Flying in First Class circa 1970.

[trof]

This was a reply to Bertha Venation's post, but I thought I'd share it with the bunch.


I was an airline pilot (TWA) and got passes.
I got the whole treatment for free.
Yeah, it was a charmed life.


Here's a typical First Class service, coast-to-coast, or international.
Boeing 747 in the 70s and 80s.

You boarded first, Natch.
As soon as you took your seat a cabin attendant offered a glass of champagne or orange juice, your choice.
At your seat was an 'amenity kit'.
Usually a soft leather zipper bag with headset, sleep mask, slipper-socks, comb, toothbrush and toothpaste, maybe a small electronic calculator.

As soon as the seat belt sign went off drink orders were taken All booze was free. And it was GOOD booze.
(the 'No Smoking' sign went off as soon as you were airborne. Light Up! )

Then the appetizers came out.
The choices were mind boggling.
Lobster bites, caviar, pate', quiche, nuts, cheeses, various crackers, etc.

More drink orders.

Then...the main course.
Menus were handed out.
Big fancy menus like you'd see in a fine restaurant.
The choices were mind boggling.
(Did I already say that?)

Chateaubriand (my favorite!), Chicken Cordon Bleu, salmon, and on and on.
Sides of roasted potatoes, asparagus, French green beans, and so forth.

THEN! The dessert cart came around.
Pastries, cakes, petit fours, etc.

And the after dinner drinks
Brandies, liqueurs, Stingers.
whew

Oh, I forgot the wine selection with dinner.
Finest kind.
California AND French.

Then the movie came on.
Oh, and there was audio entertainment throughout the flight, on your headphones.
Whatever kind of music you enjoyed, plus a comedy channel with popular stand-up comics, and a current news channel.

You could watch the movie or kick back and doze off.
Plenty of space, and you head wasn't in the lap of the guy behind you.

About an hour before descent (on international flights) you got BREAKFAST!
Omelets, French toast, Danishes, croissants.
And juice, coffee, how about a Bloody Mary?
Yeah!

When you reached the arrival gate, first class passengers were the first to 'de-board'.
The coach passengers stood like serfs while you filed past them.
Cabin attendants blocked their exit until all first class passengers had departed.

So, naturally, you were the first through customs.
The unwashed came after you.

That's what it was like in the olden days.
Not quite the same now, I think.

Gone are the days.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. Those were indeed the good ol' days.

I am a recently-retired airline employee, and I have to report, sadly, that the non-rev experience (not to mention the first-class experience) has changed quite a bit in recent years, and not for the better. What used to be a desirable employee perk is almost useless now. The flights are so full now that you're lucky to get a seat at all - you have to be pretty flexible and have some time to spare. One time, for example, I was trying to get out of OKC and all the flights were full for the next 24 hours so I ended up taking a bus to DFW to pick up a flight home. And if you do get on the flight you want, you will almost certainly get one of the dreaded middle seats, or (on the DC-9/MD80 series), a seat in the very back, in what we called "non-rev row." You know, the row with no windows and the badly-synced engines roaring in your ears. I was lucky enough to get in first class a few times, but that became increasingly impossible in the last few years. For company business I could ride up front in the cockpit jumpseat because of the nature of my job, and that was nice (though not terribly comfortable, depending on the aircraft), but I pretty much gave up on flying standby for personal travel. If you really have to be somewhere you're better off just buying a ticket.

I did manage to score a first class seat on an A330 to and from AMS once. That was really pleasant, although not as elegant as the service you described. The food was quite good, though.

[liberal N proud]

2. I remember those days.

My brother worked for an airline (lived wit two stewardess's) and we got upgrades if not free flights.

I don't recall the headphones though. Everything else is right there.

We used to get on and they would realize who we were and find us a better seat and the royal treatment. Even rode in the cockpit a few times, not going to do that today.

We had more decks of cards than Las Vegas.

Now you are just a sardine and cattle at best.

[JI7]

3. what does first class offer these days ?

just more space ?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

4. Also better food.

[pitohui]

5. international business is about the same but no smoking these days

also now some routes have lie flat seats, and there's no going back to 1970 once you've had your own lie-flat seat, also you don't always see a desert cart, on the other hand, sometimes they will put up a little help yourself area of chocolates and various beverages in the galley (at least on klm they do)

however, i think the problem is...DOMESTIC first class is a pretty poor product, meal service is questionable to put it mildly, food can be hit or miss, infact food can be terrible, recently the meal service was, ta dah, cheerios, good lord, cheerios? for first class? maybe if we were still in kindergarten!

champagne/orange juice/mimosas seem to be more offered in internat'l business, often there is no champagne on domestic first flights, so you can't order champagne, however, you can order a different adult beverage, say blood mary (morning) or whatever, nobody really cares, because even if it's morning to them, hey, maybe you're jet-lagged and it's evening to you

sometimes the wines are not very strong, the "finest" of wine would be an exaggeration these days, the "okayest" of wines is more my opinion but the wine is generally more selection (internat'l) and a slightly better quality (in domestic) than the coach wine

there are also perks like use of the lounge (for internat'l flights, prob. not for domestic transcons), first/business they're supposed to block the coach rabble from getting off so you can get off first and be first in the passport line, shorter lines at check-in, and so on

yes, more space is the MAIN benefit and domestic first class food in particular can be very weak, sometimes it is just a "snack basket" full of junk food and maybe a spotted banana, but it still beats the alternative

[JI7]

6. that seems like a huge difference, but space to me is a big benefit

if i was wealthy i would pay first class for long flights.

but considering everything else you said if it's a short flight i wouldn't pay for first, even if i was wealthy.

i wonder if economy class has gone down a lot also. and whether it was better some decades ago.

[petronius]

7. That all makes sense to me except the calculator - what were you supposed

to do with that?

[Ben8282]

8. F class in the late 70's

This is very much as I remember it but will add a few things.

Much like today, by the late 70's when I first flew longhaul first class, the US airlines were pretty poor, the European airlines good and the Asian carriers excellent.

The menu described above is probably Pan Am standard. On European/Asian carriers would be drinks service with canapés, hors d'oeuvre trolley, soup, salad, main course, cheeseboard, desert (or desert then cheeseboard on British carriers), coffee. All served as separate courses with no use of trays.

There was sometimes a caviar service with the hors d'oeuvre but by then it was limited to the top carriers. Don't think you would have got caviar on Pan Am or BA, but you probably would on SQ/CX/TG etc

Olympic Airways offered a fantastic longhaul-style first class service on their Boeing 707's on the London - Athens route. MEA offered caviar as a starter on their Boeing 707's on the London - Beirut route.

Thai cabin crew used to carry a bottle of eau-de-cologne and sprinkle it onto the hot towels before they handed them to you.

Most airlines would provide stationary to First Class passengers and letters could be given to cabin crew to be posted at destination and they really did post them for you and the letters arrived.

Many airlines also gave gifts. KLM would give an alcohol filled miniature porcelain dutch-house while Lufthansa used to give a metal 'seal'.

Then there were the on-board lounges. Ridiculously small on the 707 but nice large upper deck lounge on the 747's.

Oh, and of course, cigarettes were free usually small packs of 5 left somewhere in the cabin to be picked up by passengers. Marlboro red usually. Some carriers offered whole packs of 20 on a tray. Smoking in the lounges at airports was positively encouraged with wooden cigarette boxes filled with various cigarettes and lounge staff (CX in HKG) determined that passengers should consume them!

There was a downside of course. On board seating was 2 X 2 with 40-42in pitch on longhaul. Headsets were the plastic tube type. Movie shown on screen at front of cabin. 6 rows in the nose of a 747-200. Alcohol readily available throughout flight but very little except nuts/savoury nibbles available as snacks outside meal service times. Pre-selection of seat prior to check-in impossible.

Cabin crew were very polite.

Favouries from that time: CX/LH/KL/SQ
Average BA
Below average PA (Horrible dinner on take-off from JFK; landed at LHR in the morning with not so much as a coffee or orange juice offered)
Very worst F class experience ever: LZ Balkan Bulgarian (3 X 3 Y class seating, cabin crew remark 'we don't have the other seats' and a glass of brandy offered as the sole pre-take off drink on a breakfast flight)

[trof]

9. Wow! You sure dug up this blast from the past.

What I described was on TWA.
And I still have some of the Delft gin filled 'houses' from KLM.
Thanks for the additional memories.