Was it better to travel by plane in the 80s?

Why the 80s?

In 1986, I began my career in air transport with UTA, a small French airline specializing in long-haul flights to Africa, Asia and the Pacific.

Then I worked for Air France, KLM, and the SkyTeam alliance during my 34-year career.

Thanks to my job, I’ve flown a lot all over the world, in all classes and also with airlines competing with my employers.

I’ve seen the air travel experience evolve considerably since I started in the 80s.

Today, as I don’t work for an airline anymore, so I can take a step back. and in this article I wanted to share with you what it was like to fly in the old days. It will be a discovery for the younger generation and a breath of nostalgia for those of my generation!

A very different travel experience in the ’80s

The experience of air travel in the 80s was nothing like what we can experience today.

Was it better? Or less well?

That’s what we’re going to analyze in this article.

In the first part of this article, I’ll try to take you back to the air travel of the 80s.

• Aircraft similar in appearance to today’s
• Buying a plane ticket wasn’t as easy as it is today
• More flights with stopovers
• What was it like at the airport in the 80s?
• First Class: A Michelin-starred restaurant with all the trimmings!
• In business class: an intermediate class that was looking for itself
• Economy class: passengers still pampered
• On-board distractions: chatting to your neighbor!
• Smoking on board: a well-accepted heresy in the ’80s

The second part of the article is more analytical, highlighting what I feel has changed.

• Five key developments in air travel since the 1980s
• Is it better to fly today? Or in the ’80s?

In this article, I use the example of Air France, the airline I know best. it’s important to point out, however, that this article has not been sponsored in any way, and all the opinions I express are strictly personal and free.

I have illustrated this article with numerous documents obtained from the Air France museum, whose President, Etienne Rachou, gave me access and whom I thank warmly, as well as from my internet research. More recent photos are either supplied by Air France or taken by myself. If I have inadvertently used a non-rights-free photo, please contact me so that I can remove it.

All texts in color coral indicate an internal or external link.

Aircraft similar in appearance to today’s

Looking at aircraft from the 80s gives the false impression that aviation hasn’t changed much compared to today.

To the uninitiated, a Boeing 787 doesn’t look much different from an old 767, or an Airbus A350 from an A300.

A flashback to the decade from the 80s to the 50s was more spectacular, as it took us back to the age of propeller-driven aircraft like the Constellation or the DC4! This is what I explain in another article, ” What does the Air France hourly timetable say in 1956? “

As we shall now see, it’ s the air travel experience that has changed a great deal between the 80s and today!

Buying a plane ticket in the 80s wasn’t as easy as it is today

In those days, you booked your trip either by phoning the airline or by visiting an agency in town or at the airport. No Internet, of course, and Minitel’s functionalities were of little use to airlines.

Prestigious agencies on the finest avenues

In the 80s, the companies had prestigious branches on the most beautiful avenues in major cities, such as the Champs-Élysées or the Esplanade des Invalides in Paris (photo). In New York (the black-and-white photo), the agency was located at 666 5th Avenue!

For many travelers, the easiest way was still to visit a local travel agency, which played a key role in distribution.

High regulated tariffs

Airfares were still expensive, but with more and more promotional fares to try and fill already very large aircraft.

Being under 26 or over 60 gave access to discounts, such as the famous rule requiring overnight stays from Saturday to Sunday, or a minimum stay at the destination.

The aim was to prevent businessmen aged between 26 and 60 (businesswomen were still ignored by airline marketing departments) from obtaining these fares because they didn’t travel at weekends.The “bleisure” or “digital nomad” phenomena didn’t exist!

Fares were published in the Air France timetables, as in the example below.

Corporate travel policies were limited to defining class access (First for executives and Economy for others), and cost optimization was fairly flexible compared to today. Business travelers could do so without too many cost constraints.

It was through the quality of their service that companies sought to attract them.

Organized competition

Civil aviation administrations negotiated the number of frequencies to which each company was entitled between two countries.

In the 80s, Air France and Swissair still coordinated their schedules and prices between France and Switzerland. For example, on departure from Geneva, Air France flew to Bordeaux and Swissair to Marseille.

Air France had the same agreements with almost all European airlines, such as Iberia, British Airways, Lufthansa, and SAS, which are now fierce competitors.

For the passenger, this system offered several advantages. If you missed your Air France flight from Paris to Geneva, you could easily catch the next one operated by Swissair.

The other advantage was that rates were known in advance, and didn’t change according to demand as they do today.

The downside was that fare levels for the cheapest tickets were much higher than today, and the most dynamic airlines were hampered in their development.

In France, air transport was organized around three main airlines: Air Inter for domestic flights, UTA for part of Africa and the Far East, and Air France for the rest of the world.

The beginnings of liberalization

However, the 1980s saw the beginnings of air transport liberalization.

In 1980, the Chairman of Air France had a clear-cut opinion, and rather against it, as he said in response to a journalist’s question! (source: France Aviation April 1980 – in French translated by me)

Liberalization began with the “deregulation act” in 1978, which prohibited the organization of prices, schedules, and services between airlines within the US domestic territory.

This liberalization was very gradual and only became fully visible in Europe and internationally in the 2000s.

Since then, under pressure from the public authorities, airlines have become much more competitive with each other, especially on fares, with the prohibition of cartels.

Flights with stopovers still numerous in the 80s

In the 80s, the most distant destinations in the Far East, Southern Africa, and South America were necessarily operated with intermediate stopovers from Europe, as the range of Douglas DC10, Boeing 747-100, 200, or 300 aircraft was still too limited.

Another reason was that, at the time, long-haul aircraft were too big concerning demand to justify serving a single stopover, even on medium-haul flights.

Several Air France long-haul flights made stopovers in Bordeaux, Marseille, Nice, or Lyon before taking off for more distant destinations, such as flight AF477 Paris – Marseille – Djibouti – Antananarivo. The notion of hubs, where medium-haul flights converge on an airport in roughly the same time slot to facilitate connections to long-haul flights, did not yet exist in Europe.

Air France’s summer 1986 schedule featured numerous multi-stop flights, both in Europe and on long-haul routes, including :

• Paris – Stockholm – Helsinki
• Paris – Düsseldorf – Berlin
• Paris – Recife – Rio de Janeiro – Buenos Aires
• Paris – Cayenne – Quito – Lima
• Paris – Karachi – Delhi – Beijing
• Paris – Kuwait – Sharjah – Abu Dhabi
• Paris – Anchorage – Tokyo

The number of frequencies was still low. UTA flew to Singapore with just three weekly flights from Paris, two of which stopped off in Bahrain and the third in Muscat and Colombo. Singapore Airlines offered a similar service on other days of the week, enabling an almost daily flight between the two cities.

Today, for instance, Air France and Singapore Airlines each operate one or two daily non-stop flights at roughly the same time!

Long-haul travel was longer and more tiring

Traveling in these conditions was not only longer, but much more tiring. So in my example of the UTA flight to Singapore, the stopovers in Muscat and Colombo in the middle of the night broke any attempt at sleep, even when traveling in First Class. Going far away had to be earned! See for yourself with this comparison chart between a typical flight Paris to Singapore in summer 1986 and summer 2023 with Paris and local times. (escales = stops ; Temps de vol = flight time) 

The upside was that we once had more of a travel feeling. At every stopover, we could breathe in the local air or take a stroll around the airport. A new crew took over to take us to the next port of call.

Today, we find ourselves catapulted to the other side of the world without really realizing it. By contrast, in the ’80s, passengers in all classes were tired, even exhausted, by the time they arrived!

Arrival of the Boeing 747-400

The late ’80s saw the arrival of the 400 version of the Boeing 747, offering a longer range than the older 100 and 200 versions.

The diagram below, published in an internal Air France magazine (France Aviation Sep 1988), shows the new non-stop service possibilities that the aircraft would bring after the decade of the 80s, with the arrival of the first Air France model at the end of 1988.

An extensive domestic network thanks to Air Inter

Air Inter’s domestic network was far more developed than that of the Air France Group today.

Marseille, Bordeaux, and Nantes, as well as London, Frankfurt, and Brussels, were still served by numerous daily flights, often using theAirbus A300, a 300-seat wide-body aircraft.

This is explained by the fact that there was only one Paris-Lyon TGV line, inaugurated in 1981.

What was it like at the airport in the 80s?

Going to the check-in counter, even with no baggage to leave in the hold, was an essential part of collecting your boarding pass and choosing your seat. It was only at the airport that we learned of any flight delays or cancellations, as the company had no way of informing us beforehand.

Your plane ticket: the key to your trip

Of course, you had to make sure you had your paper ticket with you. If we lost it, the only solution was to buy another one!

A strong airline presence at the airport.

Check-in organization was still highly dependent on the number of agents made available by the airline, which, even at smaller stations, did not often subcontract this function. The station managers and their teams were therefore perfectly familiar with the commercial and operational subtleties of his company.

On the other hand, this added considerably to operating costs when staff were unoccupied between two of their company’s flights.

A dedicated First Class counter already existed, but overall check-in was more haphazard than it is today. The cords that organized the boa-like queues were unknown. Fortunately, passenger flows were much lower than today, as checking in a jumbo jet could quickly become a long and tedious process.

This photo from the Sydney airport photo library shows a typical flight check-in in the 80s.

The rolling suitcase: an object of the future

In the ’80s, bags were still carried by hand or slung over the shoulder.

Rolling suitcases, which have now been adopted almost unanimously by travelers, were not yet widely seen,

According to Katrine Marçal, author of the book “How Good Ideas Get Ignored in an Economy Built for Men” , this innovation dates back to the 1940s, and has been superbly ignored by men, who felt that rolling a suitcase was not manly enough!

Luggage allowances already existed at the time, but their application was much more flexible. With a smile and a kind word, the passenger could more easily shift a couple of kilos than today.

Similarly, front-row seats offering extra legroom weren’t yet paying options, but good tips that resourceful travelers managed to obtain before anyone else.

Safety filters: a simple formality

Passing through the safety filter was a simple formality. No liquid constraints, no computers to take out of your bag (we didn’t have any anyway!), or shoes to remove.

That changed on September 11, 2001, and has surely been one of the most significant factors affecting air travel in recent decades. The carefree spirit of travel took a hit.

On the contrary, police and customs clearance was systematic, even on a Paris – Amsterdam route. because the Schengen area didn’t exist. This could take some time. Duty-free was a rite of passage, even for European flights.

VIP-only lounges

Airline lounges, modest in size by today’s standards and with a limited range of services, were reserved only for the “happy few”. who paid for their ticket in First Class or received a VIP card, the “Club 2000 for Air France, at the discretion of airline sales representatives.

Loyalty programs were already well developed in the United States but in their infancy in Europe. The hunt for miles and status was not yet the preoccupation of business passengers.

Passengers in suits and ties

In the photo below, passengers were dressed more formally than today. Travel in suits and ties was the norm.

As airline staff, we were forbidden to board in jeans and T-shirts for our travels at personal convenience!

Although not systematically, families with young children and first-class passengers boarded first, and other passengers sometimes had to jostle for position!

First Class: A Michelin-starred restaurant with all the trimmings!

The first class was systematically offered on the long-haul flights of major airlines.

A feast served on board in style

The differentiation with economy class was based on catering. It was still the big game! It was like being in a Michelin-starred restaurant, with the crew setting the guests’ plates in front of them.

The food was luxurious, caviar or lobster, and service times could easily last two or three hours. This was good timing, as other distractions were still limited.

Reading the menu for the Paris – Miami – Mexico trip, it’s hard to imagine still being hungry on arrival!

Of course, the glitz and glamour showcased in advertising photos, such as that of Air France, also depended on local catering possibilities. In some far-flung ports of call, such as Beijing, still under the austere Maoist regime, quality was not the same as at the Paris base.

In 2022, with globalization, catering quality has become more homogeneous.

The reintroduction of the sleeping seat

The great innovation of the 80s was the reintroduction of recliners, as on the old propeller planes of the 50s.

With the arrival of Boeing 707s and Douglas DC8s in the early ’60s, airlines decided that, with flight times cut in half, seats without leg rests, similar to those found in today’s First Class trains, would suffice.

To stand out from the competition and meet the expectations of a demanding clientele, airlines once again sought to improve their passengers’ sleeping comfort.

However, the comfort of the seat offered in the 80s would make us smile today.

Air France’s Première in 2022, on the right, is larger and more intimate thanks to a curtain, and in the reclining position, the seat transforms into a real bed.

An exceptional travel experience: the Concorde

In the 80s, Air France operated the Concorde on the Paris-New York route.

It was a unique and exceptional travel experience. The paradox of this futuristic airplane was that it had the vintage atmosphere of a very elitist 50s air transport!

We’re so used to future technology outperforming the past that it’s hard to believe that in the 80s we were flying at supersonic speeds and now we’re not!

Today, Première is an ultra-luxury, confidential class.

In the early 2020s, on long-haul routes, First Class is on the verge of extinction. The move upmarket in Business class is the main reason for this.

Only a small number of companies have kept it, and usually only on part of their fleet. For example, Air France only offers it on some of its Boeing 777-300s, with only four seats. It has become above all a product of image positioning for those airlines that have chosen to keep it.

When it exists, First Class is positioned as an ultra-luxury product with a highly personalized, made-to-measure service. It is even more elitist than before. 

Business class: an intermediate cabin that’s been looking for itself

Business class, the flagship product of today’s long-haul airlines, was brand new in the 80s. At the time, the airlines were still trying to find the right positioning for this product, between an improved economy class and a simplified first class.

A product similar to today’s long-haul Premium Eco class

The Air France product was called “Le Club”. The seat, in a deep red, was similar in size to the current Premium Eco, with its more sober blue color. It was very comfortable for a daytime flight but didn’t differ from the economy class for sleeping, since its 126° inclination was the same.

The main meal was served in two parts. A first large platter with starter, salad, cheese, and hot dish. A second with dessert and coffee. It was of a slightly higher standard than the economic one, with nobler products and better quality wines.

Over the years, the long-haul Business class has moved upmarket!

Over the years, business class has evolved spectacularly, with seats that can be transformed into real beds in cozy, intimate cocoons.

Catering is also of a high standard, with cloth tablecloths, multi-step service, and top-quality wines.

This development has prompted airlines to create a new intermediate class, Premium éco, which sits between today’s Business and Economy classes. The latter looks a lot like the business classes of the 80s. Just goes to show that the product cycle is an eternal restart!

Business class: a novelty on European flights in the ’80s

On intra-European flights, airlines, notably Air France, had replaced First Class with Business Class, offering lower prices thanks to more seats, while retaining a high-quality catering service.

A fixed partition separated the business class from the economy cabin.

In Europe today, airlines have adopted the “mobile curtain” concept, which involves equipping the entire aircraft with the same economy seat but differentiating the level of service between the front and rear cabins, which can be adjusted in size thanks to the curtain. This concept was still unknown in the 80s.

Since then, the Business cabin has become smaller and smaller, as companies are no longer willing to pay high fares for their executives on short trips.

Business class on European flights is now mainly intended for connecting passengers on long-haul flights.

Economy class: passengers still pampered

Back in the ’80s, long-haul economy travel was still a party!

Compared to today, the seats were slightly roomier in both width and length and softer, with a greater reclining.

More comfort and space in the 80s

For example, the Air France seat used to recline at 126° instead of 118° today. Not a huge difference, but enough to move from a feeling of comfort to one of discomfort. Especially since in forty years the French, like many other peoples, have grown and grown! (source in French: Le Monde)

Admittedly, airlines advertise extensively on the ergonomics and materials of new seats, which supposedly improve comfort with less bulk or weight. The reality is that economy travel has become more and more of an ordeal, with narrower seats and denser cabins.

A comparison of the typical layout of a Boeing 747, widely used in the 80s, and today’s Boeing 777 is rather enlightening on this evolution of space given to economy class passengers.

Higher load factors have reinforced this feeling of promiscuity. In the 80s, revenue management didn’t really exist, and companies were struggling to optimize sales. The number of unsold seats was therefore much higher. A boon for passenger comfort, even if it was bad for airline profitability.

More generous catering and service than today

In the 80s, on Air France, long-haul service began with an aperitif, followed by the meal tray, an additional bread basket, and coffee .

Quarter bottles of champagne or wine were offered, as well pretty plastic crockery that was reused with metal cutlery.

I remember that even on a Paris-Rome flight, a hot meal was still served in economy class .

Today, the service has been greatly simplified, and meal trays are smaller and less plentiful.

A photo of yesterday’s and today’s long-haul platters, side by side, speaks for itself.

There’s no point in blaming one company more than another, because the economic product has deteriorated for everyone. Competition is only on price , since that’s the only thing that really counts for the consumer.

On-board distractions: chatting to your neighbor!

In the 80s, the journey could sometimes seem very long.

We’d chat with our neighbors to pass the boredom, or play cards. There was also more interaction between flight attendants and passengers, as shown in these Air France publicity photos, which may be a little idealized, but they’re just what I remember!

Sometimes we made wonderful human discoveries. For example, one of my most vivid memories is of traveling on a Boston – Paris flight with an American who had been part of the hostage-taking on TWA flight 847 from Athens to Rome on June 14, 1985. The discussion had been fascinating and moving.

One movie for all

In the 80s, a single feature-length movie was shown on a central screen. The movie was, of course, very mainstream, to appeal to a very diverse clientele both in age and nationality. For the rest of the journey, music was broadcast on a dozen channels. Headphones were still pneumatic in economy class. Only Business and Première classes were provided with electronic headphones.

I remember an innovation at UTA, the first airline I worked for, where a courier would bring a video copy of the day’s of a French TV channel news from the TV studios just in time for it to be broadcast on the evening flights. It was a real logistical feat, much appreciated by passengers.

The press and magazines offered free of charge by the airlines were therefore still substantial. Passengers read a lot and didn’t usually forget to take their books with them to pass the time.

Sometimes talkative captains

The captain used to make frequent announcements to explain the course of the flight and draw passengers’ attention to the geographical sights overflown: cities, rivers, and mountains. This is no longer done, as passengers don’t want to be disturbed in their inflight entertainment.

On Air France, a map annotated by the crew was displayed in the galleys. It provided an opportunity for exchanges between passengers and crew.

It has since been replaced by increasingly sophisticated geolocation systems, displayed directly on passengers’ individual screens.

Smoking on board: a well-accepted heresy in the ’80s

As soon as cruising speed was reached, smokers waited impatiently for the no-smoking signal to go off.

Since the late 70s, aircraft have been divided into smoking and non-smoking zones. On small planes, or in cabins with few seats like First Class, this was purely theoretical. The acrid smell of tobacco was everywhere.

One of my worst memories is a trip from Paris to Sydney via Anchorage and Tokyo with Japan Airlines. I was in economy class and the stewardesses came by every hour to empty the ashtrays of Japanese passengers who were known to be heavy smokers! After more than 30 hours in the air, even though I was a non-smoker, I had been intoxicated against my will!

What seems obvious today – no smoking on board – was a long battle that gave rise to interminable discussions in the marketing departments of airlines fearful of losing their smoking clientele.

In the 90s, Air France experimented with “clean air” flights. Smokers had to go into small spaces enclosed by heavy curtains and equipped with powerful air extractors. The rest of the aircraft was declared non-smoking.

In the end, it was the public authorities who introduced the smoking ban, first on domestic flights and then on international flights. In France, we’ll have to wait until the year 2000. 

In any case, I have no nostalgia for those days!

Five key developments in air travel since the 1980s

Air travel is very different today. I’ve noted five key developments since the 1980s.

1. Today we travel in our own bubble

Today, travel has become a solitary act. The latest product development in First and Business Class is the creation of small private compartments that can be closed by a door. Even during meals, passengers keep their headphones on so they don’t miss any of the film, and don’t even have to communicate with the crew.

In economy class, passengers shut themselves away in their video systems to forget the discomfort of the flight. All the more so on flights that can last from 12 to 17 hours with no intermediate stopovers.

This loss of human contact is the development I find most regrettable, but one that certainly suits many of today’s travelers.

Today, the reflex of many passengers is to pull down the curtain to remain immersed in an uninterrupted sequence of films or video games. Meanwhile, the plane flies over magnificent landscapes that are ignored.

2. The evolution of classes on board reflects our increasingly unequal society

Another striking fact, in my opinion, is the divergence between the upper classes (First and Business), which offer an increasingly luxurious and high-level customer experience, and the lower classes, where travel is increasingly uncomfortable (Economy and Low-Cost).

Depending on the class to which the traveler has access, he or she will find that travel is far more pleasant, or not, than it was in the 80s.

However, my statement must be nuanced because while economy class has become more uncomfortable, it is also accessible to a greater number of people than in the 80s, thanks to lower fares.

3. Passengers have become an industrially managed flow at airports

Over the past forty years, the growth of air transport has been phenomenal, as shown in the graph below, which stops in 2019. Covid has caused traffic to plummet, but by 2023 it looks like we’ll be back to pre-crisis levels!

A comparison of Air France’s position at its main Paris CDG base between 1985 and 2022 also shows the company’s strong growth over almost 40 years.

This growth, despite numerous crises, has meant that passenger volumes have become so important for airlines and airports that they have had to organize them like industrial flows.

This short airport flow modeling video by Business Logic Company illustrates the phenomenon!

In return for this somewhat inhuman industrialization of flows, travelers have benefited from digitalization to make their journeys more pleasant. Comparing, booking, buying, and modifying air travel has never been easier on the Internet. It’s also easier to check in via your phone or self-service kiosks.

Airports have become more modern and efficient, except when they are overwhelmed by excessive passenger flows at peak times.

More often than not, they offer a wider range of services, particularly in catering, than was the case in the 80s.

Airline lounges reserved for frequent flyers or First or Business class passengers have become an essential part of the service offered. The equivalent did not exist in the 80s.

4. The development of low-cost airlines has contributed to the destruction of the dream of air travel.

The development of low-cost airlines is one of the great innovations of the 2000s.

It has certainly contributed to the democratization of air travel, but the downside is far from negligible.

The first consequence is for the staff, who work in much more difficult conditions for lower wages.

The second is to have created the illusion that air travel is cheap, thanks to aggressive advertising campaigns and call fares.

The third is to have promoted “useless” travel. I’m being provocative in writing this, but travel is too beautiful a thing to be wasted on three-day weekends or week-long vacations, as low-cost airlines promote.

In the 80s, air travel was still the exception. Like all precious things, it made them more valuable. Traveling less meant traveling better! But I’m aware that this is a very personal opinion, and one that may not be shared by everyone.

5. The ecological issue has become essential for the future of air transport.

When I started working in the air transport industry, environmental issues were limited to noise pollution. Companies were still operating old, very noisy aircraft like the Boeing 707 or 727, or the Douglas DC8, but these were at the end of their career.

Today, everyone is aware that CO2 emissions are at the heart of our ecological problem, and that flying is a major contributor to it.

A movement has sprung up in Sweden called flygskam, in Swedish, or the shame of flying, in French. We can no longer travel by plane without a care in the world. But is this a bad thing?

I think not, because we’ve forgotten that flying is something extraordinary. To travel through the air like a bird! Our ancestors only imagined it. We have the chance to do just that. So let’s not make an ordinary thing out of it, because it’s not . I invite you to read my article Should we stop traveling? for further food for thought.

Is it better to fly today?? Or in the ’80s?

As you can imagine, the answer isn’t black and white, and it depends on individual expectations!

There’s no denying that flying today has become cheaper, and more reliable, with more frequent schedules and almost all flights being non-stop.

But I’m nostalgic for the air travel of the 80s.

Air travel was much more of a dream than it is today, even though it was much less accessible. The travel experience was an opportunity for more human encounters.

It was the early days of industry liberalization, prices were really starting to democratize, and traveling in economy class felt less like a cattle drive than it does today.

That’s my own personal view, but it has to be put into perspective because I was in my twenties at the time. Today, my view of air transport in the 80s is perhaps biased, because it’s also the view I have of my youth!

I’m curious to know what you think? Let me know in the comments!

I’d like to end this article with a photo of an Air France Boeing 747-200 taking off. This aircraft, which was a flagship in the 80s and which Boeing will stop manufacturing in 2023, is one of my favorites!