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Remembering the Golden Age of Airline Food

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Re: Remembering the Golden Age of Airline Food

#21

Post by andrepd »

aww_dang wrote: post #12
pluijzer wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That boarding process seems so great. Right now literally prefer a 12 hour drive to a one hour flight. The whole process is exhausting and stressful.

I preferred the private Amtrak compartment. Overnight trip, bring your own snacks and beverage. Eat a meal or two with other people in the dining car. Read a book and be left alone in your room. Best part was being able to ride a bicycle right to the station and pack it my way. No luggage or boarding anxiety. Arrive and depart from the city or town center. After you pay the airline's extra luggage fees for a bicycle,…

Yep. Departing from, and arriving to, the city center rather than have to commute to and from the airport is definitely a killer feature.

Re: Remembering the Golden Age of Airline Food

#22

Post by shapefrog »

NY to LA is ~ 5 hours, which is about as long as you get on the continental USA. Do you really need to eat? Chicago to NY is just over 2 hours - not really enough time for a 3 course meal.

If you are doing the 19 hours from NY to Singapore ... the food is pretty good!

Re: Remembering the Golden Age of Airline Food

#23

Post by shapefrog »

pjmlp wrote: post #15
leoedin wrote: post #9

When comparing "flying then" to "flying now", you need to look at the real cost of the flights. Yes, the experience in economy class has got worse, but the cost of the ticket has also significantly dropped. In 2021 dollars, the cost of a round trip air fare has basically halved since 1979. You could buy a business class ticket now for a comparable price to economy back then. https://www.airlines.org/dataset/annual-ro…

I am waiting for the day going to the toilet during flight and be faced with a contactless payment terminal to open the door.

Ryanair did it >10 years ago, coin slot not contact payment terminal however.

Re: Remembering the Golden Age of Airline Food

#24

Post by Nextgrid »

nine_k wrote: post #13
pluijzer wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That boarding process seems so great. Right now literally prefer a 12 hour drive to a one hour flight. The whole process is exhausting and stressful.

It's another reminder that terrorists have won, and have ruined the flight experience for everyone. You basically get searched in order to board. Nobody agrees to have even the slightest risk of a a plane to be hijacked in exchange of not having all of these security measures (which, in a significant part, are a security theater).

Maybe the fear-mongerers have won instead?

There are lots of public places/events that don't require any searches/background checks and where a bomb would yield a significant number of casualties and terror to blowing up a regional jet, yet we don't seem to be having explosions every other day.

Maybe the terrorist threat is overblown and is merely kept around as a convenient excuse for more surveillance/repression?

Re: Remembering the Golden Age of Airline Food

#25

Post by thombat »

shapefrog wrote: post #23
pjmlp wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am waiting for the day going to the toilet during flight and be faced with a contactless payment terminal to open the door.

Ryanair did it >10 years ago, coin slot not contact payment terminal however.

They didn't actually do it. The Ryanair CEO, Michael O'Leary, has a well-practiced approach of making outlandish claims about Ryanair's thrifty innovations that echo around the internet; discount publicity. About the same time he claimed that a standing-only section would be introduced for £1 tickets. Of course this also didn't happen.

Re: Remembering the Golden Age of Airline Food

#26

Post by hoseja »

Nextgrid wrote: post #24
nine_k wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's another reminder that terrorists have won, and have ruined the flight experience for everyone. You basically get searched in order to board. Nobody agrees to have even the slightest risk of a a plane to be hijacked in exchange of not having all of these security measures (which, in a significant part, are a security theater).

Maybe the fear-mongerers have won instead? There are lots of public places/events that don't require any searches/background checks and where a bomb would yield a significant number of casualties and terror to blowing up a regional jet, yet we don't seem to be having explosions every other day. Maybe the terrorist threat is overblown and is merely kept around as a convenient excuse for more surveillance/repression?

The terrorists were explicitly inducing the fearmonger response, no?

Re: Remembering the Golden Age of Airline Food

#27

Post by litoE »

Animats wrote: post #3

Air Hollywood, which is a film set rental company, offers the Pan Am Experience.[1] For about $300, you get to sit in a 747 cabin on the ground and have the experience of a Pan Am dinner from the 1960s. Even at the low end, air travel was impressive. PSA was a low-cost airline. SJC to LAX, every hour, for about $14, with a 59 minute flight time. The process was very simple. Drive up to terminal. Park. Walk up to cash…

I remember flying PSA between Oakland and LAX in 1972. $16 each way and you could pay the flight attendant after boarding. The "meal" was a choice of "coffee, tea, punch or boullion".

Re: Remembering the Golden Age of Airline Food

#29

Post by pjmlp »

shapefrog wrote: post #23
pjmlp wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am waiting for the day going to the toilet during flight and be faced with a contactless payment terminal to open the door.

Ryanair did it >10 years ago, coin slot not contact payment terminal however.

Not in the flights I regularly take.
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