What airline travel used to be like.

[trof]

Miz t. and I got to reminiscing last night.

Back when the CAB (Civil Aeronautics Board) ran the show (before 'deregulation'), they said where each airline could go and how much they could charge. Call it socialistic, but it worked. There was no cutthroat competition on routes and fares.

The ONLY competition was on quality of service.

I was a TWA pilot, so we traveled on passes.
Coach was FREE, and there was a $10 surcharge for first class.
This was a no brainer.
I could drink $10 worth of GOOD Scotch on an hour and a half flight.

There were only two drawbacks:
1. All travel for pass riders was strictly space available.
If the airplane was full, you didn't go.
2. There was a dress code for first class.
Coat and tie for gents.
'Appropriate dress' for ladies.

We could live with that.
We used to 'dress' for air travel, anyway.

Here's what first class was like:
(And some of this will sound terribly dated.)
There were ACRES of space between you and the seat in front of you.
And the seats were SO comfortable.

While still at the gate, lovely young female (no males back then) cabin attendants would pass through first class offering trays of champagne or orange juice. Any other drink you can imagine was also available on request. And they passed out headsets so you could listen to music, or a comedy channel.
And little 'footie' slippers and blindfolds for sleeping later.
On coast-to-coast and international flight there were 'amenity' kits with all sorts of stuff you might need. Toothbrush and toothpaste. A calculator(?), pen, notepad. Lotion, chapstick. Handi-Wipes.
In a leather case with the TWA logo.
Cool.

As soon as we took off, here they came again.
More drinks, and hors d'oeuvres.
Shrimp, lobster bits, caviar, canapes, cheeses, nuts, etc., etc.
Oh...and you could actually SMOKE.
One of the best 'feelings' I've ever had was cruising at 35,000 feet, sipping a Scotch and soda, having a cigarette, looking at the darkening earth below, and talking with Miz t.

Then the menus came out.
The choices were astounding.
They would put many earthbound restaurants to shame.

After you'd made your selection, the food carts came out.
The Chateaubriand was carved by your seat.
"How thick would you like this sliced? How many slices? Oh, have ANOTHER. It's REALLY good."
And it was.

Later, the dessert carts came out.
Sweet Jesus.

Then the after dinner drinks, brandies, etc.
And coffee.

Then the lights were dimmed and the movie came on.
If you were on an all nighter to London, or Paris, or Rome, or Athens, you probably watched the movie for a while before you reclined your seat to almost horizontal and drifted off to sleep.

You woke when the window shades went up and it was morning and time for breakfast.
"Mimosa? Bloody Mary? Coffee?"
Then eggs and bacon, or ham.
Or maybe French toast.
Waffles?
Fresh fruit.
Juice.

And then you were on the approach and looking out the window at the city and the wheels went down and bump-bump you were on the runway and then at the gate and you were almost sorry to leave that comfortable little cocoon you had occupied for the last 6 or 8 hours.

<sigh>
:-)

[Gormy Cuss]

1. Wake up, now. It was all a dream.

I remember when flying coach was fairly spacious and I only started traveling in the '70s. Of course,there was a smoking section so not everything was better then.

[trof]

3. The time I'm talking about? There WAS no 'smoking section'.

NONE.

And, somehow, people didn't fan at the air in front of them, or get the vapors and pass out.

On smaller airplanes, there was sometimes a 'haze' layer about four feet off the floor.

And nobody complained.
Nobody.

In all my years of flying, prior to the 'no-smoking' era, did I ever have a single passenger complain about cigarette smoke on my airplane.
And believe me, if one of my flight attendants had heard a complaint, I certainly would have heard about it.

I'm not saying that cigarette smoke is entirely benign, I'm just saying that it wasn't the cause celebre that it has become.

[Karenina]

8. In early adolescence, all big and bad

I walked across the tarmac to the stairs, looked at the SIZE of the jet and burst out crying. The flight attendants had no luck coaxing me up. The PILOT came down, introduced himself, led me up by the hand, instructed that I be seated as near as possible to him and told me what to expect upon takeoff... I LOVED FLYING from that day forward. Especially takeoff and a soft landing.

[trof]

15. Back in the day, the cockpit door was open.

And we invited passengers up to see the operation and chat.
"Here, sit down in the jumpseat".
Fun.

[bikebloke]

34. Yeah

Back in the mid-80's when I flew from Bangladesh to Nepal, the pilots left the door open so we could walk up and look as we approached the Himalaya.

I bet the door's shut and locked now.

[trof]

19. Aw...bless his heart.

Yeah, we used to take a personal interest in our passengers.
They had entrusted their lives to our abilities.
It wasn't something we just blew off.

The best thing I could do was bring a fearsome flyer up into the cockpit and explain to them what was happening.

And my best line was "Look...I've been doing this for a long time. And I plan to keep doing it for a long time. That's why I don't take chances. If I don't like the way the weather looks here, or at our destination? I'm parking this airplane.
I want to get home to my wife and kids just as much as you do."

It usually had a soothing effect.
And that was back in the day when the 'bottom line' wasn't the all encompassing factor. If I said we didn't go, we didn't go. And I never got a call from the chief pilot or management.

[Blue_In_AK]

29. The first time I flew

was in 1955 from Dayton to Denver when I was eight years old. My grandmother was able to come on the plane with me before takeoff to get me all settled in and kissed good-by. A stewardess (that's what we called them then) got off the plane with me in Chicago and made sure I was safely on the connecting flight to Denver. I was given "wings" and was taken up to see the pilots in the cockpit. It was fun.

[billyskank]

2. You should fly Ryanair some time

:rofl:

[trof]

4. I know about them. Former diapatcher is a friend.

She has since moved to FAR greener fields as a crew scheduler in Dubai.

[SeattleGirl]

5. I like Bill Maher's idea for Last Chance Airlines (or something like that).

Bring whatever you want on the plane, get there at the last minute, pay for your ticket in cash, etc.

Sounds like a winner to me.

[Initech]

9. Sounds a lot like these guys:

http://ask.skybus.com/about/rules-of-flying.shtml

[Rabrrrrrr]

6. Yes. Read my rant from 6 years ago.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=105&topic_id=6631350

[trof]

10. Yes. No...Yes SIR! Yes Sir-REE!

My sentiments exactly.
And I will gladly share my Nomex tent with you.
:hide:

[Parche]

7. TWA

Did you ever have any TWA tea? :rofl: :rofl: :hi:

TWA was one of my favorite airlines, my sales rep and friend Tammy Jacobs was awesome.....

[trof]

12. Locking. No Ess-Ee-Ex Threads.

;-)

[Parche]

14. TWA

were you a pilot for TWA???

[trof]

17. Yeah, for about 30 years.

[Parche]

18. TWA

Awesome, I love airplanes and airlines, I collect airline timetables for over 30years now

Did you know the Battle of Midway hero....George Gay, who flew for TWA?

I supported TWA a lot when I was at Adidas travel dept...sold them like hotcakes
then unfortunately AA bought them and dismantled most of it....:cry:

:hi:

[trof]

20. Yes, I flew with George.

As a very junior flight engineer.

[Parche]

32. TWA

So you flew the 707 maybe the 727?

I fly the 717 on my flight simulator!!!!

[Initech]

11. Yeah, I wish air travel was like that.

Fuck deregulation. It's turned a lot of used to be legitimate businesses (like the airline industry) into a glorified form of organized crime. It would be sweet to travel if it was like that.

[trof]

13. Aye-Men

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

16. It also used to be really expensive. Only the well-off could travel by air.

Now it's cheap -- you can fly to most places for a lot less than it costs to drive there. However, the intense competition to offer the lowest fares has, unfortunately resulted in the loss of all that excellent service (not to mention much lower wages for most airline employees). If people really want that kind of service they will have to be prepared to pay for it; and right now there's little evidence of that demand. I think some people would FedEx themselves in a crate if they could do it for the lowest cost.

Deregulation has been a disaster for everybody but the CEOs.

Of course, there's always this airline, which offers some unique services: http://www.skyhighairlines.com/main.asp

[trof]

21. That's true. And I don't know if that was a bad thing.

And I know that sounds elitist as hell.
I'm not a wealthy person.
By a long shot.
But I realize that there are things that are beyond my budget.

And I don't insist that the prices of boats or houses or cruises or Bentleys somehow be brought into my financial capabilities.

I know what I can afford and I'm OK with that.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

22. Agreed...

And at the risk of sounding elitist myself, at least in The Olden Days you didn't see drunks in dirty t-shirts and baseball caps on backwards cussing out the gate agents.

[Rabrrrrrr]

23. Let me jump on the elitist bandwagon and say I miss those days,

the days when the sweatsuit-wearing demographic who talk loudly in public and can't control themselves or chew with their mouths closed were priced out of flight and higher-class train travel.

I wish we had a higher-priced option for movies and flights and other public venues, like we do restaurants, that would be an automatic barrier between those who know how to handle themselves in public, and the other 90% of America.

I'm willing to pay a few extra bucks to get away from the socially unprepared.

[Celeborn Skywalker]

24. The thing is though,

is that I've never seen any firsthand evidence of the more well-to-do having more manners than anyone else. In fact, I'd say in many respects they have worse manners (rudeness to service employees, everyone owes me everything, etc.). I don't think bad manners can be "priced out".

[jeff30997]

25. So true.And the best example is ???:

The Chimpster himself!And the bastard fly on Air Force One!

[Celeborn Skywalker]

27. Exactly! nt

[Hardrada]

31. Louts exist in all social classes. And tantrum-prone children also.

First class usually is quieter though. Our last experience on British Airways was in First and they did all the goodie things mentioned above except we couldn't smoke of course. I was expecting them to hand us the latest Harry Potter book!

[Skittles]

26. people in airports are very bad

I've never had any problems but I have to constantly hear the loud complaining of passengers who usually just don't arrive at the airport PREPARED

[cobalt1999]

33. I have to defend the sweatsuit wearing though.

I do it all the time when I'm on an all night overseas flight, it is so much easier to sleep and relax for that many hours in a pair of sweats instead of "business dress".

Coming back from the Far East a couple of months ago, I was flying for over 18 hours. When facing that, you do what you have to do.

[TheMightyFavog]

28. This is why I enjoyed flying Swiss International

The flight to O'hare that I took a few weeks ago was nice, despite the fact all our flight attendants were male, and one looked exactly like Harold from The Red Green Show. (We had some very attractive flight attendants from both genders on the flight out in June)

We got decent meals (for airline food), premium Ice Cream, free drinks, Wine, Beer, Soda, Campari Soda, a nice free in flight entertainment system with free headphones that we got to keep, Hot Towels, and decent inflight magazines.

Granted, I flew Economy, and the seat was a bit cramped because I was seated right near the back, but I will say that I had a very good expereince with this airline and would reccomend it to my fellow DUers.

[philosophie_en_rose]

30. Oh yeah?

Alaska Airlines threw some crackers and a 3 oz juice cup at me. And they even let me wait four hours after the scheduled departure for the plane to arrive!

:sarcasm: