{"id":2275,"date":"2015-11-10T05:00:24","date_gmt":"2015-11-10T05:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/flights.waveinteractive.com\/blog\/?p=2275"},"modified":"2015-11-05T18:30:09","modified_gmt":"2015-11-05T18:30:09","slug":"airports-and-their-amenities-over-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.flights.com\/blog\/airports-and-their-amenities-over-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Airports and Their Amenities Over Time"},"content":{"rendered":"

Airline travel wasn\u2019t always all about trying to keep your baggage costs to a minimum and tersely calling out \u201cOn your LEFT\u201d to the guy standing in the middle of the airport\u2019s moving sidewalk. No, once upon a time air travel was a luxury. On a flight circa 1955, your plane would have been stocked with lobster and other fancy shmancy food, enough leg room to allow for leaning back without earning a stink eye, and free alcohol (another scotch, anyone?). Meanwhile, airports themselves weren\u2019t quite up to snuff, at least by today\u2019s standards. A quick review of airport history reveals that the dog parks, casinos, and swimming pools now considered the terminal gold standard were nowhere to be found. This week in our National Aviation History Month series, we are recapping how aeropuertos have changed through the years, from airport security procedures to disembarking.<\/p>\n

Navigating Security<\/strong><\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/span>\"Photo<\/a><\/span>

Photo attribution: Flickr\/Creative Commons\/That Hartford Guy\/Via\/https:\/\/flic.kr\/p\/o1UWhS<\/p><\/div>\n

Airport security was pretty much nonexistent until the early 1970s. Don\u2019t believe us? Passengers could get on board without so much as ID. That\u2019s right, as long as an airport official could give you the once-over and think \u201cYeah, you look pretty sane,\u201d you were green lit to board the aircraft. Passengers could also show up to the gate, friends and family in tow, just a few minutes before the flight. After all, no one was really scanning luggage back then, either. Thankfully, between the 70s and present day, the history of airport security also includes plenty of innovation, including baggage scanners and other safety measures.<\/p>\n

Staying Entertained in the Terminal<\/strong><\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/span>\"Photo<\/a><\/span>

Photo attribution: Flickr\/Creative Commons\/Ed Uthman\/Via\/https:\/\/flic.kr\/p\/4cnwxL<\/p><\/div>\n

Terminal entertainment has certainly evolved, as well. Airport amenities like indoor aquariums and meditation rooms didn\u2019t start to take off until air travel became common place. In the 60s and 70s, some of the most popular amenities were coin operated TV chairs. For a quarter, passengers could watch 30 minutes of programming. And before the mid-1970s or so, most of the retailers present in airports were duty-free shops\u2014no sprawling shopping malls like we\u2019re used to these days. By the 80s, there were some dining options (read: day-old soft pretzels) and more shopping, the 90s saw a big explosion of amenities. These days, or course, we\u2019re spoiled for choice when it comes to amenities. Go ahead, get a massage and visit an on-site gym during your layover.<\/p>\n

Smoking<\/strong><\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/span>\"Photo<\/a><\/span>

Photo attribution: Flickr\/Creative Commons\/ierdnall\/Via\/https:\/\/flic.kr\/p\/pRVmek<\/p><\/div>\n

Hey, remember when people could just smoke wherever they wanted? Yeah, that was gross. Up until 1988, not only you smoke on some PLANES, but you could certainly light up in designated areas of the airport itself. By 1990, smoking on any commercial aircraft was a no-no, and many airports started banning passengers from lighting up on the premises at all. While some airports still let passengers smoke in certain indoor lounges, most airports don\u2019t let you take a puff within 15 feet of the building.<\/p>\n

Getting On and Off the Plane<\/strong><\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/span>\"Photo<\/a><\/span>

Photo attribution: Flickr\/Creative Commons\/Hunter Desportes\/Via\/https:\/\/flic.kr\/p\/65LZxH<\/p><\/div>\n

There was no such thing as a jetway until 1961. That means (yes, even in the dead of winter) that getting on and off the aircraft mean using portable stairs leading directly to the plane\u2019s exit door. Thanks to the advent of a jetway corridor in the early 60s, passengers can now make it directly from the airplane to the gate. This of course makes navigating from airport security to your plane seat much swifter and comfortable for your departure, and you can reach baggage claim with ease upon landing.<\/p>\n

The next time you\u2019re getting a mani-pedi in Terminal B, we hope you\u2019ll appreciate the history of airports and how far we\u2019ve come! It wasn\u2019t that<\/em> long ago that you would have been relegated to killing time by writing post cards. How pass\u00e9!<\/p>\n

Feature\u00a0photo attribution:\u00a0Attribution: Flickr\/Creative Commons\/Teresa Avellanosa\/Via\/https:\/\/flic.kr\/p\/7TRAre<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Airline travel wasn\u2019t always all about trying to keep your baggage costs to a minimum and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":2281,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[248,77,80],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flights.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2275"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flights.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flights.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flights.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flights.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2275"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.flights.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2275\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2282,"href":"https:\/\/www.flights.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2275\/revisions\/2282"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flights.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flights.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flights.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flights.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}