Interesting article. Airlines of the era were emulating the amenities found on railroads and ocean liners, which set the standard for comfort and luxury.
In the 60s, the term “jet set” referred to rich celebrities who could travel the globe at the drop of a hat. With the introduction of jumbo jets and deregulation in the 70s, air travel became accessible to more people than ever before.
But the democratization of air travel has been a double-edged sword. Modern planes are faster, safer, and more comfortable than ever before, but passengers are herded like cattle and packed in like sardines. The TSA treats us all like potential terrorists. And I’ve read horror stories of planes parked for hours with the passengers forbidden to leave. It seems to me that modern air travel has more in common with Greyhound buses than the luxury travel of yesteryear.
(Believe it or not, I’m 55 years old and have never flown commercially.)
They needed all those amenities at the time, because they would be travelling for days rather than hours.
To be fair, they were also paying more than the equivalent of a first class ticket today; I think the last time I flew first class across the Atlantic it cost about $10,000. Probably still not as comfortable as their flights, but a lot better than cattle class in the back. Or you could hire your own executive jet for a similar price per person if you can fill all the seats.
And, yeah, I once spent about three hours sitting in a plane in Toronto while they changed a wheel. Wouldn’t have been so bad if they’d had the AC on, but I was very glad when they finally took off.
I remember flying St. Louis to New York on a Lockheed Constellation (round trip). It was the same as a modern jet flight, except the kids (including me) ran up and down the isles like wild wombats.
Wrong link Rand.
Interesting article. Airlines of the era were emulating the amenities found on railroads and ocean liners, which set the standard for comfort and luxury.
In the 60s, the term “jet set” referred to rich celebrities who could travel the globe at the drop of a hat. With the introduction of jumbo jets and deregulation in the 70s, air travel became accessible to more people than ever before.
But the democratization of air travel has been a double-edged sword. Modern planes are faster, safer, and more comfortable than ever before, but passengers are herded like cattle and packed in like sardines. The TSA treats us all like potential terrorists. And I’ve read horror stories of planes parked for hours with the passengers forbidden to leave. It seems to me that modern air travel has more in common with Greyhound buses than the luxury travel of yesteryear.
(Believe it or not, I’m 55 years old and have never flown commercially.)
They needed all those amenities at the time, because they would be travelling for days rather than hours.
To be fair, they were also paying more than the equivalent of a first class ticket today; I think the last time I flew first class across the Atlantic it cost about $10,000. Probably still not as comfortable as their flights, but a lot better than cattle class in the back. Or you could hire your own executive jet for a similar price per person if you can fill all the seats.
And, yeah, I once spent about three hours sitting in a plane in Toronto while they changed a wheel. Wouldn’t have been so bad if they’d had the AC on, but I was very glad when they finally took off.
I remember flying St. Louis to New York on a Lockheed Constellation (round trip). It was the same as a modern jet flight, except the kids (including me) ran up and down the isles like wild wombats.