When Did Air Travel Lose Its Soul?

There was a time—believe it or not—when people dressed up to get on a plane. Flying was an event. People wore heels and hats, ordered martinis mid-air, and maybe even flirted with a flight attendant who spoke three languages and looked like they stepped out of a Dior catalogue. Flight attendants served champagne with poise and even coach seats came with silverware.

Today, however, the romance of air travel has been replaced with arguing with check-in kiosks, sprinting barefoot through security, boarding with group numbers, and praying you aren’t seated next to someone who brought tuna salad for the ride. What was once the epitome of modern luxury, glamour, and progress has become a groan-worthy, crammed-to-capacity, snack-less shuffle through security and recycled air. That era, immortalised in shows like Pan Am or Mad Men, is long gone. Today, we’re hurtling toward a future where standing-room-only flights are being seriously considered.

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So, what happened?

To answer that, we have to zoom out a bit. Air travel was never designed for the masses. In the early 20th century, flying was for diplomats, movie stars, and people with surnames that sounded like banks. The Douglas DC-3 in the ’30s, the glamour of Pan Am in the ’60s, and the supersonic seduction of the Concorde—these weren’t just about getting from A to B. They were about prestige, possibility, and presence.

Air travel didn’t start “mid.” It began as a shimmering, aspirational mode of transport—an exclusive club in the clouds. The 1930s saw plush seats, living-room-style cabins, and flight attendants who resembled cruise hosts. By the 1960s, flying was the crown jewel of modernity. The Concorde could get you from New York to Paris in under four hours. Airplanes symbolised freedom, mobility, and an absurd amount of wealth.

Then came deregulation in the late ’70s and the slow democratization of air travel.

Carriers could now choose their own routes and set their own fares, and predictably, the race to the bottom began. Affordable tickets? Great. But gone, too, were the little luxuries that made flying feel exceptional. Airlines realised that people cared more about price than pampering, and that’s the hill they’ve been dying on—and profiting from—ever since.

Today, affordability reigns, but at what cost? The average airfare in the US, for example, dropped from the equivalent of a day’s wage in the 1990s to just six hours of work now. In return, we’ve accepted thinner seats, tighter rows, and the absurdity of paying extra for legroom or luggage. It’s a buffet of mediocrity dressed up in frequent flyer points.

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Then there’s the rise of ultra-low-cost carriers. Companies like Ryanair, Spirit, and Wizz Air have modelled their entire existence around the unbundling of service. Want to bring a bag? That’ll be extra. Want to pick your seat? Extra. Want to lean back without apologising to the guy behind you? Good luck. And now, we’ve reached the logical extreme: standing seats. In 2026, we may very well see flights where “sitting” is a premium.

To make room for the masses, something had to give—and what gave was space, service, and soul.

There’s something to be said for accessibility. Today, more people can fly than ever before. Almost everyone you know has flown by now, it’s a rarity to know someone who hasn’t. So it’s not all doom and tray tables. Planes are quieter, safer, and more fuel-efficient. WiFi is becoming standard, even if streaming a movie still feels like a test of faith. And the fact that millions can crisscross the globe in hours—not weeks—is nothing short of miraculous. It’s just that we’ve swapped the thrill of the journey for the grind of logistics.

Flying still has its first-class enclaves, of course. Dom Perignon, lie-flat beds, showers in the sky. But those are walled off—luxury now lives behind a curtain or in a private terminal, not shared across rows like it once was. The rest of us are wedged into 31-inch pitch seats, knees grazing tray tables, silently negotiating armrest real estate.

But still—standing seats? Really?