Old School Travel: Five Things That Passengers Were Allowed To Do On Airplanes

Airline companies have strict rules and policies when it comes to air travel. However, you might be surprised that some rules like smoking and getting drunk weren't a big deal back in the day. Here are five things that passengers aren't allowed to do on planes today but were allowed before.

Smoking

Nowadays, passengers aren't allowed to smoke in the cabin since it's a policy that almost all airline companies have. But in the golden age of flying, it was a casual thing that most fliers did and it was even practiced until the 1990s. According to The Telegraph, the planes did have smoking and non-smoking areas before but it's just useless especially if you're smoking in an enclosed cabin.

Getting Drunk

Flight attendants moderate the amount of alcohol they give to passengers these days so as to avoid passenger misbehavior. However, airline companies before never really cared how many drinks they offer their passengers. It's because that drunk people would just go to sleep all throughout the flight and never really bothered anyone.

Passengers Playing The Piano

It's pretty obvious why passengers playing piano on a plane is not the best idea. You'd probably get shouted at by sleeping passengers if you do that. According to Mental Floss, from 1970-1974, American Airlines had lounges at the back of their planes where people can play an electric piano. But it didn't really last long because clumsy passengers would often spill wine on the instruments.

Free Food

The food on planes was free back then and it was already a part of the price that you paid for your ticket. But now, more airlines are taking away that privilege even for first class passengers. Recently, British Airways came up with a decision to charge for food in every short-haul flight.

People Checking Out The Cockpit

If you try to nose around the cockpit early in the 70s or 80s, you wouldn't get into trouble. But now, airline companies are stricter than ever and mainly it's for safety purposes especially that there are lots of hijacking attempts these days.

The next time you fly, try to take note of these things because there are reasons why they were changed. Make sure that you follow airline policies so you won't get in trouble.