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What was air travel like before 9-11?
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i remember chilling in the cockpit as a kid
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>>2058931
How long before? Because the bombings in the seventies and eighties led to metal detectors and x-ray machines in every airport that required the same sort of queuing you see today.
>>2058936
>i remember chilling in the cockpit as a kid
Same. 747 on a transatlantic flight and they had a stool set up behind the pilot/copilot and so you could see out over the nose to the clouds below.
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>>2058963
>the same sort of queuing you see today.
It was not nearly as bad. Anyone could go through security and up to the gate. The lines were short and fast. Abdhul and his ilk ruined airports for the civilized man.
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>>2058931
Security theater was a little more lax, but I find the biggest change was the loss of small(er) regional or shuttle carriers that didnt survive the years immediately after 9/11 with the precipitous dip in air travel that resulted from the attacks - or thats how it felt, anyway
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>>2058931
>I'm old enough to have been in a US Airport with no metal detectors
It was neat. And you boarded planes via stair cars back then, no jetways. They boarded at the front and back doors as a result.
But for about 20 years before 9/11, metal detectors were pretty much the norm at every mid-size to large airport, so the only real differences between then and now was you could take departures to and meet arrivals at the gate and you could take toiletries in your carry-on without worrying about sizes of liquid containers. I remember several times taking visitors to the airport, going through security with them, and eating a meal at a restaurant near the gate until their flight got called for boarding, and bidding them adieu.
Also, as others have pointed out, the cockpit door was open all the time on flights.
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>>2059124
Some airports still have dual boarding, but it's quite rare nowadays.
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>>2059124
>But for about 20 years before 9/11
People don't realize that after Pan Am 103, the UNABOMBER, the WTC and OKC bombings, security (or at least security theater) escalated significantly in the years leading up to 9/11.
For example, the concrete vehicle barriers you see around government buildings mostly went up before 9/11, because of the WTC and OKC bombings.
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Yeah, the cockpit door policy was probably the single most important security enhancement made in the wake of 9/11. Pilots are not to relinquish control of the plane to anyone for any reason.
Probably the most disruptive change was not being allowed to the gate areas without a boarding pass. This was a challenge for some airports that didn't have natural choke-points* between the gates and the ticketing areas. I'm sure the airport has since been remodeled, but in the early 2000s, Kansas City was an example where they had to install a security checkpoint at every other gate. All the shops and restaurants and ticketing counters and such were all on one side of the hallway while the gates were on the other side. IIRC the layout was some sort of polygon shape. It was fairly nice to use but I'm sure it was extremely expensive.
*Incidentally, security choke points are themselves security risks.
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>>2059328
>not being allowed to the gate areas without a boarding pass
Hands down my least favorite thing about airports.
>Oh you forgot your teddy bear, important document, double ended dragon dildo on a bench in the gate area
>fuck you no entry without a departure
My airport is the only place besides a bank special order in my city that will do currency exchange but they have the currency exchange stand air-side in the international departures area.
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>>2059081
Did you see a grown man naked?
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>>2058936
Me too, man. Tha captain was really nice.
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>>2058931
I got my picture taken in the cockpit
I used to walk onto the tarmac and up the stairs that was pushed up against the plane
I also flew as an unaccompanied minor
Got a free pack of playing cards
Took home a neat small plastic cup
Airline food was a thing sometimes even on four-hour flights
>>2058963
Lines got way worse after 9/11
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>>2058931
Only for the rich
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYqx5coaHFA