were nowhere near small enough to be installed in seatbacks and LCD screens were something of the future. So to claim that today is better than yesteryear because we have IFE and in-flight internet is fallacious; the pax on this 1980s KE flight are experiencing their relative peak in-flight luxury. The only real argument is how affordable it is now comparably, which you make in the article. At the same time, though, relative comfort has made a marked decline. Dovetailing that is newer construction materials which are lighter and stronger than in the past has allowed for lighter planes with lighter, more complex seats allowing for beds in the sky. It’s not as if this technology has always been available and airline just didn’t do it out of principal.
When you talk about comfort, you mean economy class only, correct? Because unless we go back to PanAm clippers and other 1950s aircraft, there is no better premium cabin product than exists today.
Correct, sorta. At the zenith of each era, air travel had what could be considered the most luxurious amenities reasonably available at the time, and specifically in the air. So the golden age of air travel is perpetually “now”…for those up front. In back, you’re correct – things have gotten markedly worse IMO.
The golden age of air travel is now if you have the money or expense account to fly international business class. For the economy class passenger, the golden age was probably around 1995-2003.
Not to be pessimistic, the economy class passenger is slightly better off in the case of larger overhead bin space, IFE in some cases, and selected 787 long distance routes. The economy class passenger is worse off with thinner seats, no food, worse mileage accumulation (SFO-JFK no longer earns 2500 miles one way), no free same day standby, checked baggage fees unless elite, etc. Some medium sized cities are not served much by mainline but are punished with commuter airlines/regional airlines (though the E175 is slowly replacing the Embraer 145 and CRJ200)
Perhaps it’s nostalgia. As a child, to fly first class for the first time on TWA to Athens from New York was the most amazing thing I had ever encountered. As I came of age in the 90’s those precious experiences were also incredible. Later, in the 2000’s, as the soft product became better I actually felt the experience as a whole was gutted.
Yes, the seats back in the day sucked in comparison. So, why would I return to that time in a heartbeat?
Civility. Decency. Crews were better trained and caring. There was pride in service. Yes, some airlines come close today but are far and few between…(Singapore, LH on some days, Cathay, ANA/JAL).
Even in First these days on international flights you are often felt like crews are doing you a favor. I would gladly trade my bed for an old school F seat and salad tossed with precision and a care for details.
I’d say Europe is living in “the golden era of airline travel” — you can fly across Europe for €20 and almost anywhere in the world form Europe for €350 without a lot of advanced planning — but the United States is not.
No, this is not the ‘Golden Age’. The flying is okay, the fares are good…but unfortunately airports have became a major PITA. I guess the upside is that flying is much more safe and secure these days.
While my own flying goes back to the ‘50s , as a child, it didn’t become commonplace until the mid 60s ( for domestic) and the 70s ( for international)
But there is a tendency to recall the experience on the 747 through rose-coloured glasses: yes, it made travel affordable, but it was by no means a luxury experience: seating was 10 abreast in econonomy ( and there were like 3 pull down screens for movies). Fun, for sure, but certainly not luxury.
One of the greatest aspects of today’s air travel is that we don’t have to breathe the puked up air caused by smokers. I remember when there was a sign in airliners that allowed smoking in front of it, and no smoking behind it. This was like putting a sign in a swimming pool: No Peeing Zone. I agree with Matthew: in some important ways, this is a glorious age of air travel, which is part of having an “attitude of gratitude.”
As one who did fly Pan Am, Air France, UTA, TWA and Sabena “back in the day”, yes, they were amazing experiences and yes, things have deteriorated markedly if by deterioration we mean democratization of flying. Lest we forget, flying in the 1960s was considered an event, an experience for the rich and very comfortable classes not the quick trip to Ft Lauderdale to pick up a cruise or a super cheap fare on Southwest for college kids to come home. The bulk of today’s flyers wouldn’t/couldn’t have flown in the 1960s – it was simply too expensive. As to flight crews, they were reps for the country and treated like royalty… anyone still experience that in their work lives? No. instead we have hard working FAs and front of the plane who get us up, over and down as efficiently and quickly and cheaply as possible. It is the price we pay for mulitple flights to just about anywhere today versus the much more limited, cumbersome travel of yesteryear.
I’ll take flying in the 60’s and 70’s any day in comparison to today’s “experience”, non-lie-flat seats or not. It’s not about the lie-flat seats, it’s about civilized behavior, long gone elements of all spheres of society, better cabin service whether it was F-class or coach……and frankly, what’s hired by the airlines today (and most hospitality services) has been dumbed down to the lowest, uneducated, unsophisticated, tuned-out, uncaring bunch of employees that every existed. When I was recently told “don’t mess with it” when I asked how to turn off my seatback TV (with no on/off soft button at all anywhere), by some 20-something airhead called a flight attendant, I could only shake my head in disbelief. Even more frightening is the mindset of companies and the people doing the interviewing that is really scary. Call them what you want, I’m going back to calling them glorified “waitresses/waiters” in the sky. I have no confidence at all that that they are there strictly for my safety. I’m pretty sure, from what I see, that I’ll have to use my own devices and awareness to emergently get off a plane.
Sorry, but I’d go back to flying as it was in the 70’s – IN A HEARTBEAT.
I used to be so excited going to the airport! Now, even though I’m able to fly in First or Business Class, I mostly dread the whole airport/airplane experience.
We don’t know what we don’t know, so no one in the 70’s was missing lie-flat seats. Or even imaging 20-euro flights from one side of Europe to the other. Just getting on an airplane seemed like a privilege. Now it feels like a challenge.
In 1974, when I began a 30-year career as a flight attendant, most Americans had never flown, and there was a palpable sense of excitement on flights. Folks flying to Hawaii grinned from take-off to touchdown. Now my fellow passengers look jaded and world-weary. The thrill is definitely gone, no matter how many amenities are available.
You’re young, Matthew. So you’re entitled to feel this era is the best one. When you’re 70, like I am, you may well feel differently.
I think the zenith was in the late 90’s with this caveat: It wasn’t meant to last. Airlines were going out of business even BEFORE 9-11 and the benefits package was literally too good to be true: decent economy seats, generous frequent flier programs, 80% capacity flights with lots of free seats to spread out, high quality economic class cabin service, IFE’s with a limited set of movies, and of course, no-smoking cabins. Nearly all of what comprises a modern cabin was there. Even E-tickets were increasingly available.
After 9-11, the belt tightening and pinching could be felt (literally in security, wink) as flying was made into a commodity experience.
I generally avoided the mess by avoiding the (shamefully profitable) discount carriers such as Frontier and Spirit and even the (American) legacy carriers. I fly either Jetblue, Southwest or foreign national carriers.
I don’t mean to take this beyond scope of the discussion, but it had occurred to me that the late 90’s were also similar to the roaring 20’s: After The War to end All Wars, people were amazingly optimistic. New communication technologies such as radio had come out and there was even “talkies” in the movie theater! In the 90’s, it appeared to my generation that the USA standard of living was going to infinity and beyond. The cold war was over (no more nuclear annihilation hanging over our heads). Although a lot of chickens came home to roost in the 2000s, if Bin Laden’s purpose was to disrupt the USA’s economy and culture, he succeeded spectacularly: People wait in long lines at security, take off their shoes, and air travel is regarded as onerous to most (normal) people. The anemic economy has depended upon FED money pumping since then. The overall depression level in American culture today reminds me of the early 70’s.
You are entitled to your opinion. I am one that actually flew at that time. As food and presentation is important for me that was 10x better in that time. Tossed salads, courses, fine China and Chauteaubriand were even served on US domestic cross country flights including caviar in first.
You may be wowed over a lie flat seat. I could care less. Before Bush 90% of foreign carriers welcomed guests in the flight deck. Some of us went to extra lengths to fly on carriers that had the most amicable pilots and enjoyed take offs, landings, go arounds and all sorts of wonderful experiences. Bush, the FAA, followed by the CAA and Brussels parrots put an end to that. Flying is so golden today that I cut my flying to a minimum. By the way flying is about aviation and FLIGHT, not a flat bed.
Lounges on the 747s. Perhaps you might have forgotten the social experience and contacts made. And yes some smoked. I am not a smoker but it did contribute to breaking the proverbial ice with some.
Today we have particians, dividers and everything as antisocial as possible. Really golden.
Seats flat or not are getting narrower and narrower. This creates a utilitarian feeling rather then any luxury.
As to ticket prices, on paper you might be correct. For an astute player of the system, first class followed by business class were a bargain with far more flexibility then today simply put, a paper ticket put the client in control. An electronic ticket put the carrier in control.
Priorities were quite different then. We did not have certain reporters getting in first or business class wearing shorts as they would have been rightly embarrassed to do so and would not demonstrate such lack of decorum. So please allow those lovers of aviation, food as best can be above and those that enjoyed the social experience to remember the real golden days of air travel.
Hey, in that golden age, we were all supposed to be flying on the Pam Am “Orion 3” space shuttle up to the rotating ring Space Station V (which had a Hilton Hotel), on our way to the moon. The seats in that thing (and the subsequent Aries Ib lunar lander) looked good enough to me (and I’m still waiting for that zero-G toilet experience). I guess those seats where designed before Jeffy Smisek and Dougie Parker got their hands on the controls and cheapified everything. Feh!
I’ll never forget touring JFK’s old Air Force One at a museum in Tuscon and seeing how small his seat was – a bit smaller than a domestic first-class seats today, and nowhere close to a lie-flat business class seat. The average international business flier flies better than the President of the United States did 57 years ago! And don’t even get me started on how the rich and powerful traveled before that on limited-distance prop planes or even trains. We don’t realize how good we’ve got it.