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the official and final end of the last vestige of the golden age of commercial aviation


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Posted

Damnit. Air travel used to be magical.  Now it's a fucking greyhound with people literally dressed in pajamas.  

We were required to wear coat and tie for air travel with my college golf team.  I miss those days.  

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Posted

Never heard of it, which surprises me a little because my very long education and work experience are rooted in communication and touch a bit on tourism/recreation. I'm guessing this is is a publication whose primary audience was travel professionals, especially corporate folks and agencies. And folks who had to pay attention to transport logistics for other reasons. 

Ran a cursory search for more info but didn't get far, so I'm wondering if any of y'all would care to elaborate. Genuinely interested in why this is so meaningful.

Posted
14 hours ago, Hayduke said:

Never heard of it, which surprises me a little because my very long education and work experience are rooted in communication and touch a bit on tourism/recreation. I'm guessing this is is a publication whose primary audience was travel professionals, especially corporate folks and agencies. And folks who had to pay attention to transport logistics for other reasons. 

Ran a cursory search for more info but didn't get far, so I'm wondering if any of y'all would care to elaborate. Genuinely interested in why this is so meaningful.

+1....been an avgeek most my life, spent years doing the work travel thing, and have rummaged through countless reading materials at FBOs big and small. Have never heard of this so my FOMO is kicking in. Would love to learn more about it. 

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Posted
19 hours ago, pops said:

Damnit. Air travel used to be magical.  Now it's a fucking greyhound with people literally dressed in pajamas.  

We were required to wear coat and tie for air travel with my college golf team.  I miss those days.  

It's still magical if you want to pay the amount that people routinely paid for air travel in the era when "air travel was magical."

The average cost of a flight from JFK to LHR in 1970 was $550.  Adjusted for inflation, that's $4,500.

If you want to spend $4,500 for a flight from JFK to LHR, it's going to be magical.  You're likely going to be in First.  You'll walk right up to BA's First counter and a very lovely agent will check you in within five minutes.  Then you'll walk right through security with no line directly into the Chelsea Lounge where they'll pour you a glass of Laurent Perrier Grand Siecle.  Then you go to your plane and your lay-flat seat.

That's a fuckton better than the shitty coach seat that you would've gotten for the same price back in the Golden Age of Commercial Aviation.

19 hours ago, Hayduke said:

Never heard of it, which surprises me a little because my very long education and work experience are rooted in communication and touch a bit on tourism/recreation. I'm guessing this is is a publication whose primary audience was travel professionals, especially corporate folks and agencies. And folks who had to pay attention to transport logistics for other reasons. 

Ran a cursory search for more info but didn't get far, so I'm wondering if any of y'all would care to elaborate. Genuinely interested in why this is so meaningful.

The OAG Pocket Guide is a master schedule of all airline flights.  It comes in four regional versions--one for North America, one for Europe, one for East Asia, and one for South & Southwest Asia.

Inside, it lays out by airport every destination to which that airport has nonstop flights.  The flights are organized by departure time and identify the departure time, the arrival time, the equipment, and the airline.  So the entry for Austin would look like:

AUSTIN, TX

Albuquerque, NM

0645  0805  738  WN

0915  1040  73G  WN

etc.

It's an easy reference guide for anyone who does a lot of traveling to immediately see what flights are available between any given city-pair.  With the internet, it's obviously pretty obsolete.  But before all airlines were on sites like Expedia, it was the only place that had a comprehensive listing of all the available airline options for whatever destination you wanted to go to.

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Posted
It was when I was little and Southwest had those backwards seats.

With ash trays!

For all those going on about “the good ole days,” have you ever been on a smoking flight?

Absolutely brutal. Glad that shit is gone.
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