When was traveling by air "fun"? Air travel is one step above a bus terminal - barely.
When I was a kid flying with my Mom and four brothers on Piedmont Airlines to meet my Dad back in the late 50s, early 60s, we would sometimes be assigned to an onboard family table with opposing bench seats. Like this:
You were served hot food with real utensils. The kids got to go up to the cockpit to visit with the pilots.
There were no poorly dressed slobs on planes back then. Men wore suits. Women dressed up. Even kids often wore their Sunday best. Stewardesses were picked for their beauty and hospitality, in addition to their ability to handle emergencies.
Even up into the 1990s, security was pretty slack. Heck, in 1994 I would park at the LaGuardia Marine Terminal in New York 15 minutes before take-off, run in and use my credit card to buy a Delta Shuttle ticket to Washington DC for the day for meetings from an automated ticket dispenser, and hop on board the plane just as they closed the door.
I used to take 747 red eye flights across country, because you'd almost always have an entire row to yourself to stretch out sideways on and sleep.
You never worried about terrorists. The most you thought could happen via a person, was a hijacking to Cuba, which would actually be an adventure. This is of course what allowed 9/11 to occur.
Was there a time when airports were fun?
Absolutely. For one thing, the newer ones were often constructed to be as futuristic as Epcot. After all, we figured we'd be flying Pan Am to the moon by 2001.
It used to be that anyone could go inside and say goodbye/hello to friends/family AT THE GATE. No tickets necessary. Gate waiting areas were full of people seeing someone off, or waiting to greet them as they arrived.
As kids, we'd beg Dad to take us to the airport on weekends to watch the new jetliners take off, from the wide open observation deck. Sometimes we'd even go out on the tarmac and stand behind the blast barriers by the gateways, just for the excitement.
As teens, we'd park our cars just off the end of a runway, then lay back on the hood and watch as planes came in for landing a few dozen feet over our head. This was especially neat at night while drinking beer
Life was much different in the "old days".
