David J. Danto

Travel thoughts in my own, personal opinion

eMail: ddanto@IMCCA.org Follow Industry News: @NJDavidD on

Bring Back The Golden Age Of Flying – November 2025

The Glamour of Air Travel Should Come Back… According to People Who Haven’t Flown Commercial Coach Since 1963

Every few years someone in government decides that what aviation really needs is not safer planes, better airlines, or a functioning FAA, but a return to the “golden age of air travel.” You know the era they mean. The one preserved only in Pan Am posters, Mad Men reruns, and the romantic recollections of people who conveniently forget that smoking was allowed on board and that turbulence routinely cracked spines like pistachios.

But here we go again. The US Secretary of Transportation has started a campaign that invites travelers to “dress up,” as if the reason flying feels like a mobile root canal is because you wore sweatpants and not because you were wedged into 28 inches of pitch between a crying baby and an emotional support ferret for five hours of fighting over the armrest.

So let’s take a moment to remember all the things that truly made flying great in the first place. Spoiler: none of them have anything to do with neckties.

When Seats Allowed Humans to Sit Like Humans

Ah, seat pitch. A quaint concept from a bygone world where airlines believed passengers were shaped like vertebrates and not like origami projects. There was a time when you could cross your legs without filing an incident report. A time when reclining wasn’t an act of war. A time when standing up to go to the bathroom didn’t require a prayer, a plan, and pulling off a maneuver that would impress Cirque du Soleil.

Bring back those seats. Not tuxedos at the terminal. If you want civility in the skies, start by giving people enough space to open a laptop without elbow-stabbing the stranger beside them.

Meals That Were Meals – Not Apologies on a Tray

Remember when airlines served meals with actual ingredients? When a transcontinental flight came with a hot entrée, a side dish, a roll, a dessert, and maybe even a small dignity boost? Today’s “snack box” is basically a collection of vending machine regrets shrink-wrapped together for $12.99.

And don’t get me started on the drinks. Back then, you got real service. The flight attendant brought cocktails in actual glasses. Now the entire beverage ceremony is conducted with the reverence of someone tossing feed into a barnyard. You get one can, if you’re lucky (or if the FA is too busy to pour for you), and you’d better be grateful for the privilege.

But sure, let’s talk about wearing blazers again. That’ll bring back civility.

And while we’re on the topic of civility, let’s remember the people actually delivering what’s left of it. Flight attendants typically still aren’t paid until the cabin door closes, which means the smiling professional greeting you at boarding is volunteering their time while the CEO earns more between lunch and dinner than they make in a month. The industry mastered the art of pitting passengers and front-line workers against each other while the decision-makers sit back with champagne and performance bonuses. If anyone deserves a golden age revival, it’s the people doing the work, not the executives lighting cigars with the savings from another round of labor cuts.

Loyalty Programs That Encouraged Loyalty

There was a distant era when frequent-flier programs rewarded, of all things, frequent flying. Insane, I know.

Miles had value. Status had meaning. Upgrades were real. A traveler could earn a free trip without needing a spreadsheet, a law degree, and six credit cards color-coded by APR. Today’s loyalty program is less about loyalty and (as I described in my recent blog) more about learning the secret handshake of whichever bank is underwriting the airline’s real business model.

But imagine if we really went back to the golden age. A world where loyalty wasn’t something the airline demanded while giving you precisely nothing in return.

When Airline CEOs Actually Got Fired for Failure

In aviation’s romantic past, executives were held accountable. If management made bad decisions that tanked the company, they didn’t get a bonus for “navigating market headwinds.” They got fired. Sometimes spectacularly.

Now airlines miss every metric except “creative fee invention” and leadership gets rewarded like they cured polio. Schedules melt, fleets age, on-time performance slips into performance art, and somehow the CEO sticks around because quarterly financials were stabilized by charging $50 $150 $200 for a checked bag.

But hey, if we all wear ties at the gate, I’m sure it will inspire them to do better.

Airfares That Didn’t Require an Advanced Degree in Game Theory

Once upon a time, you could buy a plane ticket without negotiating a ransom. There were prices. Reliable ones. A seat on a plane cost what a seat on a plane cost.
Today’s fares are determined by algorithms running on cursed servers in a subterranean lair somewhere. You start at $199, press a single button, and suddenly the price is $861 because the airline sensed weakness. Check again 10 minutes later or without logging-in and the price will inevitably be different.

Golden age nostalgia shouldn’t be about fashion. It should be about not needing a supercomputer to book a weekend trip.

Airlines Run by Pilots And Built By Engineers – Not Bean Counters

Aviation used to attract leaders who understood flying. People who thought about safety, aircraft longevity, and the miracle of physics that let a metal tube stay in the air.

Now half the industry is run by spreadsheet animals whose instinctive response to every question is “cut legroom, raise fees, merge again.” The golden age wasn’t golden because people wore hats. It was golden because decisions were made by those who cared about the airplanes more than EBITDA.

The entire 737-MAX series was created to save airlines the money retraining and re-certification would cost. That’s totally the wrong reason to design a new airplane, especially one with a center of gravity so compromised that software had to be invented just to keep it from face-planting into the horizon (and not completely successful software to boot.)

Airplane Manufacturers That Prioritized Engineering Over Stock Price

There was a time when Boeing was synonymous with engineering excellence. A time when quality wasn’t something measured only by quarterly returns. A time when news about the company didn’t include phrases like “whistleblower,” “quality control,” or “door plug incident.”

Before anyone brings back white gloves and champagne, the industry might start by making sure the airplanes don’t come with missing parts, loose bolts, or cut-rate maintenance.

Schedules That Weren’t Aspirational Fan Fiction

Remember when an airline schedule meant something? The departure time wasn’t a hopeful suggestion scribbled by someone in marketing. Flights left. Flights arrived. And they did so at hours that existed on your clock, not in the multiverse.
Today’s schedules are a choose-your-own-adventure novel. Will it be delayed? Canceled? Downgraded? Upgraded? Combined with another flight? Operated by an airline you’ve never heard of using a plane that looks like it survived a minor war?
Yes. All of the above.

Airport Security That Didn’t Feel Like a Community Theater Production of “Kafka on Ice”

Let’s not pretend security was better back then. It wasn’t. But at least it was staffed by people who were allowed to make decisions. Today’s TSA experience feels like the nation outsourced passenger screening to a committee that failed its group project but still got a passing grade for trying.

If we’re bringing anything back, let’s bring back consistency. And maybe speed. And maybe just one line where someone knows how to operate the scanner.

A Final Word from the Sarcasm Department

The idea that air travel lost its civility because passengers stopped dressing up is adorable. Adorable the way it’s adorable when a toddler earnestly explains that the moon is following his car.

Flying didn’t lose its glamour because of sweatpants. It lost its glamour because the industry systematically removed every single thing that made flying glamorous.
If you want the golden age back, you don’t need a dress code. You need: space to sit, food worth chewing, prices worth paying, management worth trusting, planes worth boarding, loyalty worth earning, schedules worth believing, and a system worth traveling through.

Do that, and people might not just dress up again. They might actually look forward to getting on a plane again.

After decades of candid travel commentary – from loyalty program “magic tricks” to hotel check-in roulette – I’ve decided to turn some of that honesty into apparel. These aren’t novelty shirts; they’re the exact truths every road warrior wishes they could say out loud. Whether you’re quietly muttering “My loyalty points devalued while you read this shirt” or admitting “If delays build character then I’m the whole movie’s cast” you’ll find plenty of familiar sentiments… and more. Everything is produced by a reputable outfit, with black tees that work under a sport jacket plus hoodies and wicking travel gear for life on the road. The site also has my honest and snarky takes on technology trade shows. Take a look at Tinyurl.com/TechAndTravelWear. Even if you’re not buying they’re fun to read and commiserate – and if you do buy something, maybe I’ll break even. If you want a style you don’t see, just email me and I’ll add it.

This article was written by David Danto and contains solely his own, personal opinions.

All image and links provided above as reference under prevailing fair use statutes.

Copyright 2025 David Danto

++++++++

As always, feel free to write and comment, question or disagree. Hearing from the traveling community is always a highlight for me. Thanks!