Now that the pandemic is subsiding, everyone is eager to start traveling again. Will the planes be jam-packed, as they were before the pandemic? Probably.
I was having a discussion with a friend, about the state of air travel today compared to forty years ago. Yes, for some of you, we had planes back then. Even jets.
We talked about how crowded the planes are, and how lucky you are to get on, especially when they over book. How it was so much easier, and so much more fun to travel by air back then.
It brought to mind a funny travel experience I had back in the late 70’s. I was going diving, I think to the British Virgins Islands, for a week on a live aboard dive boat.
My first flight was aboard American Airlines from JFK. The plane was a 707, and it was an early Sunday morning flight, probably 8AM to Puerto Rico, where I would pick up a smaller plane to take me to the island of Tortola, where the boat would depart from.
When it was time to board, I and two other passengers were the first down the jet way, each clutching our boarding pass with its seat assignment. It so happened that the three of us, all unknown to each other, were assigned to the first three seats in coach. We stowed our small bags in the overhead compartment, and dutifully sat in our assigned seats, and buckled our seat belts.
Then one of the flight attendants came in and saw the three of us, and inquired if we were traveling together. We answered no, that we were complete strangers. She chuckled, and said that we were the only passengers on this flight, and we didn’t have to sit in our assigned seats, but anywhere we wanted to.
Ah! For the good old days.
