They way we used to fly. Passengers on a Pan Am 307 Boeing in the 1940s. Photo courtesy of State Library and Archives of Florida.
It’s been a dozen years since I trekked around Asia for 100 days. Back then (those pre-9/11 days), airfares were relatively affordable and service in-flight still decent. I remember getting to know a flight attendant fairly well on one of my frequent flights on United as I flew from Hong Kong to Hanoi to Manila to Singapore, all via Narita Airport in Tokyo. He’d give me full bottles of wine from first class and move me to empty rows.
Five years ago, I was on another United flight, this time to Seoul. Relatively roomy seats, even in economy, and individual video monitors filled with games, movies (even Korean ones) and TV shows helped pass the time quite pleasantly on the 13-hour flight. They even offered paper menus to let us know what the “chef” had prepared for our flight. Things were still pretty good.
Ah, those were the days.
