4 ms·

There was never a time you could just walk through the airport in my lifetime (1990). There were always security controls. That said, you could bring guests, bu

There was never a time you could just walk through the airport in my lifetime (1990). There were always security controls. That said, you could bring guests, but even guests went through a security screening.

colpabar 5y ago
What about before 1990? Also, did you take a lot of flights as a baby that you remember?
- jdavis703 5y ago
  Yeah my parents were divorced, so yeah I’ve got lots of memories of traveling between them in the 90s.
  - colpabar 5y ago
    My point was that commercial air travel has been around since before 1990.
    - jdavis703 5y ago
      I know that security existed before the 90s (obviously due to the amount of armed skyjackings and bombings it was too lax). I don’t know when x-rays, magnetometers and other radio imagining was first deployed at airports. But it was there for decades before 9/11.
notch656a 5y ago
I went in without any security at all just a few years ago in Alaska through a commercial flight at a fairly big airport (anchorage). As far as I'm aware if your flight is in-state (as mine was) you can just walk right in still. I think carrying weapons is still prohibited, but there's no enforcement of that as long as you aren't out threatening someone. Believe TSA screening was necessary for interstate flights.
- Ancapistani 5y ago
  It depends on the size of the airline, I think. There’s a regional airline near me that services TX, OK, TN, and GA. The first few times I flew on it I checked my handgun. After doing that a couple of times and getting weird looks, I was on a flight where the pilot saw the small, hard-sided case in the cargo area and asked whose it was. I replied that it was mine, and he handed it to me - he said it was small enough that if we hit turbulence it could end up in the cabin and hit someone.
jessaustin 5y ago
In 1999 when I was flying all the time there were metal detectors, but when they found my pocketknife (not every time!) they just waived me through. At my "home" airport (DIA) I would park the car 15 minutes before flight time and then run to the bridge. (Back then I had clients who would pay for parking in the garage.) There were "controls", but they were very low-stress.
dekhn 5y ago
I used to be greeted at the gate by my family when I flew as a kid. This was ~1983. Yes, people put 10 year old kids on flights across the country without a worry. There was one scary time for me- I visited Germany, and flew on a different flight from the rest of my family (as a 14-year-old) and I didn't udnerstand I was supposed to exit the terminal. It was worrisome because there were guards openly carrying powerful looking rifles. The whole experience made me a better independent traveller when it was time to go to college and then travel for work.
- ok_dad 5y ago
  I was like 5 the first time I flew alone, and my family took me to the gate on one side and picked me up from the other gate. You never needed a ticket until 9/11, just a simple security screening. When I was young, I forgot my Cub Scouts pocketknife in my pocket (2 of them actually) and they let me into the gate area with the knives. As long as it was < 2-3 inches for blades, they didn't care. Now we have a whole slew of intelligence agencies slurping up our data, we have hijacker-proof doors on the planes, we have bomb detection devices throughout airports "smelling" the air, etc. but we still need to remove our shoes and coats and everything else from our bags and get felt up by a TSA agent.
irrational 5y ago
There were metal detectors, but you could go anywhere in the airport that normal people could go without a ticket. The security people never asked to see your ticket. It wasn't until you got to the gate that you had to show you had a ticket. So, if you were into planes, you could just go to the airport, go to any place in the terminal and sit down and watch the planes all day long.
cardiffspaceman 5y ago
Although "Mad Men" isn't a documentary it does show how easy it was to board a plane in the early 60's. It agrees with what the adults said was the reason hijacking was so easy then.

colpabar 5y ago

What about before 1990? Also, did you take a lot of flights as a baby that you remember?

jdavis703 5y ago
Yeah my parents were divorced, so yeah I’ve got lots of memories of traveling between them in the 90s.
- colpabar 5y ago
  My point was that commercial air travel has been around since before 1990.
  - jdavis703 5y ago
    I know that security existed before the 90s (obviously due to the amount of armed skyjackings and bombings it was too lax). I don’t know when x-rays, magnetometers and other radio imagining was first deployed at airports. But it was there for decades before 9/11.

notch656a 5y ago

I went in without any security at all just a few years ago in Alaska through a commercial flight at a fairly big airport (anchorage). As far as I'm aware if your flight is in-state (as mine was) you can just walk right in still. I think carrying weapons is still prohibited, but there's no enforcement of that as long as you aren't out threatening someone. Believe TSA screening was necessary for interstate flights.

Ancapistani 5y ago
It depends on the size of the airline, I think. There’s a regional airline near me that services TX, OK, TN, and GA. The first few times I flew on it I checked my handgun. After doing that a couple of times and getting weird looks, I was on a flight where the pilot saw the small, hard-sided case in the cargo area and asked whose it was. I replied that it was mine, and he handed it to me - he said it was small enough that if we hit turbulence it could end up in the cabin and hit someone.

jessaustin 5y ago

In 1999 when I was flying all the time there were metal detectors, but when they found my pocketknife (not every time!) they just waived me through. At my "home" airport (DIA) I would park the car 15 minutes before flight time and then run to the bridge. (Back then I had clients who would pay for parking in the garage.) There were "controls", but they were very low-stress.

dekhn 5y ago

I used to be greeted at the gate by my family when I flew as a kid. This was ~1983. Yes, people put 10 year old kids on flights across the country without a worry. There was one scary time for me- I visited Germany, and flew on a different flight from the rest of my family (as a 14-year-old) and I didn't udnerstand I was supposed to exit the terminal. It was worrisome because there were guards openly carrying powerful looking rifles. The whole experience made me a better independent traveller when it was time to go to college and then travel for work.

ok_dad 5y ago
I was like 5 the first time I flew alone, and my family took me to the gate on one side and picked me up from the other gate. You never needed a ticket until 9/11, just a simple security screening. When I was young, I forgot my Cub Scouts pocketknife in my pocket (2 of them actually) and they let me into the gate area with the knives. As long as it was < 2-3 inches for blades, they didn't care. Now we have a whole slew of intelligence agencies slurping up our data, we have hijacker-proof doors on the planes, we have bomb detection devices throughout airports "smelling" the air, etc. but we still need to remove our shoes and coats and everything else from our bags and get felt up by a TSA agent.

irrational 5y ago

There were metal detectors, but you could go anywhere in the airport that normal people could go without a ticket. The security people never asked to see your ticket. It wasn't until you got to the gate that you had to show you had a ticket. So, if you were into planes, you could just go to the airport, go to any place in the terminal and sit down and watch the planes all day long.

cardiffspaceman 5y ago

Although "Mad Men" isn't a documentary it does show how easy it was to board a plane in the early 60's. It agrees with what the adults said was the reason hijacking was so easy then.