(flight attendant) Excuse me, ma'am.

You had the lobster?

Ah, yes.

Mmm.

Some champagne?

Yes, please.

Peanuts?

[brakes screech] Peanuts?

[gasps] Uh...where's my lobster?

[over P.A.]

Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking.

We just want to thank you for arriving at the airport two hours before your flight and enduring all those long lines.

You'll be pleased to know we've already charged your credit card for that awful turkey sandwich you ordered, but don't worry about the peanuts.

Those are on the house.

I'll take 'em.

Flying wasn't always the headache it is today.

Airlines used to look more like cocktail parties where everyone dressed up, three-course meals were served, and you walked off the plane with travel bags filled with toothpaste, deodorant, and other life essentials.

Why did it change?

To answer that, we'll need to take a trip through history, economics, and politics.

So fasten your seatbelts and prepare for takeoff.

♪ Flying didn't become popular until what many call the Golden Age of Aviation.

There's no clear consensus on when this began.

Some historians date it back to the 1930s or even earlier, while others think it started in the late '50s when jets were integrated into the market.

Regardless of its origins, passengers during this time were treated like royalty.

Meals included dishes such as smoked salmon and caviar.

Drink offerings ranged from fancy cocktails to French wines.

Some planes even had winding staircases into separate rooms.

It was like a better version of first class, except pretty much everyone was first class.

As far back as 1938, most domestic flights in America were regulated by the government.

They had control over fares, routes, schedules, investigations, certifications, market entry of new airlines; so, pretty much everything.

But with federal regulation came a lot of turbulence.

One of the biggest problems during this time was cost.

The government wanted to make sure airlines made more than enough money.

So unless it was a short trip, you could expect some pretty outrageous prices.

How much exactly?

To give you an idea, a flight from Los Angeles to New York in June 1959 cost about $170.

Sounds like a deal, right?

Ah, not if you adjust for inflation.

In 2021 dollars, that comes out to over $1,500.

No wonder the service was so great.

They were desperately trying to get people to dish out what back then was a good chunk of their income.

Unfortunately, high cost wasn't the only problem.

It also took longer to reach your destination.

These days, you can fly cross-country direct or, at worst, a stop or two; but back then, one cross-country trip could have as many as five layovers.

That could double your travel time.

And if you missed your flight, you probably couldn't catch another one until the next day or even the following week.

Fewer flights existed back then, and airlines had to apply for new routes, which in some cases took years to get approved, if they got approved at all.

On top of that, you had to deal with passengers smoking, something that wasn't completely outlawed until the year 2000.

[engine humming] Planes also tended to be much louder back then!

And many weren't able to fly over extreme weather.

Oh g-- Uh, so it wasn't uncommon for turbulence to cause broken glass, injuries, and... [groans] air sickness.

Safety was another major concern.

Today, it's incredibly rare for a commercial airline to crash.

Back then, it happened half a dozen times a year, and in some years, hijackings happened on a weekly basis.

Thankfully, in the 1970s politicians said enough is enough.

The recent bankruptcy of the heavily regulated railroads convinced Congress of what economists had been saying for decades-- that it was the regulation itself causing higher costs and inefficiencies.

(Philip) The Carter administration finally agreed that everyone would benefit from new players in the market, less control over routes, and the abolishment of price regulations.

But this didn't sit well with the airlines, since it meant their income wouldn't be guaranteed.

But their plea to maintain the rigid status quo was unconvincing, and in 1978 the government began its departure out of the airline industry-- well, aside from safety inspections and air traffic control, which it still handles to this day.

As expected, deregulation led to competition in the marketplace, which naturally led to lower costs, since everyone was competing for customers.

Plane tickets, including fees, dropped by 50% between 1979 and 2011, causing the number of passengers to triple, which is great for fliers, not so much for the airlines.

Eight major carriers and over one hundred smaller ones went bankrupt or were liquidated by 2001.

And the ones who survived had struggled to be profitable, sometimes even requiring government bailouts.

They've tried to make it up in fees.

Perhaps you've noticed there are fees for everything these days, from checking bags to changing your flight.

This has become a multibillion dollar side-hustle for airlines; but, unfortunately for them, it hasn't been enough.

The airlines still see thin profit margins in the years they come out ahead at all.

And that's why the amazing service of the Golden Age has declined.

Airlines simply don't have the funds or incentives to lavish passengers in luxury.

But now that costs are so low, a lot more people can travel, which has led to crowded airports, long lines, and sitting closer to strangers than any of us would prefer.

This is the complete opposite of the Golden Age when planes used to be much less packed, since only the wealthy could afford it.

Now you're lucky if the seat next to you is even empty.

(Julia) Seat pitches have also shrunk over the years.

This is the distance between your seat and the seat in front of you.

It has decreased by 4 to 7 inches in an effort to fit more people on the plane.

Goodbye, legroom.

If you really want to return to the Golden Age service of the past, you can always fly first class.

You'll just have to pay Golden Age prices.

But there are ways around this.

If you try to upgrade a coach ticket to first class the day of your flight, they might offer you discounts.

Or you could buy a coach ticket and use frequent flier points to cover a first-class upgrade.

As we begin our final descent on this episode, we just want to say we get it.

Modern air travel is a drag.

No one wants to arrive at an airport two hours early, wait in line, and sit in uncomfortable seats, eating peanuts.

That makes it easy to long for the past, but don't forget that the past had problems too-- from costly fares, to excessive layovers, to the increased chance of dying in a fiery crash.

That's quite a perk.

While we lost fancy cocktails and food served on real china, we gained safer, quicker, more affordable air travel... with Wi-Fi.

Don't take it for granted.

(both) And that's our two cents.