Life was once simpler. There was only one class for passengers on airline flights. Initially it was a very ‘adventurous’ class – open cockpits and high rates of fatalities. It then evolved to become comparatively luxurious and ridiculously expensive, even extending to sleeper suites – thought of as a modern introduction but actually dating back to the flying boats of the late 1930s. But then, in the early 1960s, first class was dialed back in terms of the luxury features offered, although more recently, it is being selectively enhanced once more..Today’s business class is functionally equivalent to yesterday’s first class, and that today’s better types of premium economy are equivalent to earlier business class products. Sure, a small percentage of passengers today still enjoy the comfort of first class, but it’s nothing like it used to be. Worse still, the economy class seats have become cramped hellholes, making these pictures from the 1960s seem even harder to look at!
