Flying used to be fun. People dressed up, the stewardesses were posh, and everyone was a little excited.
Dad was an aircraft mechanic for American Airlines, so we flew more often than most big families with a single income. Sure, two nights per week, Mom worked as a waitress at Heller’s. That was more about getting out of the house, then it was about money.
We flew standby on American, so the discount was something like 95%. Since we were taking available seats, we had to be prepared to be in first class, which meant I had to wear a necktie and sport coat. In the 1960’s and 1970’s, everyone dressed better when traveling.
That was the “Golden Age of Air Travel”, and it ended in 1979, when the airline industry was deregulated. Prior to 1979, flights were expensive, more nonstop flights were available, and planes often had plenty of empty seats.
The airplane has to get to the destination city because it’s needed for subsequent flights, so there were times when our plane was 90% empty. The stewardesses knew that we were “non-rev” passengers, so likely worked for the company. They didn’t have much to do, so treated us very well.
After the airlines adjusted to deregulation, the fares dropped, and air travel became affordable. Airline personnel complained that now, “The Clampetts” were on the flight.
They are characters from a popular 1960’s sit-com called The Beverly Hillbillies. The Clampetts were an Appalachian family that found that they had oil on their land, got rich, and moved to Beverly Hills.
Later on, when computers and the internet could adjust the price of a ticket to assure that planes would fly at capacity, the price of the average flight remained about the same.
In 1993, the average airfare from Cleveland Hopkins Airport was $371. In 2025, the average airfare from Cleveland Hopkins Airport was $380.
Those are not inflation-adjusted prices. In 1993, gas was 50 cents per gallon. In 2025, gas is about $3 per gallon. Jet fuel is more expensive, but jets are more fuel-efficient. The downside is that planes fly slower. Variable pricing means that flights have few empty seats.
In inflation-adjusted prices, the cost of the average airfare from Cleveland Hopkins airport has gone from $828 in 1993, to $380 in 2025.
Flying is a bargain, but it’s not as fun.
For family vacations, it was usually Mom, Dad, my sister, two brothers and me. Dad would drop Mom and my sister off at the departing terminal, then park in employee parking. The guys would go in through the employee entrance, and walk through the airplane hanger. The hanger might contain a jet, or a few engines, and some of the mechanics that Dad worked with.
We’d go through a door on to the tarmac, and get in a tow or baggage vehicle. Dad would drive us to the gate, then take us up the stairs to the departure lounge. Somebody must have returned the vehicle to where ever it was supposed to be.
In 1980, Ohio State played USC in the Rose Bowl. Davy and I were attending OSU, and our oldest brother lived in Los Angeles, so of course we were going. The round trip ticket was something like $18. It was snowing, I and the other passengers had boarded, and my brother still hadn’t shown up.
My brother had worked late, so was late getting to the airport. He was running through the airport, when an American Airlines mechanic ran along side him.
“Are you Nestoff?”
“Yeah”
“Here’s your ticket.”
The gate agent opened the airplane door, and my brother got on. They closed the door, and pulled the stairs away.
At this time, people boarded via a stairway that was built into a truck. The setup was similar to the stair car on the TV show, Arrested Development.
As my brother and I were sitting on the plane, we saw somebody walking through the falling snow, coming toward our plane. The stairs were driven back into place, the cabin door was opened, and Dad come on the plane to check in on us.
Dad left, the door was closed, stairs pulled away, and in a little bit, the plane taxied away and took off.
I don’t know how other passengers processed those events.
That’s how I remember it, and air travel was fun.
Interesting