29 Photos That Capture the Golden Age of Air Travel (1950s – 1970s)
Air travel these days feels more like a necessary chore than a luxury, and that becomes clearer with each flight. The seats are cramped, legroom is scarce, the drink cart makes a single appearance, the bathrooms are tiny, and every inch is packed with passengers. Can you tell I just survived a long-haul flight?
That sardine-can experience got me daydreaming about the golden age of flying—the 1950s to the 1970s—when airlines went all out to create a genuinely luxurious experience. Think of real meals, lounges, cocktail bars, spacious seats, and limitless legroom.
1. “Was the flying in the 70s really like this, or is it just good old PR?”
2. “The good old days of flying”
3. “Flying in Style (1966)”
4.”Pan Am 747SP First Class dining – 1970s”
5. “Flying 1st class in the 60s”
6. Passengers aboard a TriStar jetliner. Each passenger in this photo has approximately seven square feet of space. (1967)
7. “These people flying in the 1970s didn’t even know how good they had it.”
8. “If this photo were taken today, there would be 120 people sitting in this space.”
9. “Crazy to think there were actually bars with bartenders on some 1970s flights.”
10. “Flights in the 1970s sometimes had actual dining tables you were served at.”
11. “The wood banisters on this 1970s plane remind me of my parent’s house.”
12. “Keep the pretzels coming, lady.”
13. “Casually walking down the spiral staircase to the downstairs lounge. Flying in the 70s was something else.”
14. “Sir, would you like another?”
15. “More room than you’d find on a modern train.”
16. “Is that a widescreen TV or just a big photo of the Grand Canyon?”
17. “These people wouldn’t last an hour on a Spirit Airlines flight.”
18. “This 1970s first class section looks like it’s straight out of Star Trek.”
19. “Leather seats on a plane are luxurious on their own.”
20. “Remember what we’ve lost.”
21. “It’s funny that there’s more room in this lounge on a 1970s airplane than there is at the waiting room by the gate now.”
22. “Back when they had actual chefs on flights.”
23. “Imagine a time they served fresh shellfish on a flight.”
24. “Gotta save room for dessert.”
25. “Wait, a charcuterie board?”
26. “This Pan Am dining area is nicer than any restaurants I eat at.”
27. “Wait, they had t.v.’s on airplanes back then?”
28. “You have to love orange shag carpet on a plane.”
29. Passengers relaxing on the sleeper seats on the new Comet 4 from New York to London in 1958.
