What do you miss most about old school traveling?

[DCLMP]

Count me in with folks who said showing up at the airport a half hour before the flight and boarding with no problem. Oh, and most flights were on time!

Also the mood was much lighter. Both the travelers and airport/airline employees were much more at ease. I understand the reason for the change, but if we're talking about what we miss?

I worked for a major airline in the 90s as a ticket agent. Ticketing passengers was not an easy task. If there was a cancellation or a delay you were dependent on the ticket agent for rebooking resulting in long lines. You didn't get a notification on your phone if a flight was delayed or canceled or a gate changed.

Yes, you could show up closer to your flight time because the airports were less crowded and security was easy.

If I don't check bags I can arrive an hour before my flight if I have to check bags I give it 90 minutes minimum. I mostly fly out of an American hub with good weather and there are plenty of self-serve kiosks. I don't have a huge issue.

Flying out of the USA is still a breeze compared to Europe. 3 hours minimum at most big European airports.

 

[CdnCarrie]

I have always heard that dressing up for flying is something that has gone away. I think it would have been a nice thing to dress for the occasion.

Dressing up to sit on a plane or an airport sounds horrendous to me. Travel can be stressful and exhausting without having to dress up for it.

 

[GoingSince1990]

It was nice when people who weren’t flying anywhere were allowed to breeze through the security checkpoints and go to the gates, so (at least for domestic flights) you could meet an arriving loved one at the gate, as soon as they got off the plane. And I remember going on business trips in the 90s when my wife (who wasn’t traveling) came through security with me and hung out with me in the lounge for a while. And of course none of the “shoes off” and limitations on liquids stuff. On the other hand, smoking sections on planes. Yuck.

 

[tvguy]

So cruises started at about 990 per person in 1988 - that's about 2500 per person today - the example i saw was a 7 day Alaska cruise on the Princess line. A similar cruise today is 999 a person - so I guess its much cheaper today.

I guess it makes sense as there are more ships and they hold far more people.

Hop over to the Cruise Line Forum where folks don't think twice about spending $20,000 to $25,000 for a stateroom for seven days.
I did 5 cruises from 1980 to 1988, Paquet, NCL (twice) RCCL (twice) and those cruises included round trip air fare, a hotel the night before the cruise, and there were no extra cost restaurants, the Main Dining room was top flight dining all the way.
Now they nickel and dime you death with extra cost options. I believe Remy on Disney is $95 dollars a person. Mind you, you have already paid for dinner that night in the main dining room. That is a LOT more than a land based restaurant charges of similar quality, not counting, again, that you already paid for dinner in the Main dining room.

 

[gmi3804]

When I was in high school I spent the summer of ‘82 in Madrid, and the wide body plane we flew on had the non-smoking section in the center section seats and the smoking section(s) on the sides.

 

[Dznypal]

Gee princesshroom are yiu by chance talking about Midwest express airline mentioning the warm chocolate chip cookies.
Both my brother and sister in law were pilots for ME. Sure do miss that airlines

 

[Genie+]

While I also feel the current manner of dressing on airplanes is too "casual" for me, I really don't want to "dress up" for it. I mean nylons, heels and a two piece suit (with fancy jewelry, maybe even a hat)? No thanks.

View attachment 809305

It's quite possible to dress nicely, though.

I dress for success!

to sleep the whole flight.

 

[fly girl]

Couldn’t you just do the same on your phone. Buy a ticket, check in and get your boarding pass in less than 5 minutes. I dont know about the 20 minutes before flight that seems like a bit of hyperbole. Airlines have always shut the doors at least 10 minutes before departure.

I know for one particular legacy carrier (if you look on here enough you’ll know which one I am referring too) the 10 minute rule wasn’t in existence until the 2005 time frame. I remember waiting for larger groups of passengers before D-10 (departure 10 is the term used.) Especially when it was the only or last flight of the day.

 

[fly girl]

Dressing up to sit on a plane or an airport sounds horrendous to me. Travel can be stressful and exhausting without having to dress up for it.

Back when I first started flying, if you were traveling as an employee on standby hoping to get an empty seat (it was much easier then) you had to dress up. Dresses with panty hose on women. Suit and tie for men. It was so easy to see who was an employee, esp in warm weather destinations. Here we were in Honolulu sweating to death while everyone else was in shorts.

Finally, they relaxed the rules. We still have dress code, but nothing like it was before. (Now it’s no ripped/torn jeans, tshirts with subjective graphics, short shorts, etc)

 

[NYCgrrl]

Dressing up to sit on a plane or an airport sounds horrendous to me. Travel can be stressful and exhausting without having to dress up for it.

It actually is quite easy and comfortable as long as you think it thru in advance. The A-line dress another poster showed is similar to something I would wear. I fondly remember a work outfit I had that traveled well: a ribbed turtleneck, car coat length cardigan, and knit pants with a slight flare. Was tobacco brown and navy blue wool knit and with a pair of patterned mules I was ready for most anything. Good for being upgraded too. I shed a tear when that designer closed down.

 

[NYCgrrl]

Yeah, I'm dressing to be comfortable on a flight, sorry. Unless I'm traveling for work and will be immediately going somewhere I have to look business appropriate, it's going to be lounge wear.

I also miss being fed. Even on international flights now it's not guaranteed.

What airline no longer serves meals on international flights? I need to update my no fly airline list. So far there are no US based airlines left that I want to travel on and I’m hearing mutterings about British Airways.

 

[tony67]

What airline no longer serves meals on international flights? I need to update my no fly airline list. So far there are no US based airlines left that I want to travel on and I’m hearing mutterings about British Airways.

Well I'm not sure what Aer Lingus gives you is really a meal TBH...

Its far worse than it used to be - which was already pretty bad - when all other airlines were giving free drink they were not.
There were a couple of years they tried it - but did not last long at all.
Anyway they have reduced the quality and cut some things out - I was shocked just how bad it was last time.
No bread with the meal now either - it was the only decent thing - there was a slice of prepackaged Irish Brown Bread.
Also the cheap wooden utensils they use - leave a really bad taste in your mouth making it all the worse.

They used to give you an Irish Breakfast - its was minimal but better than the scone they give you now.
On my last flight we did not even get that as the flight got in over an hour early and only the first few rows got the breakfast.

My wife asked for it on the way out - they don't eve give you Kerry Gold butter many more - they switched to a cheaper brand.

My wife said TAP was not bad at all - I slept through it so cant say. the good thing about them is the flight leaves at 11:30PM so you can work all day and then go to the airport and don't get in too early and you can usually get a free stopover in Lisbon (or Porto) for a few days before you fly onto somewhere else.

Hop over to the Cruise Line Forum where folks don't think twice about spending $20,000 to $25,000 for a stateroom for seven days.
I did 5 cruises from 1980 to 1988, Paquet, NCL (twice) RCCL (twice) and those cruises included round trip air fare, a hotel the night before the cruise, and there were no extra cost restaurants, the Main Dining room was top flight dining all the way.
Now they nickel and dime you death with extra cost options. I believe Remy on Disney is $95 dollars a person. Mind you, you have already paid for dinner that night in the main dining room. That is a LOT more than a land based restaurant charges of similar quality, not counting, again, that you already paid for dinner in the Main dining room.

No doubt - I was going with the most basic advertised fairs.

My parents did that splurge for there 50th anniversary and enjoyed it - Norwegian I think - when you have limited mobility I guess it makes sense - but I'd prefer to just travel somewhere nice and enjoy a city for 1/5 that price.

I've done several Disney cruises back in the beginning of the cruise line (the first two ships) and was never impressed with any of the food except Palo. Sitting on the veranda was nice for a short time - but 7 days is too much for me - we mostly did it for my parents sake.

When we get older and cant do it all on our own anymore we may do a river cruise since you can hit a bunch of cities in Europe and its easy enough.
Maybe a Mediterranean cruise as well.

 

[loves to dive]

We haven't flow in over 10 years so I can't say what's missing with air travel. I can say what I miss about road trips. Going to the gas station and not only did they pump your gas, they cleaned the windshield and checked the oil and tire pressure. Bonus for way back you got S&H green stamps.

 

[tony67]

We haven't flow in over 10 years so I can't say what's missing with air travel. I can say what I miss about road trips. Going to the gas station and not only did they pump your gas, they cleaned the windshield and checked the oil and tire pressure. Bonus for way back you got S&H green stamps.

I remember getting green stamps at the local shop - but never doing anything with them

 

[Suger Mag]

car trips in the back of the station wagon with the seats folded down and a bunch of pillows... the cool parent on the swim team had a van with all the passenger row seats taken out and just a mess of bean bags, we would ride to meets all piled in (clown car style).... playing cards and doing MadLibs

 

[Sweettears]

We haven't flow in over 10 years so I can't say what's missing with air travel. I can say what I miss about road trips. Going to the gas station and not only did they pump your gas, they cleaned the windshield and checked the oil and tire pressure. Bonus for way back you got S&H green stamps.

Sounds like you’re in my age bracket.

 

[DCLMP]

Hop over to the Cruise Line Forum where folks don't think twice about spending $20,000 to $25,000 for a stateroom for seven days.
I did 5 cruises from 1980 to 1988, Paquet, NCL (twice) RCCL (twice) and those cruises included round trip air fare, a hotel the night before the cruise, and there were no extra cost restaurants, the Main Dining room was top flight dining all the way.
Now they nickel and dime you death with extra cost options. I believe Remy on Disney is $95 dollars a person. Mind you, you have already paid for dinner that night in the main dining room. That is a LOT more than a land based restaurant charges of similar quality, not counting, again, that you already paid for dinner in the Main dining room.

I believe it’s 125 now for Remy. Your not exaggerating there are people that sail concierge and pay that much and then there’s the European cruises where an inside cabin can cost that much for a family. People spend some huge amounts on WDW too. Lots of deep pockets on this forum.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I have always heard that dressing up for flying is something that has gone away. I think it would have been a nice thing to dress for the occasion.

The recommendation for your health is to dress in comfortable clothing. Back when you saw a lot of dressing up they weren't thinking about swelling the feet the often occurs with flying, or the blood flow to your legs where compression socks (especially on long-haul flights) are recommended. They weren't thinking about personal comfort with temperatures and layers being good for people.

Tight fitted shoes especially heels are one of the worst things you could wear. I often see FAs with looser fitting shoes with no heels or a very very short heel. If you're wearing tennis shoes loosen the laces to help with blood flow and swelling. Make sure you know if you get cold on a plane as dresses would impact that. The reason you see a lot of leggings and such is because they are comfortable and even though they are tight fitting they have elastic at the waist that helps out when flying

In terms of flying, your health is more important. Looking a certain sort of way for other people is something I'm very glad has gone away for flying.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Meals on international travel is much more standard, the quality of meals I'm sure has changed and become more segmented by class. I miss domestic travel meals and more substantial snacks.

 

[Moliphino]

What airline no longer serves meals on international flights? I need to update my no fly airline list. So far there are no US based airlines left that I want to travel on and I’m hearing mutterings about British Airways.

On Icelandair the economy options don't include food.