Posted on 09/30/2023 4:36:47 AM PDT by where's_the_Outrage?
Yep. I remember back in the day, an airport hot dog was only five dollars. They have gotten expensive since then.
My last trip to California, I had to fly though Burbank airport. I was telling my son about the days when a set of stairs were rolled up to the plane and we had to walk to the terminal. That was the case at Burbank. And that airport looked like 1970 but it was clean.
Back in the old days when I had long layovers (DFW, ORD, BNA comes to mind) I sometimes invited relatives or friends to meet me in the Crowne Room for free drinks, my uncle lived 10 minutes from Ohare.
My Army buddy had a 5 hour layover at Detroit a few years ago, I ended up buying a ticket so I could get thru security and met him at the Skyclub. I then cancelled my ticket for a refund.
It was a nice convivence back in the day. Also nice to be met at the gate, especially when at an airport for the 1st time.
Had several dates where we went to the airport to see the planes takeoff. For a broke college kid you couldn’t beat the price.
...and taking up terminal seats waiting for their loved ones to leave.
When I started college at Mizzou, mom and dad moved east to the Philly burbs for dad’s work. I got my first ever commercial jetliner flight at Christmas (back before airline deregulation made it affordable). I still remember how nice it was seeing mom & dad at the gate to greet me.
Sigh, those were the carefree days (pre moslem terrorist). No metal detectors, no security checks, no taking off shoes and belts, no masks, no kooky passengers screaming “He’s not real” or assaulting crew members.
The airport in long Beach is the same. Baggage carousels are outside and you walk across the street for the car rentals. It’s a very user friendly airport and they’ve upgraded it which has made it that much nicer.
Nowadays opening up the entire airports in major cities risks hordes of homeless living inside the terminal; flash mobs and shoplifters killing the businesses; rampant luggage theft; flights delyaed by idiots trying to rush the gates; drug dealing and using; block parties with shootings; pseudo-trannies assaulting girls in the restrooms; etc. [This list is a we bit exaggerated, but it’s interesting to reflect on how a free society requires a civilized populace, and we no longer have one].
The idea of going to the airport unless one is an aviation nut seems bizarre to me but in the smorgasbord of nuttiness we see these days this is on the low end of the scale.
I have not flown since 1993. I can’t imagine paying that much money to be treated that badly.
It’s conditioning people to accept being stopped and searched at any time for no reason whatever.
It’s insidious.
Tampa International has the same policy. There’s a PF Chang’s in the terminal. As a boy, I remembered the Cloud 9 restaurant in Bradley’s old terminal. Plane watching while eating dinner.
Then there is the rest of us, herded like cattle to processing.
The best pilots, crews, ground services, catering. and easy access, are all reserved for the elites tier of air travel. As such, things will only get worse and worse for air carrier operations serving scheduled routes to the general public.
I always met people at the gate. It was so much fun to see friends/family when they first walk off the plane.
I remember flying back to school when I was at a boarding school in the 70s. A member of the staff met us at the gate. Can you do that now?
In the 70s, I took Eastern Airlines from Tampa to Tallahassee to catch another Eastern to Bradley International (Hartford/Springfield). I walked into the terminal and asked where the terminal was. I thought Bradley terminal was bad, but Tallahassee was worse. Both airports now have new terminals. Haven’t been to Tallahassee since 1974, when I had to catch Eastern to Bradley.
Lol. I hadn’t thought of that.
I did the same at Bostons Logan Airport back in the 80’s..
I recently flew to SFO. The baggage terminal was a homeless camp. It was disgusting.
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