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The 1950s and '60s are often regarded
as the golden age of airlines, offering luxurious seating,
fancy meals, and beaming flight attendants.
But while it was certainly roomier than today's
modern sardine can technique of travel,
there was also a fair share of less desirable details
unseen in the black and white evidence left behind.
So what was it really like to fly during the Elvis era?
Let's take a trip through the many ups and downs of getting
around in the olden days.
Hope you like cigarettes, lots and lots of cigarettes.
It's about to get Mad Men cloudy up in these skies.
Before we depart, please make sure you fasten your seatbelts,
and subscribe to the Weird History Channel.
For all the complaints of modern air travel,
there is no denying that it's significantly more affordable
than it has ever been to fly.
This is mostly thanks to a push for deregulation
starting in the 1970s, a decision that
led to competing prices and the number of air passengers
to subsequently triple in the 40 years to follow.
Flash back to the golden age, and it
wasn't uncommon to pay five times as much as you would
today, creating a business solely accommodating
the wealthy.
According to one TWA brochure from 1955,
a round-trip ticket from Chicago to Phoenix
went for a deceptive total of $138.
When accounted for inflation, that amount
translates to roughly $1,200 in modern dough,
and that's not even a cross-country trip.
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It's hard to imagine wearing a tight-fitting Sunday's finest
to spend hours sitting elbow to elbow
with a congested stranger, but this was exactly the case back
in the days of Don Draper.
Due to the high cost of travel, many people
would save up in order to fly, making the ordeal
way more of an anticipated event than a vacation hindrance.
Acceptable attire was more commonly
three-piece suits for men and dresses and jewelry for women.
As flights became more common and prices went down,
the formality slowly waned until the 1980s,
when travelers began dressing for comfort
rather than appearance.
Nice sweatpants, Chachi.
Despite the deregulation of airline to the 1970s,
one area the government got more involved in
was airport security.
Of course, anyone who has recently
taken the shoeless walk through the TSA
is more than aware of that.
Before the days of metal detectors and body scans
and pat-downs, airports were more like bus stations
than the checkpoint-laden terminals of today.
Not only could passengers arrive as late as 20 minutes
before their flight, but be joined by friends and family
all the way to the gate.
No ID?
No problem.
Truly was the 1960s a golden age for convenience,
just as long as you don't mind getting your airplane hijacked
every now and then.
And when we say "now and then," we literally
mean dozens of times a year.
In fact, thanks to the lack of security, between the years
1968 and 1972, there were 130 American airplane hijackings,
sometimes more than one on the same day.
Now that I think about it, maybe having
to throw away your mouthwash isn't such a bad thing
after all.
Forget those extra leg room fees.
Airlines in the 1950s actually went
the extra mile to ensure your stems
were given the five-star treatment.
What would be considered first class leg room today
was commonplace for the average traveler of yesterday.
Early flights had no distinction between business or economy
class seating, and when they did finally add a first class,
coach-going passengers were still given ample room
to wiggle their toes.
So if the so-called cheap seats had plenty of space,
what did the first class passengers get?
A hotel room with wings?
Depending on the airline, the better paying accommodations
had everything from dining tables
to bunk beds to full lounges.
Dangerous?
Probably.
Comfortable?
Definitely.
Believe it or not, in-flight smoking
only became banned in the US as late as the 2000s.
Before then, passengers were allowed
to light up on certain flights longer than a few hours.
In the '50s and '60s, however, smoking
was non-stop and downright common.
In fact, the only place you couldn't smoke
was in the airport terminal, as companies
feared that a flame might ignite nearby fumes.
Along with allowing cigarettes, airlines often
provided free alcohol to help passengers pass the time.
After all, these were the days before smartphones and Wi-Fi.
Besides getting hammered, airlines
would entertain passengers with postcards
they were encouraged to fill out for loved ones,
because there's no better time to write home than when you're
drunk in a turbulent tin can.
Unless you're willing to pay extra,
most modern air travelers can hope for a few bags of chips
and a plastic cup of Coke.
Back in the golden age, economy passengers
were fed fare comparable to an upscale restaurant.
The menu often included lobster, roast beef, or prime rib served
with champagne or brandy.
Meals were served over multiple courses on real china
and glassware.
While this sounds like an endless luxury that trumps even
the nicest first class seats, the entire ordeal
was primarily used to distract passengers
from the less modern fallbacks of '50s flying,
because with all these bells and whistles,
the golden age of getting around was downright torturous.
We've talked a lot about the many extinct comforts
of '50s air travel, but have you wondered
why the airlines felt such a need for luxury
in the first place?
It wasn't just the high prices that
drove this golden age of comfort,
but rather the need to compensate for the subpar
technology of the times.
For starters, until the '60s, passenger planes
were propeller models like the Lockheed Constellation
and Douglas DC 7.
Along with being unpressurized, low flying,
and bumpy, these type of planes were extremely loud.
We don't see air sickness as much nowadays,
but back when planes couldn't navigate
over or around bad weather, vomit bags
were a regular necessity, not to mention that these smaller
planes often required passengers to take
four or five separate flights to travel longer distances.
With such small planes and clunkier engines,
walking the aisles was like a deadly game of American Ninja
Warrior.
The combination of turbulence and relaxed safety
meant that the many comforting decorations, real cutlery,
and lounge seating became a very uncomfortable obstacle course.
This only got worse with the introduction of first class,
as the partitions used to section of the plane
were often made from extremely shatterable glass.
One surprise bump, and a trip to the bathroom
became an impromptu stunt spectacular.
Combine all this with the fact that you were over
four times more likely to die on a flight in 1952 than today,
and it's no wonder that airlines were
so dedicated to making their customers happy
or, should we say, less miserable.
It's no secret that the job of air hostesses
was exclusive to women well into the modern times,
and it takes little imagination to picture the stress
level of a job requiring you to serve drunk,
stressed out travelers while donning mini skirts
and pillbox hats.
But there's even more to this occupational nightmare
than what you think.
Along with the desired uniforms often involving
skirts that increasingly grew shorter as the '60s progressed,
the job of a flight attendant was heavily
dictated by the rules of the airlines.
Along with dress codes, stewardesses
were often given a limit on how much they could weigh
and how they were to behave.
They were required to be single and outgoing,
while also maintaining a personal moral standard
decided by each airline.
It wasn't abnormal for a flight attendants job
interview to even require that she hike up her skirt in order
to prove her legs were nice enough for the uniform.
Airports didn't always have the complicated baggage handling
system we take for granted today,
and so back before the invention of the carousel, all luggage
traveled to and from the plane by hand.
That meant each passenger would need
to visit a specific counter after their flight,
present a porter with a ticket, and then sit and wait
for each of their bags to be retrieved.
The only silver lining--
there were no limits on how many bags you could bring,
as luggage fees wouldn't be invented until the 1990s.
So there you have it.
The golden age of luxurious air travel was far from golden.
So would you like to be an airline passenger in the '50s
and '60s?
Let us know in the comments below, and check out
some of these other videos of our weird history.