A chance to reminisce - who remembers the "old days" of Travel?

[ellen10]

My first flight was a solo flight at age 19 in 1977 to the UK on Qantas. It cost me $1300 and that took a lot of scrimping and saving. I even did some pamphlet letter box deliveries to raise some extra spending money.
I loved the whole experience, from deciding on my flying outfit, to enjoying being served the meals and snacks and drinks, the opportunity to watch a new release film on those drop down screens and chatting to my fellow seat companions. I still have my Qantas deck of cards that they gave me.
On that flight our stops were Kuala Lumpur, Bahrain, Amsterdam and then finally London.

My first black cab taxi ride from the airport to my hotel in Earls Court, isn't that where all the young Aussies stayed? (it cost me a fortune).
There was a chain of restaurants called "The Pot", "The New Pot" and "The Curry Pot" the specials of the day cost 90p.
Driving around the UK with my new found friends and staying at B&Bs (4 or 5 pounds a night) or cheap pubs.
Travelling around Europe and having a bag full of change because every time we crossed a border we had to change our American Express travellers cheques into a different currency.
Writing postcards and aerograms home and I once rang reverse charges home from a phone box.

Coming home with 20 rolls of film to develop, which cost me a fortune and half of the photos got binned!

They were wonderful memories and it was the beginning of a life long love of travel. Sometimes some friends and I would just go to Sydney airport to watch the planes and people watch. And of course if someone was going on a holiday overseas we all loved to go to the airport to see them off!

 

[Antoallison]

“Who’d a thought 40 years ago we ‘ be sitting here drinking Chateau du chasseur”

Hey up... Sounds like a case of underage drinking for @drron in 1967 though !

Enjoying this trip down memory lane.. now recall that I bought a special outfit to travel from Perth to UK. A three piece woollen suit in mustard, it would have been a practical hue if I had offered to mind someone’s baby on board.

I also recall that when the cabin doors opened at Delhi Airport on a flight back to Perth in August 1971, my kid brother and I were the only passengers getting off !
The airport was patrolled by the military with guns and the arrivals hall was a tin shed.

Concerned cabin crew standing at the steps after they opened the door told me I could stay on and they would take us to Perth !

No mention of needing to pay or get another ticket.. just take your seats again and we’ll fly on.


I wonder what Alan Joyce would have made of that.

Oh wait - he would have been 5 years old at the time !

 

[juddles]

..... I still have my Qantas deck of cards that they gave me.
.....

I love that! That was "the rage" for endless years - sign of the times - IFE-wise - it was only relatively recently that I finally was able to take the decision to bin many packs of cards from various airlines

 

[drron]

Underage drinking!I turned 21 in 1967.

 

[juddles]

Underage drinking!I turned 21 in 1967.

drron, please comment on my recent Have you had to change/cancel travel due to 2019 n-CoV (involuntarily or voluntarily)? thesis - you of all I value to find holes and correct me

 

[juddles]

BTW, I really thank every single poster in this thread. I started it as a whim in a moment I was just so very sick of the barrage of coronavirus and other heavy topics. Life is wonderful, I love that I got to experience travel in the "old days" and I love that there are members who remember those days

 

[wandering_fred]

Well memories of many USA airlines that no longer exist as my first flights were in the mid 1960s.... Including a 4 engine prop flight during a holiday period. And only first was available. I don't think I was 21 but I got 2 mini bottles of gin or vodka with the meal.

Getting tickets issued in Bangkok in the 1970/80s as every travel agent there was a "bucket shop" as the annual trip back home each year in the middle east was a adventure in getting the most for the travel payment. And buying a full Y ticket USA - south Africa because that the only way to get "unlimited" stopovers (Lima, Cuzco, La Paz, Rio, Capetown, JNB)

Happy wandering
Fred

 

[OZDUCK]

My first flight was in 1972 (as a 2 yr old), when my family moved from Woomera to England due to my father's work (something secret squirrel related to missiles back then)

I obviously cannot clearly remember those flights (something that remains true of current ones but for different reasons :O), but I really do admire that my mother was able to cope with three kids under 6 for that trip - it was a super-constellation (or what-ever - had 4 propellers) chartered from Monarch Airlines, and I think the route was Adelaide - Darwin - Singapore - Bombay - Kuwait - Milan - London or similar.

Perhaps a sign of my future, but my earliest childhood memory was a year later, when I was 3, doing the reverse flights - when the stewardess jokingly offered me a cup of tea. I understood that was an "adult drink" and so wanted one, but after the laughs I realized that I was not going to get it.

Almost certainly a Bristol Britannia, as they were definitely using them in 1974/5 for trips to Woomera.

 

[juddles]

Almost certainly a Bristol Britannia, as they were definitely using them in 1974/5 for trips to Woomera.

This is something I have tried to clear up over many years - have just moved house so am in disarray but a year or two ago my mother, when questioned, was able to give me the actual paper boarding passes - I know I wrote about these in some other thread. I will try to find them. She also gave me the copy of the "inflight magazine" where every second page was a full sheet ad for various tobacco companies :0

 

[OZDUCK]

This is something I have tried to clear up over many years - have just moved house so am in disarray but a year or two ago my mother, when questioned, was able to give me the actual paper boarding passes - I know I wrote about these in some other thread. I will try to find them. She also gave me the copy of the "inflight magazine" where every second page was a full sheet ad for various tobacco companies :0

This page about the history of Monarch Airlines indicates that the only turboprop they operated was the Bristol Britannia - "The Whispering Giant".

History of Monarch Airlines | SeatMaestro

Bristol 175 Britannia

A long-range commercial and military transport aircraft known as the 'Whispering Giant'.

www.baesystems.com

 

[ausfox]

In 1989, a Y fare on Sq Adl-Sin-Lhr return cost me $2100....31 years later, you would feel ripped off paying this fare from Oz to Lhr!! ....and $2100 then is probably 2-3x that today due to inflation etc!

In1972 we flew the SYD LHR flying kangaroo. The return trip cost $700 in Y when average income was just above $5000 pa. About 1/7 of an income. When we had booking problems in London we were curtly told "well what do you expect with these cheap fares." The seat pitch allowed knee space for my 187cm frame. The J fare doesn't seem so bad does it.

 

[John in Melbourne]

1977, a relatively cheap "student" flight, MEL to SIN in a Qantas 747, first part of a trip to Europe, Frommer's paperback book "Europe on $10 a Day" our only source of information. Seeing the plane was only half full, with no-one in first class, my travel companion and I asked one of the friendly crew if we could sit in first class...and he said yes!!

 

[Pushka]

As a family we couldnt afford to fly. It was a road trip. A luxury was a train trip. I didnt fly until I was 21 (in the '70's) and over to Melbourne. On the other hand our son took his first overseas flight at 8 weeks old.

 

[NickCorr]

I love that! That was "the rage" for endless years - sign of the times - IFE-wise - it was only relatively recently that I finally was able to take the decision to bin many packs of cards from various airlines

3 of my Uncles used to work for Singapore airlines, so when I was a kid used to have a stash of SIA Cards, chess/backgammon sets from them. They in turn had "uncles" working for Air India and Qantas so had a smaller collection of their gifts. M&Ds campervan used to have MSA cutlery which they had acquired during the split and formation of SIA and MAL.

One of the airline gifts really stands out, especially now 45 years later and as an AUS citizen. A Qantas kangaroo luggage tag, made from kangaroo with the fur still on it... Reckon if I still had it, it would not have been allowed through customs...

I travelled a lot as a kid from UK to Singapore, where mum is from, then once I hit 12, it all stopped until I was a grown up. Had never flown on a 2 engine plane until I was in my 20s and was expecting that there were more seats though the curtains at the end of the plane, not just the toilets.. Have also watched sadly as legroom has got smaller and smaller over the last 15 years..

 

[p--and--t]

Coming from a family of lesser means at the time, started at an age later than many it seems.

At the time I was very lucky as the organisation I worked for thought it's staff should travel up front to be most effective on arrival. That changed dramatically over following decades.

I was most impressed in those early journeys with the attention to detail on the little things as well as the thrill of being '000s metres in the air.

Right down to the few grains of rice added to the salt shaker to ensure the salt was always free flowing and the monogram on the cutlery

 

[codash1099]

Ah, memories. When you were given a certificate for crossing the equator and another for crossing the international date line. And when TWA cooked your steak on the plane. When the 737 first flew and we didn’t know about computer controlled flight. When we marvelled at the size of the 747 and its piano bar. When you were lucky to get those “earphones” that connected to hollow tubes that carried the sound of as many as 4 channels to you.

And, most of all, when travelling in Y was comfortable.

 

[Forg]

And, most of all, when travelling in Y was comfortable.

When was that?
I was an adult-sized 15 to 16 when we went to Fiji for a family holiday, around 1986 or so, Fijian Airlines (Fijian Airways?) flew a repainted Qantas 747-200 or -300 they'd rented (I'm about 75% sure it still had a Qantas interior fitout - including the flight crew I believe!). That was squeezy in Y, by then. I mean I'd flown domestically prior, but I assume domestic got squeezier earlier.
I'm presuming the early 707's & 747's & the like had more space than the likes of Super Constellations, and then slowly over the years that space was eroded ... I'm guessing from the early 70's through to mid 80's when they arrived at what we now have in Y?

 

[terry88]

reminiscing too...

My first flight was as a toddler flying from Hobart to Melbourne WITHOUT Parents to visit my Aunt. Flying cost an arm and leg in those days so my Parents had saved and sacrificed for me to fly and meet my Aunt in Melbourne.

Ansett sure looked after kids back then At the check-in you got a sticker saying you were travelling alone, a flight attendant would escort you from the check-in to your seat on the plane making sure you don't get lost in the Terminal, got given an activiaty pack and a special pin (sould have saved it a flogged it off eBay ) for flying Ansett. During the flight I was allowed up to the coughpit to have a peek and a chat with the Capitan.

Back then they knew how to invest in or build loyal customers.

"Those were the days my friend..."

 

[Ekka]

Here's one for the ages - I remember travelling in Europe in the 70's with my boyfriend (now husband of 45 years) and when checking into hotels I had to wait outside as most refused to allow unmarried couples to share a room.

i also recall with horror the days of smoking sections in airplanes - so maybe the service was better in Y in those days but OMG the smoke !!

I'm so old that I remember when any Australian who misspelt aeroplane had to write a thousand lines and fly on American Airlines from SFO to JFK and was forcibly required to inhale.

 

[Ekka]

Came across this thread and these are some of my travels and thoughts. My first international trip was 1970 AU-UK sea passage I was about 18months old and according to my dad flying was not an option for the defence force in those days. I cannot remember the trip however mum and dad gave me a photo album with the the B&W photos

I remember this it was around 1976 and apparently we were on the quick flight, SYD-PER-BOM-LHR. Movies were played at certain times and all had to watch the same film. On our flight my sister had also developed the chicken pox and showing symptoms and my mum was more worried about LHR arrival and was constantly brushing her fringe down to cover the spots.

We went to visit the QF B707, and then the TWA 747 and QF 747 a couple of years later.

I do remember the stethoscope-like things and as kids we used to have to listen to the audio via the arm rest. By the late 1990’s I used to take them off the plane as my dad loved them as they are great for tuning twin SU carburettors, we both have owned and still own old BMC vehicles

In the Mid 90’s when I was still in the defence force if there was an interstate course that several had to attend we would ask to self drive as the allowances paid was based on distance and over night accomodation for each. Then 3-4 would pile into one car and travel together. I remember one trip, we stopped at some small town to purchase a $10 phone card and the shop assistant gave one of the lads a pack of 10 for $10. We thought we scored big time $100 worth of call for $10 dollars.

In the late 1990’s I was called into the Generals Office (2 Star) to discuss my living arrangements as he had been made aware that one of his officers (myself) was living with his girlfriend and were not married. We were invited lunch at the Generals House with his wife to discuss how and when our domestic living arrangements would be rectified. 20+ years on we are still married.

Final thoughts on flying some time in the late 90’s early 20’s we were on a J flight MEL-ADL and the seating was terrible the CSM informed us we were flying on the same seats that were QF 747 F class in the 70’s. We made small talk and bantered if these were the same seats I traveled in as a kid.

Fast forward 20 years we now have a 13 yo who cannot understand why all seats on planes are not lie flat. That is now my problem to deal with for her future travel.

Presumably the (presumably major)- general had a very good point, as he or she was enforcing the then-current rules.