Air Travel – Bygone Days

The following guest post is from Alison Chambers a frequent flyer who is an occasional contributor of guest travel posts to Blogher

Many of us “oldsters” recall the days when one dressed up to go to the airport, wearing clean, attractive clothing and behaving in a polite, civilized manner. We may have budgeted for months to take to the skies, but that made flight part of the adventure. Now, given the necessity for security and our changed society, it’s an exhausting trial for both passengers and crew. One plus: My flight attendant daughter says that when they ended smoking on uk flights, crews immediately felt the affect — more energy at the end of the trip.

I took my first flight alone in 1972 on Great British Air at the age of 14. I wore a skirt and blouse, and, as I recall, so did everybody else. Lunch, in coach, was served with real silverware, linen napkins and real dishes.

The stewardess took away the bottle of wine that came with the meal. Since then, it has been nothing but a race to the bottom. I read an article recently that seriously discussed the possibility of designing an aircraft with accomodations for passengers to stand during the flight in tightly packed rows–the Amistad of the skies. I can hardly wait.