Comment by GenericDev | Hacker News Reader

Comment by GenericDev | Hacker News Reader

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I think the most pernicious part of this has been how normalized all of this is.

I grew up during 1990's air travel and it was still pretty great back then.

For a lot of the younger generation, they are so used to the disrespect from start to finish as a result of 9/11.

The good old days - in no specific order

- TSA Body Scans that used to be simple metal detectors

- Not having Disneyland-like Fast Passes, for TSA Scans (I cannot believe this is real)

- Being able to wait at the gate for people

- Not being charged insane amount of money to get mediocre services before your flight

- Extra seat room

- Flights that weren't over booked

- Actual in-flight meals

- Actual in-flight snacks

- First class that was actual first-class quality

Man I can go on. I hate flying so much now-and-days, and it KILLS me, because I try to articulate this to younger folks, and they shrug their shoulders because they're been raised in this. And the worst part is I KNOW it was better before the 90's. It's just been an absolute enshitification that has become such a disruptive force in my life when I decide I want to travel anywhere, and it's a fucking bummer.

> Actual in-flight meals

I remember getting a full-blown McDonald’s cheeseburger meal with fries and multiple desserts as a kid in the 90s with a special United toy plane and a fun little aviation-themed placemat (there was a little section with the NATO alphabet and it taught you about runway numbers). This was the equivalent of a wagyu steak dinner to a 7 year old.

I also could not wait to get some headphones so I could tune in to Channel 9 and listen to the pilots talk to ATC :) Those early flights had a huge influence on how much I enjoy aviation because of those simple little things.

This mixes two problems. The TSA which I can’t really put up much of a defense of and quality declining. On that second point look at the prices. Airfare is only 67% of what it was in the 90s and that’s while fuel costs have exploded

> Being able to wait at the gate for people

Before your day, I remember when non-passengers could wait in the boarding lounge with the passengers.

Not all changes are due to costs and security. People travelling by air generally used to dress and behave better than now. That had various effects on the total experience.

There is one really big improvement in the air-travel experience, though. The smell of cigarette smoke used to be inescapable in the lounge and on the plane.

> Disneyland-like Fast Passes, for TSA Scans

Is this an American-exclusive thing? I've been in many airports in multiple countries and I've never seen anything like this. What's it like, you just pay to skip the line? Or is it an actual "fast pass" system where people grab queue tickets and return at a specified time?

Also, the vast majority of airports still have the simple "metal arch" detectors. Even then, I still wish I could try flying the way it used to be done - having been born after 9/11, I've grown up with it already being this way.

In the US, there are two different systems that might have been the intended meaning. There's Clear, which is a service (and not a cheap one) that essentially lets you go straight to the front of the screening line (although the screen is subject to the normal rules). And there's PreCheck, which not only involves a different line but has different rules (keep your belt, coat, and shoes on; metal detector and X-ray of carryon baggage only; keep your laptop in your bag). You can have both.

Clear requires IIRC an iris scan, while PreCheck requires a background check and interview and fingerprinting. Most PreCheck users get it as part of Global Entry, which expedites the immigration and customs experience when entering the US. GE has saved me many hours of waiting in lines. The most I've ever had to wait was about five minutes, because there were 10 air crew in front of me. It's open to citizens of a variety of countries; if you have to travel to the US with any regularity, it is well worth the $100 cost every five years.

Thanks for explaining! Honestly, if this was the intended meaning, I don't really see a connection - this isn't a fee to skip the line directly, but kind of a "doing part of your security clearance before arriving" thing.

I don't think it's worth it for me as I barely ever visit the US, but for Canadians it's even cheaper at $50/5 years, so I might look into that if I ever need to cross the border often.

The Canadian program you're probably looking at is NEXUS, which is not only cheaper but better - in that you can use NEXUS lanes entering Canada and Global Entry lanes entering the US. My father-in-law is a salesman who represents a couple of Canada-based lines, so he's there at least twice a year for sales meetings, etc. He's got NEXUS. Flying into Montreal, he saves tons of time.

You are correct that it's simply a matter of certifying yourself as a low security risk (for GE/PreCheck). But pretty much anyone can get Clear, which is indeed just paying to skip (most of) the line. It's only at certain airports, though. If you fly through a smaller airport, it's not usually worth it; if you fly out of (e.g.) Orlando, which has a huge tourist business that means that most of the passengers rarely or almost never fly, and so are unfamiliar with the routine, it almost certainly is.

Even if PreCheck lines are as long or longer than "regular" security lines, the typical PreCheck passenger flies at least several times a year and knows the routine, so it goes much more quickly even before you account for the lighter screening.

When we skipped past an immigration line that would have been at least two and a half hours long coming back from the UK, getting through in less than five minutes, I turned to my wife and said, "that was the best $200 we have ever spent".

> Being able to wait at the gate for people

Once around 1992, my mischievous goth club friend told me that we were going to meet some friends arriving at the airport.

So she took about two hours doing my dark goth makeup, and we both got dolled up in our splendid nightclub finery, and we marched right through a very crowded airport, and right up to the arrival gate. It was better than bringing a bouquet of flowers, that's for sure.

If you want to get a feel for 50s air travel, check out the movie The High and the Mighty which I recently watched on Kanopy.

Also includes an insane fly-by-control-cables scene.

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