Yes, because airsickness was prevalent.
United used to fly Businessmen’s Specials between New York and Chicago - male passengers only, free liquor, and stews who knew what they were signing up for.
Haitians are still available. 
I first flew in 1963. I certainly didn’t dress up for the flight. I didn’t dress up for anything actually (except my wedding a year later). But you could walk right up to the gate five minutes before departure time and board. You checked luggage free so no fight for overhead bins (although I think they could not hold anything heavier than a coat), meals were free and the seat pitch was much greater (although they might not have been wider).
In 1967 I flew to Europe with a year old baby and we were able to book a bulkhead seat with a baby bed attached to the bulkhead that you could put a child in after takeoff and up till landing. At no extra cost IIRC. One other thing. When you picked up your luggage, there were no carousels, only an attendant bringing bags to the counter and you had to show your check that had to match the one on the suitcase. Can you imagine that today?
In 1964 my new wife and I flew NY to London on a prop-jet. On the return flight, against prevailing winds, they weighed all the passengers, including carry ons, before we boarded and then flew London to Glasgow where they refueled and then continued to NY.
These are still around, though they’re not free on every airline.
DC-9s and MD-80s were more common back then; those planes had a 3-2 configuration because they had a narrower fuselage than the 737 and A320. I don’t think the seats would have been considerably wider than a 737 in a 3-3 configuration. And I don’t think anyone would have had a 737 or similar plane in a 3-2 config, at least not after deregulation. Maybe back in the 1960s.
Do you have a citation for that?
I was talking about transatlantic flights. Domestic flights, no. Domestic flights generally aren’t considered “long haul” except maybe east coast to Hawaii.
Ok. They’re comparing to longer ago than I was thinking, though. I flew for the first time in 2003, and it doesn’t seem appreciably different to me between then and now, so I don’t know if you can say it’s “continuing to shrink”. At most some may have gone from 31" to 30" in that time, but again the seats got thinner, too, so leg room didn’t really change even if seat pitch did.
One thing I find strange is in their seat width chart, they show Southwest going from 19" to 17". Southwest has only ever flown 737s, apart from a handful of 727s in the 1980s. I don’t see what they’d gain from reducing the seat width. It would still be 3-3 no matter what. The only change is that the aisle would be wider. Unless I’m completely wrong and they did have a 2-3 configuration at one time.
Airline security back in the golden age was lax compared to today’s standards. Seems like back in the 70’s and 80’s hardly a week went by without a plane getting hijacked.
I only flew a handful of times in the golden age of flying and retroactively it didn’t seem that greater than today. But that was because the majority of the time was flying between Buffalo and Syracuse NY because my mom didn’t like driving. The only reason I would have been tempted to do so as well had I been an adult back then is because the national speed limit was still 55. Today there’s no way I would take such a short flight since the security would make the trip longer and you can drive faster than 55.
Flights between Buffalo and NYC, on the other hand, were better than today, in that a free soft drink was de riguer even on the shortest flight, and there were still plenty of flights between the cities.
But people didn’t get killed, only inconvenienced (at least in the US). Hijackers mostly just wanted to get to Cuba. That’s the period when the conventional wisdom began that the best way to respond was to keep calm, stay in your seat, do what the man with the gun said, and it would all be OK. That changed on 9/11, like a lot of things about air travel.
Some airlines would issue their pilots the approach/departure charts for Havana, just in case.
My first flight was in 1972, from San Francisco to New York, and I flew fairly regularly after that. In general, I would say that flying was a more pleasant and less stressful experience back in the 1970s and 1980s. You might have to line up to check in, but there weren’t lines at security. Flights often weren’t at capacity, so there were often empty seats next to yours where you could stretch out. Now flying is more like bus travel used to be back then, like being herded into cattle cars.
When adjusted for inflation, it’s possible to get far cheaper flights now. On the other hand, it’s become far more confusing trying to figure out the best deal. Also, you used to be able to change your flight on a whim with no penalty, giving a lot more flexibility. But with e-tickets, you don’t have to guard your tickets with your life anymore.
While airline food wasn’t that great, it was convenient not to worry about how you were going to eat if you had a couple of medium-length flights in a row. Now in that situation I try to make sure I have a long enough layover to grab something, in order not to be subjected to the vagaries of food available for purchase on board. And I do miss the free liquor and beer on domestic flights. (Whenever I can, I take non-US carriers like Copa which still maintain some of these perks on flights to the US.)
My very first flight was in a two-seater piloted by a friend, from Oregon to San Francisco. My second was a commercial jet from San Francisco to New York. I was so naive about flying I just went out to the airport without having any ideas about airlines or schedules. (I didn’t have to worry about price, because with regulation the prices were pretty much the same on the same route.) I first went to the Pan Am counter and was told they didn’t have domestic routes. :smack: I forget what airline I flew on, but it was just a matter of getting a ticket for a flight later that day. (I recall scenes on Mad Men where Don Draper decides to go to Paris on the spur of the moment and just drives to the airport and hops a plane.)
Did most of my work air travel in the 80s-90s. Sure was nice to be able to get to the airport 15 minutes before boarding - or if pressed - whenever would give you enough time to pull an “OJ” and race to the gate before the door closed. 
The flights I took were NEVER more than 2/3 full - you would often have an entire row to yourself. And if your work finished up early, you could just head to the airport and they’d transfer you onto an earlier flight - no charge.
Earlier, as a kid, I remember they used to give you playing cards, postcards, and pens and stationary.
And for me, I always have books/magazines to read. No interest in looking at my phone during a flight, and the only thing I find of interest on a seat6back screen is the flight map.
Even when I was a kid, I never understood the frequent jokes about airline food. Sure, it wasn’t fine cuisine, but I always thought it tasty enough. Maybe because it was just different from what we got at home…
And not being treated like a potential terrorist, with the friendly TSA folk at O’Hare YELLING at you - that was an incalculable plus!
On the other hand, finding one that speaks Spanish is easy. In some places easier than finding one that speaks English as a first language. Why didn’t a meme of “Spanish Maid” take off the way "French Maid did? Is that a good or a bad thing?
I know some airlines mandate their flight attendants each speak multiple languages.
I think it’s only because some airlines were pretty bad, especially on relatively short-haul flights, though I can’t recall ever having anything really awful. But business class always had great multiple-course meals on real china and real silverware, and complimentary wine.
Even today they still manage fairly well in business class on long-haul flights – like these pics of Japanese food on an Air Canada flight between Toronto and Tokyo (wasn’t me, just something found on teh interwebs). But economy class used to serve basic meals like steaks, roast chicken, lasagna, and the like. Today you get nothing at all except on long-haul international flights.
This is from an episode of The Flintstones that first aired in 1965.
That makes it sound like at least for those would couldn't afford a full priced ticket and had to fly on the "family thrift plan" as they call it, flying was just as unpleasant back then as today.Yeah, the last time I flew Basic Economy I did have to sit on the wing alongside the pterodactyls, just like that. And I had to pay extra baggage fees for the dinosaur in my luggage.
Obviously that was an exaggeration for comic effect, but presumably the writers thought the audience would find something relatable about Fred and Barny’s experience.
I think that it mainly shows that flying was too expensive for the average working-class Joe at that time, rather than indicating any real inconveniences that one might experience. They arrived just before the flight, had no lines, free baggage (at least if you didn’t have dinosaur concealed in one), got free ichthyosaurus milk, and got to see a Bridget Barduzzi (Hubba Hubba!) movie. Aside from sitting on the wing, it was better than economy today.
Pre-Amtrak railroads worked the same way; ticket prices were regulated so railroads put a lot of effort into distinguishing themselves by their meals and amenities.
IIRC Laserdisc was popular with airlines at one time.
Er… y’know I am as swinishly enchanted by the “Coffee, Tea or Me” schtick as anyone who’d be old enough to have been exposed to it; and the mod-sexy outfits from the late 60s/early 70s bring fond “I’ll be in my bunk” memories of growing up discovering… feelings :o 
… but, um… that AA one with the cartoon of the passenger abducting the stewardess??? :eek: … DAMN we’re living in a different() universe today!
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