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Original poster

What were airports like pre 9 11?

229 replies

Ninapertree · 20/05/2026 19:28

I'm in the airport getting a flight and its taking ages. Ages through the security queue. Then i got patted down. Ages through the boarding queue.

My mum said "do you remember the old days before 9 11, when airports were much easier to get through".

I cant remember. I was 16 when 9 11 happened and I think i only flew a few times before 9 11. I asked my mum and she cant remember specificially but she remembers it being easier and quicker to get through.

What were they like back then. I'm interested. Was security different?

OP posts:
Justploddingonandon · 17/09/2026 10:16

BertieBotts · 16/09/2026 20:58

Apologies yes. I had remembered incorrectly. In fact I can see from the wikipedia article that in fact one factor in the Germanwings crash was that the cockpit door was reinforced from the inside so the captain was unable to force entry, and that this was a change made to many cockpit doors post 9/11.

Since that most airlines have a rule that there has to always be 2 people in the cockpit to hopefully avoid a repeat. If there's only two pilots and one needs to leave a member of the cabin crew should step in the be the second person.

Cotopaxi · 17/09/2026 10:31

Paul2023 · 16/09/2026 18:52

But the plane wasn’t airborne so I suppose there was no risk, in the airlines view so probably no rules were broken.
Im glad it helped your child though.

Show quote history

I think the fact that both pilots were young and good-looking helped! Just what a freaked-out 15 year-old girl needed.😎😎😂

notimagain · 17/09/2026 10:42

@Justploddingonandon

Since that most airlines have a rule that there has to always be 2 people in the cockpit to hopefully avoid a repeat.

To avoid any thoughts from people who think they have perceived rule breaking I'm not sure that it's most, but it's very definitely not all, reason being the 2 person rule introduces other risks to the operation....it's not a panacea.

Even Germanwings dropped the 2 person rule after a lot of analysis in the years after their event.

There's a lot to this that can't be discussed here but this article about Swiss might fill.in some gaps.

https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/society/airline-safety-_swiss-airline-stops-two-person-cockpit-rule/43143890

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GrandTheftWalrus · 17/09/2026 11:56

When we first took our DDs abroad in 2022 our oldest was with my parents on their booking and youngest on ours so they boarded at the front and DD was shown the cockpit and was sitting in the seat etc. As we boarded at the back younger DD didn't get to see.

My friend is cabin crew for Jet2 and he said when on ground when boarding people (usually kids) can see the cockpit but once boarding is complete then its a no no.

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