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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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Posted (edited)
20 hours ago, Ghost of LL said:

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. ...

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.

...

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.

...

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.

Thanks, @Ghost of LL. The guide would have made sense for frequent travelers, especially if they didn't want to rely on travel agents and administrative travel planners.

I recall some flights with my family in the '70s when I was too small to pay attention to seat size, but remember better times, especially regarding meals. Some quick AI searches say average coach seat size has shrunk from 20-21 inches wide (about the size of current first-class seats) and legroom from about 35 inches in the '60s to around 31 now and as low as 28 in budget carriers.

Before deregulation of the industry, complimentary meals, drinks (including alcoholic beverages) and even some entertainment were the norm and airlines competed with one another on amenities. One thing that popped up said Southwest "offered a bottle of alcohol to passengers who paid the full fare."  Anybody remember that?

So generally folks were getting what's now first-class experience -- and paying the price. Even my earliest flights, paid by the military when we followed Dad to Europe, were on airlines that I think no longer exist but still seemed slightly luxurious to me and my siblings. Things have just been eroding since, although, as @tigol points out, at least the air on planes has gotten better.

Was coming back from Costa Rica via Panama maybe 10 years ago on Copa and was stunned by a free meal and beer in coach. I wonder if they're still holding out, but kinda doubt it.

 

Edited by Hayduke
Posted
3 hours ago, Hayduke said:

Thanks, @Ghost of LL. The guide would have made sense for frequent travelers, especially if they didn't want to rely on travel agents and administrative travel planners.

I recall some flights with my family in the '70s when I was too small to pay attention to seat size, but remember better times, especially regarding meals. Some quick AI searches say average coach seat size has shrunk from 20-21 inches wide (about the size of current first-class seats) and legroom from about 35 inches in the '60s to around 31 now and as low as 28 in budget carriers.

Before deregulation of the industry, complimentary meals, drinks (including alcoholic beverages) and even some entertainment were the norm and airlines competed with one another on amenities. One thing that popped up said Southwest "offered a bottle of alcohol to passengers who paid the full fare."  Anybody remember that?

So generally folks were getting what's now first-class experience -- and paying the price. Even my earliest flights, paid by the military when we followed Dad to Europe, were on airlines that I think no longer exist but still seemed slightly luxurious to me and my siblings. Things have just been eroding since, although, as @tigol points out, at least the air on planes has gotten better.

Was coming back from Costa Rica via Panama maybe 10 years ago on Copa and was stunned by a free meal and beer in coach. I wonder if they're still holding out, but kinda doubt it.

 

Ok, but counterpoint: the "and paying the price" is doing a lot of heavy lifting here.  But even with that lift, it's wrong.  If you compare the similarly priced products--a First Class seat today vs. a Coach seat in 1970--the flyer today is getting a waaaaaaay better product.  It's a product that the flyer in 1970 would only dream of.

And for a small fraction of the price of a Coach seat in 1970, the passenger flying in Economy today is getting a product that is in some ways worse.  But in some other ways it's better.  As you point out, the Coach seat in 1970 was bigger.*  There was more leg room.  You sometimes got a meal and a drink.**

But let's be real honest about that meal.  It was bad.  It was actually often borderline inedible.  But it was also your only choice.  Because back in 1970, airports didn't have restaurants that offered to-go meals in them.  In a standard 1970 airport, you had one bar and one restaurant, both of which were places that were owned by the best friend of the local city councilman.  They were by-and-large pretty terrible.  Ok--the one in Albuquerque offered a damned good breakfast taco.  But that was an exception.  But the idea of grabbing something from Campisi's or Chik-fil-a or Whataburger before your flight and eating it on the plane?  It was unheard of.  You were going to get the equivalent of a Stouffer's tv dinner that was either badly overcooked or badly undercooked (often both), and that was it.

Your entertainment was going to be a 13-inch television screen mounted in the ceiling of the cabin five rows in front of you.  It would show one movie.  That's it.  You've already seen that movie?  You don't like that genre?  Too fucking bad--read your goddamned Time magazine and shut up.  Now you get wifi (which airlines are starting to offer for free).  Or you bring your iPad with you with the movies you've already downloaded.  In 1970, you couldn't have dreamed of having those entertainment options in your home, much less in an airplane.

I get it, brother--I'm old, too.  I find myself prone to nostalgia.  But I do still have a decent memory.  And I'm going to tell you that the Golden Age of Commercial Aviation wasn't that great.***

 

 

*The Coach seat in 1970 was wider solely as a function of the aircraft used.  The Lockheed Electra and other propeller-driven aircraft were still widely in use on domestic short- and medium-haul flights.  And those planes had a wider fuselage, which allowed for wider seats.  But if given the choice between flying on a Lockheed Electra and a 737-200, you'd never choose the former.

The 737 family has always had a 3-3 seating configuaration in coach.  And from 1967 to today, the 737 has always had the same width: 12' 4".  So when you're comparing similar aircraft types, the seat width is exactly the same as it was in 1970.

** The free bottle of alcohol was a short-term promotion offered by Southwest in 1973, but it has become part of the airline's founding mythology.

Southwest was facing a cash-crunch in 1973 (only its third year in operation).  In an effort to drive Southwest out of business, Braniff started a fare sale and offered $13 fares between DAL, HOU, and SAT.  That was half the standard fare on Southwest.

In response, Southwest also offered a $13 fare.  But it kept its standard $26 fare and offered a free fifth of Chivas, Jack Daniels, or Smirnoff with it.  The idea was that any business traveler on an expense account would pay the higher fare and get the free booze.

 

But one important note on this--you observe that this was pre-deregulation.  But regulation only applied on interstate routes.  The intra-Texas route was always deregulated.  That's how Braniff could start a fare sale in the first place.  So the entire story could only take place in a deregulated environment.

*** Ok--there was one aspect of it that was fucking great, and you're omitting it entirely.  The Stewardesses.  They were hot.  Airlines could still get away with hiring only young hot women who met a weight restriction.  And because of the societal whatevers back then, they were almost (1) uniformly unmarried, and (2) interested in being married to a guy who could afford to fly.  As a counterpoint to that, I've got nothing.

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