Having spent a lot of time on airplanes the past two weeks, I couldn’t help but make direct comparisons between each airline flown and the differences in how they operate just about every aspect of the flight. Some of the differences are nuanced (i.e. you only notice them if you spend a lot of time on planes) and others are very pronounced (anyone could notice the difference).
One example is the difference in how in-flight entertainment (IFE) is treated by airlines. Some airlines will enable their IFE systems to work as soon as you board the plane; you can start watching a movie before you are even required to buckle up your seat belt. Others (I’m looking at you Delta), force you to wait until the plane is in the air to fire up their IFE systems.
Another example is how many seats the airlines try to stuff into a plane. For the flights I have recently taken to Europe and Asia, Delta only has 4 seats per row in their new international business class and 8 seats per row in economy class. This is much more comfortable than the 8 seats United packs into business class and 9-10 seats in economy. While not all planes have the same width and configuration, there are definitely differences between airlines.
But in the scheme of things, these differences are probably not very noticeable to someone who only flies a few times a year. How about someone who hasn’t flown on an airline since the 1980’s? They would probably notice some tremendous differences between their experiences then and now.
That brings me to the reason for writing this post: a recent article by Mental Floss that lists 11 things that we no longer see on airplanes. You may have heard of a few of these things, but some of the others are pretty crazy (and an obvious sign of their time).
From enough beds on a plane to accommodate all passengers to pong tournaments while drinking champagne, it sounds like flying used to be pretty awesome. Then again, that is probably the reason why so many airlines have gone bankrupt over the years as well. Perhaps it wasn’t efficient to have a meat-carving station on a flight?
But things sure did look classy back then. Classy were the Wurlitzer pianos on the 747, fresh cut flowers, fashion shows or works of art. Maybe the Hot Pants on Southwest attendants weren’t really classy, but they were likely a sign of the times.
While it would be very cool to go back to some of these old ways of flying, there’s no doubt that it is far too cost prohibitive to run this type of operation (both for the airlines and potential passengers).
Flying in 2014 vs. Flying in the 1970’s
The differences I noticed while flying present day are definitely a lot more subtle than they were in the 1970’s and 80’s. I guess pointing out the “difference” between how quickly you can watch a gigantic catalog of on-demand programming through an In-flight entertainment system is sort of trivial when compared to being on a flight with live entertainment in the form of a piano lounge. I guess the products offered by airlines have become homogenized over the years.
Unfortunately, I was born in the 1980’s, so I don’t have any fond memories of this type of flying. How about my readers? Have any of you experienced any of the 11 items from the article?
Would you want to fly on an airline that had these type of retro configurations? These people look so comfortable!
Cover Photo Credit: Xavier Donat via Compfight cc
