Flying, Then and Now
As I'm flying to Detroit today I'm also traveling down Memory Lane. That's because when I started traveling regularly for work back in the mid 00s my first trip was to Detroit. (Yeah, I know, lucky me. 😂) What's changed about travel, particularly air travel, between then and now? Here are Five Things:
1) Driving to the airport. In the mid 00s I began nearly every air trip by driving to the airport- driving my own car, parking it in an airport lot or 3rd party lot nearby, and riding a shuttle to the terminal. Taxis were expensive and difficult to get at home. Calling a taxi often meant planning in 30 minutes of wasted time, as the taxi dispatches could never accurately predict when a driver would be available or how many times he would take wrong turns driving to the address. It was still several years before ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft were created. Nowadays I almost never park a car at the airport. Lyft and Uber are cheaper than parking fees, and their modern technology makes it easy and quick to get curb-to-curb service.
2) Air stairs at SJC Terminal 3. Back in the mid 00s SJC Airport was still a bit of a fossil. The original terminal, renumbered Terminal 3, was an older, ground-floor level building. It didn't have jet bridges. Boarding a jet meant walking outside across the tarmac and then ascending stairs to the aircraft's hatch. It was primitive... but also special. Who else boarded/disembarked by air stairs? The President, the Queen, the Beatles. I'd always pause at the top and imagine waving to the cameras.
3) Newspapers and magazines. Back in the mid 00s I'd try to always have a newspaper and a magazine or two to read while sitting in the terminal and aboard the aircraft. Although I had a laptop computer, wifi wasn't yet a thing. ...And when it did start becoming more common in airport terminals a few years later it generally pay-per-use. Ubiquitous free wifi was still years off.
4) Jets were not full. In the mid 00s travel was still in recession in the aftermath of the Dot Com implosion and 9/11. As a flyer that meant usually the center seat in a three-across row would be empty. Through most of the teens flights went out full or pretty much full. There was another travel recession in 2020 due to Coronavirus, of course, but since last year jets have been flying full most places I go.
5) Renting a car. I almost always rented a car on business trips. Similar to item 1, taxis were not a reasonable way to get around, nor was commuter rail, except in a few major cities. And even when I traveled to major cities, it was rare that I was working or staying downtown. Most of the time I was at IT campuses out in the suburbs.
1) Driving to the airport. In the mid 00s I began nearly every air trip by driving to the airport- driving my own car, parking it in an airport lot or 3rd party lot nearby, and riding a shuttle to the terminal. Taxis were expensive and difficult to get at home. Calling a taxi often meant planning in 30 minutes of wasted time, as the taxi dispatches could never accurately predict when a driver would be available or how many times he would take wrong turns driving to the address. It was still several years before ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft were created. Nowadays I almost never park a car at the airport. Lyft and Uber are cheaper than parking fees, and their modern technology makes it easy and quick to get curb-to-curb service.
2) Air stairs at SJC Terminal 3. Back in the mid 00s SJC Airport was still a bit of a fossil. The original terminal, renumbered Terminal 3, was an older, ground-floor level building. It didn't have jet bridges. Boarding a jet meant walking outside across the tarmac and then ascending stairs to the aircraft's hatch. It was primitive... but also special. Who else boarded/disembarked by air stairs? The President, the Queen, the Beatles. I'd always pause at the top and imagine waving to the cameras.
3) Newspapers and magazines. Back in the mid 00s I'd try to always have a newspaper and a magazine or two to read while sitting in the terminal and aboard the aircraft. Although I had a laptop computer, wifi wasn't yet a thing. ...And when it did start becoming more common in airport terminals a few years later it generally pay-per-use. Ubiquitous free wifi was still years off.
4) Jets were not full. In the mid 00s travel was still in recession in the aftermath of the Dot Com implosion and 9/11. As a flyer that meant usually the center seat in a three-across row would be empty. Through most of the teens flights went out full or pretty much full. There was another travel recession in 2020 due to Coronavirus, of course, but since last year jets have been flying full most places I go.
5) Renting a car. I almost always rented a car on business trips. Similar to item 1, taxis were not a reasonable way to get around, nor was commuter rail, except in a few major cities. And even when I traveled to major cities, it was rare that I was working or staying downtown. Most of the time I was at IT campuses out in the suburbs.