Traveling long distances commercially took an awkward twist during the 1960's. Our parents (and we older Boomers) rode the rails during the 50's. But passenger service was being phased out by the railroads. The government bailout known as Amtrak was far off in the future. So by the time the Kennedy era dawned, your choices to get from one coast to the other, or anywhere in the heartland, were basically three: cars, buses or airlines.
Let's face it. Nobody traveled on the bus unless they simply had to.
That meant that you either drove the slick new Interstate Highway System, or you flew.
In my case, it mean car travel. It was 1982 before I took my first flight.
But many of us have fond 1960's-era-memories of getting a ticket at the counter, heading directly to the departure gate, and enjoying a few hours of absolute luxury in the air.
This site was a very valuable source of information in researching this column. For example, note these two observations by the author, who was a teenager during the 60's:
# Flying was expensive. For example: A round trip ticket between Cleveland and Washington D.C. was about $75. This doesn't sound like a bad deal, until you adjust the fare for inflation: That's over $400 in today's dollars! By contrast, I recently paid less than $100 for a round trip between Cleveland and Washington on one of today's low-cost deregulated carriers.# There was no point in shopping around for the best deal, because all airfares were controlled by regulation. If a roundtrip ticket between Cleveland and Washington was $75 on one airline, it was $75 on all the airlines.
That explains why my thrifty parents always drove, even up to Montreal for Expo 67 and Miami, Florida, both locations a long way from NE Oklahoma.
But many of us were fortunate enough to have flown, and were quite vocal about it afterwards. After all, we had just experienced the best treatment that a traveler could get. As the quote above asserts, it had to be that way, else how would we know whether Pan-Am was a better way to fly than Eastern?
The kids who had experienced air travel could hold the rest of us spellbound at recess, telling tales of seeing the earth below, the people and cars looking like ants, having stewardesses bring you food and drink until you couldn't hold any more, and getting to places two long days in the car away in three or four hours.
Deregulation occurred in 1978, and, as mentioned before, I took my first flight four years later. Southwest Airlines sent shockwaves through the industry by offering fares for as much as half off the big boys. One of the ways that they did it was by squeezing more passengers onto a plane. They made up for it back then by offering free cocktails, but less room and less freebies would be the future of air travel, albeit with much more affordable fares.
Indeed, the glamor of air travel would be a thing of the past. In the 60's, you wore a suit and tie or nice dress to fly. Nowadays, you wear sandals so that your footwear can be more easily scanned for incendiary devices. We are used to being crammed into seats barely wide enough for skinny wazoos. I don't know how the more portly passengers manage. And if you want anything from the flight attendant, you'd better have your wallet ready.
But you have to admit that getting somewhere far away in a couple of hours at a bargain price is pretty nice.
Comments (5)
I have flown alot. From the sixties until recently...And the serice and customers have greatly changed.
I remember all kind of give-a-ways and great service and food.AND larger seats. And travelers...you dressed...you were going somewhere and it was more glamorous. And less security.
The other day I took my girl friend to the airport and people were wearing flip flops...I couldn't imagine it...flip &^%$#%$^& flops!
I knew I had stepped into another time. I only wear flip &^%@$#%@ flops around the house or to the beach.
Not long ago I saw two teenagers go to meet the President and they had on
FLIP *&&^%$#%@%$ flips...I could only shake my head.
The other day one of my girl friends paid $50.00 for a pair of flip %$#$%^&%^#$@ flops...I told her "there was a fool born every moment." She tried to explain to me that they shifted your body and made the back of your legs look better...I told her "wears heels."
OH my gads I am turning into my MOTHER... LOL
I used to love flying but it is no longer gamorous...you might as well be riding a bus.
'Nuff said...
Southern smiles and world peace,
Sharon
~The Baby Boomer Queen~
Posted by The Baby Boomer Queen | August 11, 2008 6:12 AM
Posted on August 11, 2008 06:12
When I was young (maybe 6 or 7) one of my family’s forms of entertainment was to go out to the airport in the evening and watch planes land and take off (we didn’t get a TV until I was 10.) I remember my sister and me going in our pajamas and falling asleep on the way home (we were apparently starved for entertainment.)
When we would go to the airport to drop off or pickup relatives we would go out to the tarmac and stand beside the gate in a 3 foot chain link fence and wait for the passengers to deplane a few yards away and try to spot the relatives while they were coming down the stairs that the service personnel had wheeled up to the door. That was flying in the 1960’s – no security, no problems.
In the late 1950’s and early 1960’s my father who was an entomologist was engaged in performing aerial surveys of forest defoliation for the purpose of mapping Gypsy Moth infestations and Tent caterpillar damage. This was accomplished by flying in a Cessna 150 or 172 and documenting noticeable leaf damage that was only visible from the air. I accompanied him on many of these flights – sitting on the tiny fold down wooden seat behind the pilot who called it the mailbag seat. The 150 was technically a 2-seater but because my weight was under that of the typical mailbag, I was allowed onboard. I loved flying over our house and the neighborhood when it was on the flight plan and once the pilot let me take over the controls briefly which I then bragged about incessantly to anyone who I could corral.
That was my entire experience with flight until flying to England in 1978 on a 747. It was a nightmare which made my tour less than satisfactory; I manifested an inner ear condition and blockage that stuck with me until I returned to the U.S. and lasted for almost a month afterwards. I have not flown since and refused to fly again – even at the peril of my company’s displeasure when they wanted me to meet with a customer in California (I consulted by phone while another software engineer made a physical appearance.) After 9/11, I just say I have flight phobia and so far no one has tried to coerce me to overcome my flying reticence.
Posted by Burt | August 12, 2008 12:14 AM
Posted on August 12, 2008 00:14
Great comments! Sometimes we would go to the Tulsa airport during the monthly trips we made to the big city to take mom to the hospital for treatment of a lung infection. My favorite memory was playing incessantly on the escalators, which I had never seen before.
Burt, you sound like the John Madden of techies! It's amazing how many face-to-face meetings can be performed electronically unless you really just want to get away ;-).
Posted by Ron Enderland | August 12, 2008 8:38 AM
Posted on August 12, 2008 08:38
John Madden? More like Ned Ludd - The high techiest device I have is a HD DVR ($10/month from Comcast but no HDTV) - I keep a cell phone for emergencies, I have a CD player but no DVD and I don't even own an mp3 player or personal computer.
Posted by Burt | August 12, 2008 11:18 PM
Posted on August 12, 2008 23:18
I can't comment much on this one! I didn't fly until the 1980's. We drove to evrywhere we wanted to go including the Expo 67 in Montreal! We took the bus to New York a few times! Washington to DC was a regular route! Better then driving in NY! Took amtrak to NY also! Flying is great, but much to expensive for us anyway!
Posted by Rivers End | January 3, 2009 4:39 PM
Posted on January 3, 2009 16:39