Does anyone else remember...?

[trof]

OK, more airport/airline stuff:
Observation decks? Where you could walk outside and watch the airplanes take off and land? The thrill of it all.

Free little packs of cigarettes on your airline meal tray?

Linen napkins with the little buttonhole in one corner?

When there weren't any smoking/no-smoking sections?
For that matter, when there WERE smoking sections?

When TWA flight attendants ("hostesses" back then) changed into paper dresses in flight? And at least one of the pilots always carried a pair of scissors for the "who has the shortest mini-skirt" contest?

The wild "modern art" paint jobs on Branif airplanes? Can't remember the name of the artist.

Aircraft cocktail lounges? Especially on the B-707?
Piano bars on the 747?

When there were no jetways and they just rolled up a set of stairs to the front and rear entrances?

If you had been nice to the hostess and she really liked you she'd drop a barf bag filled with 3 or 4 liquor miniatures in your lap just before landing?

Cockpit open doors and you could go up and watch and talk to the pilots?

OK, who else is a geezer?
;-)

[Historic NY]

1. Yup, and they gave you little do-dads or souveniers.....n/t

[Mikimouse]

2. Another geezer checking in...

I remember all of those things and more. I was on a Viasa flight in 1969, going to visit my cousins in Caracas, and as soon as we were at cruise, the flight turned into one big party. People from tourist class went into first class to get cigarettes and drinks, and the aisles were jammed with folks having conversations and fun. Never happen today!

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

3. Yo soy geezer

man, those are some memories.

[lonestarnot]

4. Yes

Tin soldiers and Nixon's comin'.
We're finally on our own.
This summer I hear the drummin'.
Four dead in Ohio.

Gotta get down to it.
Soldiers are gunning us down.
Should have been done long ago.
What if you knew her and
Found her dead on the ground?
How can you run when you know?

Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na.
Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na.
Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na.
Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na.

Gotta get down to it.
Soldiers are cutting us down.
Should have been done long ago.
What if you knew her and
Found her dead on the ground?
How can you run when you know?

Tin soldiers and Nixon's comin'.
We're finally on our own.
This summer I hear the drummin'.
Four dead in Ohio.
Four dead in Ohio.
Four dead in Ohio.
Four dead in Ohio.
Four dead in Ohio.
Four dead in Ohio.
Four dead in Ohio.
Four dead in Ohio.
Four dead in Ohio.

[Historic NY]

5. I miss the smoking the most..........keeps me calm....and goes

with the booze. The last flight I took to London was the last one British Air allowed it...I chewed a Swisher Sweet on a trip to Vegas.

[amazona]

6. I remember prices were so high...

...that airlines might not as well have existed for regular people. We had to drive everywhere even if it took days. :-(

[RebelOne]

7. Yes, I remember it all.

But the jetways are an improvement over having to climb the steps.

[henslee]

8. I believe CALDER was the artist.

[trof]

9. That's it.

thanks

[henslee]

10. I grew up ner JFK airport and used to look up and see psychodelic air-

planes when I was a kid. Y'know the abundance of abstract, pop, modern art in my life growing up was a wonderful thing. It had a built in liveliness that was all the more emphasized against a backdrop of the normal, the institutional, the conventional. I caught the tail end of the hippie movement -- just as it was going commercial.

Nowadays, with the bombardment of images via media, videogames, etc., it is harder to have an experience like that and have it stick with you.
We are a bit overloaded.

[EstimatedProphet]

11. Commuter flying killed all of that stuff

It was possible to have that kind of lifestyle on planes before everyone and their brother started flying and expecting it. these days, you can't even find a plane big enough to hold a piano, let alone a piano bar, and all the planes are always PACKED.

[buttemontana]

12. geezer memories

How about "Coffee, Tea, or Me"?
Proud bird with a golden tail?
When you dressed up to fly?
A flight to Alaska in the late 60's, when hunters pulled their guns from the overhead and compared them.

[trof]

20. I remember when folks dressed up to fly.

Although I do prefer our more casual lifestyle.

[bearfan454]

13. I'm a geezer if 48 counts.

I remember a lot of those.

[proud2BlibKansan]

14. I can finally ask

why did those napkins have holes in them?

[trof]

18. So guys could button them

to their shirts and keep food off the front.
Ladies too, if they happened to have buttons.

[Orangepeel]

15. paper dresses?

um... okay. was there a wet t-shirt contest, too?

[trof]

19. Oh yeah

And I had the fastest scissors on TWA.

[underpants]

16. *Sexist post* I remember when the stewardesses were HOT! FINE!

Even as a kid I marvelled at how hot the stewardesses were.....no more.

[Left Is Write]

17. I never set foot on an airplane until I was 28, not quite 11 years ago.

But I do remember some of what you describe from childhood visits to the airport when my dad was flying somewhere - I remember going to watch the airplanes, I remember being able to go anywhere in the airport, I remember being able to stand outside while the passengers were going up the rolling staircase.

My only knowledge of what went on inside the planes comes from old movies, old television shows, and books.

[bettyellen]

21. i remember a teacher in college saying they'd go to the airport to

check out what fashionspeople were wearing. she said it was the best place in nyc to see what the latest fashions were. it's a far cry from the sweats 1/2 the people wear now!
it's kinda like the end of the movie casino, when they contrast todays vegas to the glamour of the old days.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

22. I remember

when seats were five across, not six, and everyone had sufficient leg room.

I remember real food on airplanes. I even remember how Alaska Airlines gave you free wine with dinner until just a few years ago.

I remember the time we were scheduled to fly from London to Oslo, and our flight was delayed two hours. One of British European Airways' ground staff apologized profusely and led us into a side room, where they had a buffet of tea and sandwiches set up for us. This was in 1967.

I remember the "extra cities plan," which we used on that 1967 trip. If you were going to Europe, you paid the airfare to the most expensive city you were visiting, and then you could fly to up to eight extra cities on the same ticket as long as you reserved ahead of time. We flew from JFK to London/Heathrow, to Oslo, to Copenhagen, to Hannover (where we picked up a rental car and traveled around Germany and Austria for two weeks), then from Cologne to Parish to Amsterdam, and back to JFK, all on one ticket. (You could fly to Europe only from a couple of the largest cities in the U.S.)

[ikojo]

23. I didn't get on a plane until I was 18 and then

I was too frightened to pay attention to what was going on around me.

The things people are fondly recalling are of a time when most Americans could not afford to fly.

Although uncomfortable I prefer what we have now, because more people can afford to fly.