Things You Will Never See At Airports Again

#1 The Golden Age Of Air Travel

Air travel used to be a lot less expensive and a bit more exclusive before the industry was deregulated, and many airports therefore had a lot more amenities that were included in the cost of your ticket, as they were fighting to get new travelers. Of course, the events of 9/11 changed the design and operation of U.S. airports, as did technology and health concerns. Air travel looks nothing like it used to. Harsher regulations, heightened security concerns and higher prices have transformed airports into something completely different. Some changes are for the better, others are hard to accept (no more free peanuts?!).

See how many of these features, if any, you remember.

#2 Using Only Stairs To Get On Board

Until the Jetway was invented, all passengers had to walk outside onto the tarmac and climb a set of portable stairs to board the aircraft. This was often inconvenient depending upon weather conditions, or on the passenger's personal fear of flying. The first Jetway covered corridors were installed by Delta Airlines at Atlanta's Hartsfield Airport in May 1961.

#3 Meeting At The Gate

Again, tightened security now prevents friends and family members from walking almost up the jetway to greet arriving passengers or clutch them tightly for one last farewell hug before departure. These regulations also make a major plot point of 1970's Airport impossibleafter all, that's how Academy Award-winner Helen Hayes sneaked aboard an international flight. The closest you can get is the baggage claim, which is a little less romantic.

#4 Free Food

What's the deal with (the lack off) airplane food? Back in the day, airlines generously handed out food to hungry travelers. Today, you're lucky to get a free pack of peanuts. Infact, most airlines now only provide pretzels when asked. But while we're at it, what ever happened to free pillows and blankets? Those airplanes are freezing!

#5 Coin Operated TV Chairs

If your flight happened to be delayed and you didn't feel like reading, watching TV was one way to make the time pass quickly. Most airports had a section of "TV chairs" that featured coin-operated televisions which would provide 30 minutes of local programming for 25 cents. Since pretty much everyone has their own portable entertainment these days, the Tele-A-Chair equipment is not economically viable for most airports.

#6 Dressing For Travel

Remember when flying on a plane was an event? Your whole family would dress up in their Sunday finest just to sit on a plane for a few hours. Today, sweatpants and hoodies are what most people wear to be the most comfortable. People now wear slippers, flip-flps, and just about anything they find on the way out the door. Just 15-20 years ago the airlines all had strict dress codes.

#7 Fancy Luggage Tags

Baggage tags affixed by airlines at airports used to be as different and collectible as postage stamps. Each airport had its own logo and color combination and overall design, so that you could tell from many yards away if the bag was destined for ORD (Chicago) or ORY (Paris) or BNA (Nashville). In the name of efficiency, baggage tags are now computer-generated and are all of the same generic, zebra-striped black-and-white bar code variety. If you had a bag covered in colorful tags everyone in the airport stopped to gawk and try and see where you were heading or where you had been.

#8 Free Baggage Carts

In many other parts of the world, luggage carts are owned by the individual airport and are provided to customers as a convenience. This was once the standard in the U.S. as welluntil the late 1960's when the buggy business was sub-contracted out to a company called Smarte Carte. Airports found that they could save money by not having to retrieve carts from the far reaches of the parking lot, or worry about passengers taking them home with them. Today we pay up to $5.00 in some places to for a cart to aide us in moving our luggage for 10 minutes.

#9 Courtesy Cars And Escorts

Believe it or not, one of the perks offered by most major airports to businessmen (they did most of the flying at the time) was the use of an airport-owned automobile for a nominal fee. Eventually, rental cars would become big airport business and those Important Businessmen would have to wait in line with the rest of us Average Humans to pick up a sub-compact. Back in the late 1960's, First Class passengers also got a courtesy escort to and from the plane.

#10 Life Or Flight Insurance Kiosks

For many years there were not only kiosks with smiling personnel ready to sell you flight insurance ($25,000 coverage or more for a few dollars), but also self-service vending machines located near just about every gate. Despite the occasional kook who bought a huge policy with the intent of blowing up the plane, the pre-flight insurance business slowly fizzled out simply because as air travel became more affordable and common, folks didn't view a flight as any more life-threatening than a road trip, and revenues dropped.

#11 Smoking

For many years there were no restrictions on where you could light up in an airport OR the plane. Then when the Surgeon General got involved with all those health warnings, designated smoking areas became the norm. When cigarettes were first banned on certain flights, the most congested area in the airport arrival lounge wasn't the baggage claim but rather the perimeter around the first pedestal ashtray passengers encountered as they exited. Today, smoking restrictions at many airports are so tight that folks have to stand some 20 feet or more outside the exit doors of the building.

#12 Long Lines For Payphones

You can still find payphones in today's airports, but you won't find a long line of people waiting to use them. The lines today at the airports are most likely for the cell/tablet charging stations.

#13 Hare Krishnas

The berobed followers of Krishna handing out flowers while soliciting donations at every major airport was so ubiquitous in the 1970's and '80's that it was included as a joke in the 1980 farcical film Airplane! Tighter security, combined with a 1997 ban imposed at LAX by the City Council, eventually prevented the sect from approaching airline passengers as they tried to catch their flights.