FrankCobretti

Here's a great piece from today's Washington Post:


Americans today want flying to mirror the image in their heads of the glory days of air travel. But that vision is outdated. The industry is making changes not to ruin your life but to survive.



If you think about air travel 50 years ago, you probably envision smartly dressed businessmen reclining in big, comfy seats and enjoying elaborate meals. Meanwhile, attractive young stewardesses fawn over their customers -- the legendary "coffee, tea or me" days. Those days weren't, however, as glamorous as you might imagine.

More at the link, above.
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This guy absolutely nails it. I'm going to save a copy of this article and post it whenever somebody wanks about airline fees.

fireman0174

The writer is making a comparison between propeller days and the jet era. An apples to oranges comparison.

Some, but not all of his points are valid.

Splanky

Brett knows the industry well. I have spoken with him and he is sharp. I think he would actually make a descent manager again as he is pretty neutral but open-minded on labor issues.

Splanky

Very true. The true golden age of the airlines was probably the dawn of the jet age. But, as passengers now don't realize; the seats haven't gotten smaller (707 was still 6 abreast); people have gotten bigger.

Beagle Pilot

Great reading, Frank. Thanks for the link.

iPilot

The funny thing is you can get most of that experience if you book 1st or business class. You can sit in the executive lounges in the airport, get free bag checks, food, and flight attendants to coddle you, if you pay for it. He mentions in the article that even their coach tickets back then were $1200, so you're really getting quite a deal flying business/first today.

It's also funny considering that many of the clients who used to fly 1st class on the airlines are now going to private jets. Again, so much of the experience of the airlines of yesterday can be seen at any executive airport with private jets. Of course by the public's standards this is lavishly expensive, much as TWA and Pan Am was back in the day.

That article needs to be printed out on the back of every airline ticket, and on the front page of every ticketing site.

AirbusA320

No mention of Jet A costing a dime a gallon back then or Howard Hughes paying $400,000 for a Connie. B737 and B777 list prices are in the $70 million and $200 million range respectively. Airlines have to deal with expenses that are not in their control.

fireman0174

When did we meet?

Mesabah

People are getting an incredible deal traveling at ~12 cents a mile. I don't think anything even comes close to that cheap. The problems people are having are related to lack of airport space and the TSA. Two things that are mostly out of the airlines control.

Phantom Flyer

The article chronicles the days of "yesteryear", comparing the days of propeller driven aircraft to today's air travel is tantamount to saying WOW these new vehicles of today are a far cry from the Model-T automobiles our great grandparents rode in.

Not very relevant.