Source: San Diego Union-Tribune
by Steven Greenhut
“Social media is replete with memes showing photos from the glory days of airline travel, where well-dressed travelers β think scenes from the TV show ‘Mad Men’ β reclined in comfy seats, drank wine and ate cooked meals. Itβs a huge disconnect from our modern airline experiences, which are punctuated by surly crowds, automated systems and long TSA lines. The point of the social-media photos: Look at how good things were then and how awful they are now. Like all nostalgia, they contain a ring of truth but are mostly nonsense. Airline travel prior to 1978, when President Jimmy Carter spearheaded the Airline Deregulation Act, was a high-end affair. … Before deregulation, a cross-country flight could cost thousands of dollars (inflation adjusted) and would take all day.” (01/05/25)