Got see it to believe it--'70's Continental Airlines video ads.+

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I flew back from Hawaii on one of those Continental DC-10s. The lounge area was great, really broke up the trip!
 
I remember looking forward to the flights whenever I went somewhere on holiday.. Back in the 70s airlines claimed that your vacation began as soon as you stepped aboard. It was true. I was in graduate school in 1973 the first time I flew to Jamaica. I think the total airfare from NJ on Air Jamaica was $108.00, including a rum cocktail, spacious deeply cushioned seats in economy, and a fashion show at mid-flight. More free rum in the terminal after landing.
 
I flew one of these planes across the country back then. We were well over an hour late taking off--maybe two. We had periodic garbled messages from the cockpit. I usually couldn't understand a word he said. When we were finally in flight, we got another garbled message. I could make out that it was an apology, and he said something about the pub. After hours of flight, I decided that I needed to get up from that cramped seat and move around, and after all that additional time waiting to take off, I decided to treat myself to one of those overpriced drinks in the pub, despite my struggling graduate student financial status. I ordered the drink and produced my wallet to pay for it. It was then that I learned that the garbled apology had included an invitation for free drinks in the pub throughout the flight. All these decades later I still look back on that lost opportunity with regret.
 
I recall my very first trip on board a wide body jet. I think it was in 1976 on one of the new Airbus A300s that Indian Airlines, then India's only domestic flights operator, had just introduced. Though there were none of the luxuries of the Continental DC-10s shown above, we had novelties like coat hanging spaces, full course meals, multi-channel music and great service - all for a flight that lasted less than 90 minutes.

But the old days were not all good. I recall with a shudder that apart from a small area in the front, airlines used to allow smoking in those days and in the 70s, flights were full of people who lit-up as though their lives depended on it.

I recall being hyper-excited about my first long distance flight - from Bombay to Perth in September 1979. Nowadays, even the thought of spending such a long time on board a crowded plane lets me down and I try to spend as much time as possible sleeping - usually not very successfully. :depressed:
 

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