To miss refined air travel?

Me and dd wore fur coats to the airport for our trip last Christmas 😄😄 to be our most iconic selves

Was hot and sweaty - don't recommend

Clean, smelling good, and cosy is the way to do it

Have you been to an office lately? People wear this stuff to work now. and if they work from home they might be even wearing PJs all day.
General day to day attire has changed, fashions have changed and leisure wear has become the norm.
Couple this with flights that cost £29 return to Spain and you you can see that travel overseas isn’t really an occasion at all anymore.
Planes are basically buses in the sky.
Travel is not a luxury item for the western world.
People don’t even own smart clothes anymore.
Comfort is king.
Airports are manic, busy, packed and involve a lot of walking, rushing, navigating all best done in comfortable clothes.
Economy seats are tiny squashed and uncomfortable and you need to be as comfortable as you can be.
A lot of people are rushing and eat where they can in airports.

When air travel was all new and an occasion that was very special then I can see why people would dress up. Also the actual acceptable fashions for every day wear have changed.

Basically if airplanes are now like buses, in volume and often cheaper than getting on a train, people just treat the experience as such. Like a transport mode rather than an experience.

its not really an experience anymore it’s the necessary horrible part you have to do to get somewhere, and most people just want to get through it in comfort.

Quite, OP. I'm frankly disgusted the fatties and their guts even leave the house, never mind think they are welcome to avail of the same facilities as myself and my family.

Is that you Hyacinth?

Bizarre. Our family home is beachfront we dress for the beach because that’s where we’re headed on landing.

This is giving me good ideas for my influencer page.

"Airport Lounge Chic".

lol. You’re flying BA, and from Gatwick at that. Your expectations are misplaced!

There are different rules for imaginary children in imaginary lounges on imaginary holidays @Agrumpyknitter. I'm sorry you failed to understand that. 😆

Please would you stop saying “guts”? It’s so rude. You’d think you would know this, what with your refined ways and smart clothes.

I'm with you @BABaby88 If I'm in a lounge, I want quiet, no noisy children tearing around with those awful Trunkies, and people dressed decently, talking in quiet voices. And really, do people need to steal the food? Are they starving? Eat it there in the lounge, FFS.

I remember the days when travelling by air, children were given aeroplane bags (I had my BOAC and Qantas ones throughout my childhood), games, and badges to sew on your anorak or bag.

I tend to wear decent business clothes, and then change into soft cotton trousers & hoodies when I get on the plane, generally while the cabin crew are making my bed ready.

I probably look very unrefined (!!) at the airport as I dress comfortably (trackies). I also have severe flying anxiety (getting better with medication) so no matter how much I’ve scrubbed and put on deodorant, I will inevitably end up having that stinky anxiety induced pit sweat. Of course the anxiety is written all over my face which makes me look extra horrendous, especially on early flights.

I am also stuffing crisps in my backpack, I don’t have a gut so hopefully the OP would let that slide.

I have never ever thought about what others could think of my appearance! I just would think they’re there to travel and not judge.

Should I print a PhD in Engineering name badge to score some points 🤣

I'd never dress anything other than comfortably for a flight.

46 years ago, I was on an aeroplane conveying a large party of British students to a one month student placement.

The working class students were dressed in smart suits or coordinates; the middle class (and a handful of upper class) students were the travellers wearing holey jeans and tatty t-shirts.

I'd be wary of equating 'casual' dress with class.

Im sorry to say you sound a bit of a snob!Many dress for comfort now .As above PP says we ,are lucky to go on some flights when many people world wide dont get that chance at all.Be grateful you are luckier than some!

This is my experience too. Because the rich people just see it as like taking a bus. Nothing special

Oh boy. So the first thing is none of the passengers were in First as BA don’t have First class flights from LGW. They’re all Gold and above members. That is how you entered. It doesn’t surprise me that standards were lacking.

That said, I found the BA First lounge to actually be decent and not full of what you’ve described. The Business lounge absolutely. But not First. I tend to fly AF/KLM, AY or LH and that is a different ball game altogether. Much nicer lounges (not AMS), clientele aren’t dressed like they’re off to the dog track etc. it does seem to be a uniquely British thing to dress like a slob when travelling.

Massively enjoying these bants OP..you should definitely try writing chick lit next

I have a feeling the OP’s tongue is firmly in her cheek

Strangely the airline doesn't care because someone who may appear casually dressed has paid the bill. But the op could find herself sitting next to a lovely sex offender/drug baron/crime boss. Bet Harvey Weinstein flew First Class. Luckily there is a solution. Private jets. No poor people or undesirables.

https://www.netjets.com/en-gb/?utmsource=google&utm_medium=paidsearch&utmcampaign=njeukengooglebrandcore&utmterm=netjets&gclsrc=aw.ds&&infinity=ict2~net~gaw~ar~652833351345~kw~netjets~mt~e~cmp~NJEUKENGoogleBrandCoreExact&gadsource=1&gadcampaignid=11888759756&gbraid=0AAAAABtYgOsPw7huu5LaxEGQgLySCFud1&gclid=CjwKCAjwn67VBhBnEiwAXUIN1c23b8tZIsSQGs-vuVPGu964-ntCjrxb5QAV2tXZ4IlUKfV2jEIULBoCpDoQAvDBwE
Although Trump and Epstein liked a private jet so its mark of distinction

Yep.

If you are flying first class you can use the Concorde lounge. Your kids don’t need any tier points at all. We can only access that lounge when we fly first. If we fly business we can’t (even though we are all gold members and my husband is gold guest list member). I think you’re probably mistaken and are going to the galleries and think that’s the first class. But having said that never seen anyone there with their “guts hanging out”.

OP said 'guts', and also used capital letters and punctuation. Go figure.

Stealth snobs are out today. People flying and not in full evening wear??? Our Virgin flight had to circle for 30 mins to allow those ghastly Ryanair flights to land and then we had to collect our bags from the carousel next to Easyjet passengers with their fake LV cases.
Clearly fares need to be 10x higher to deter the plebs

I don't think that is because they are uncouth. It's because the children can get childish about team allegiances.

Maybe don't take commercial flights?