What was flying like before 9/11?

[Wandafishcake]

I was 14 in 2001, I remember that security processes at airports got much tighter and more time consuming following 9/11, but I can’t properly remember what it was like before? Was the security much quicker and less intense? Could you take more things into the cabin with you?

I flew through a European country last week, didn't have to separate liquids or even take electronics out of the bags!

I set off the metal detector but they didn't pay me down,they just swabbed me for drugs!

Heathrow is still extremely thorough.

@Tooembarrassingtomention*

Yes, the visit their families and sometimes sleep in 1st on BA regularly*

Not sure about the families bit but the provision of a rest seat in first/business for a pilot taking (mandatory)in flight rest is fairly normal, especially if the aircraft does not have a segregated crew rest area,

@WayneBruce

Yes, a word with the air steward would sometimes get a visit. The door to the pilots wasn't locked and often swung open when the pilots got lunch etc brought in. This has made me think. Are pilots allowed out on a longhall flight anymore?

Yes, they come out to use the toilet, and also to go to the sleeping compartments sometimes.

I do (or did pre-covid) a lot of long haul flights on business and in my experience, depending on the plane and airline, they seem to all have different arrangements for how to keep the cockpit secure when the door opens.

Some have cabin crew stood blocking the area near the door and even use food trolleys to create a barrier.

@Wandafishcake

Could people visit the cockpit pre 9/11?

Yes, I had a jolly old time visiting the cockpit on a flight home from India in 1997. The flight was virtually empty too, so the flight attendants let us help ourselves to whatever we wanted from the food/drink stocks while they lounged around chatting to us.

Pre 9/11, I used to love the airport and flying experience almost as much as the holidays I was flying to.

• Are pilots allowed out on a longhall flight anymore?

Given flight decks aren’t the size of the Albert Hall and we we are often talking umpteen hour plus sectors where “umpteen” is often 12-18 hours or even more of course they are, but precautions are taken.

@mynameiscalypso

The really strict restrictions on hand luggage were definitely 2006 - I flew back from France a couple of days after and you were only allowed passport, ticket and your house keys in your hand.

I flew from the UK to another European country on 13th September 2001. Wjen we got to check in we were told we were only allowed passport, tickets, keys and money and were given a clear bag to put them in. The rear of our hand luggage had to be squeezed into our gold luggage. When I got to my destination I found that my mobile (in the hold in my suitcase) had got switched on during the flight, which freaked me out a bit as I had always heard that mobiles can interfere with a plane's electronics. We were allowed hand luggage on the return flight but no sharp objects.

My now DH was very scared of flying and on every flight he'd chat up a male cabin crew and tell him how much he'd love to see the cockpit. So on most trips we'd both get to meet the flight crew.

They were almost always facing the opposite way from the plane's direction, playing cards and were charming! It always helped my DH!

@itstrue

There wasn't any screening. You dropped your bag off and went to the gate. Your hand luggage wasn't checked and you didn't need to have under 100mls of liquids. But you were asked if you had anything that was explosive in your luggage.

You still had customs and immigration though.

First hand luggage had to go through the X-ray machine and then if they felt like it, they would ask you to open it and go through taking everything out and swabbing the actual bag (possibly to look for traces of drugs). They also selected people at random to pat down. All this before 9/11.

@Lonecatwithkitten

In the US friends and family could go all the way to the gate in the airport. I flew out of Boston dec 2000 and dec 2001 the first time the only check was at the gate that you had a ticket, second time a barrier manned by the national guard was built in a corridor. UK already had scanners for luggage they came in after Lockerbie. Liquids and shoes came later than 2001, I think about 2003. First restrictions I remember on liquids and shoes I remember was 2005.

Yep……

Looking back one weakness (exploited) was the security around US “domestics”….

Scanners were in place in the UK before 9/11, the liquids/shoes screening came in a while after 9/11 and we’re not a direct a result of that attack.

I actually don't remember them scanning bags. Definitely security though - still took bloody ages to get through US immigration

Internal flights had very little security, I remember a flight from Manchester or Liverpool to London once that was basically just walk up and get on like a bus.

But international flights weren't all that different (except liquids and blades in the cabin and shoes being checked), at least in most of the West. The US put a lot of pressure on less wealthy countries to bring in much stricter protocols after 9/11 and meet their standards (not just theirs - many richer countries' too) so that connecting flights and onward journeys from a different country weren't a way to dodge the stricter screening.

And there seems to have been more thought put into keeping arriving and departing passengers separate where as there was more intermingling before.

There were also fewer and less stringent checks ID internationally - e.g. flying to the US you didn't have to provide your details in advance, whereas I don't think you can just walk onto a flight with no notice now unless you're pre-enrolled in one of the trusted security programs and that may be true for other countries too. Not to mention it increased xenophobia more generally and seems to have tightened up visa requirements and increased red tape lots of places.

And yes to being invited into the cockpit (if you were very lucky!).

But there has been some relaxation, I think. In the immediate aftermath you basically couldn't take anything in the cabin. Which was a nightmare on long flights. There were no metal knives for in flight meals or in the restaurants in the departure lounge (in business I remember getting a plastic knife but a metal fork and spoon. That was even the case in the business lounge since it was post-security) and for quite a while musicians couldn't get their instruments in the cabin. And for some years, IIRC, they were checking ID every time you had to show your boarding card. That no longer seems to happen.

I think airlines were less fussy about the amount of hand luggage too — most women would have a handbag as well as hand luggage. Now I think that's only on KLM?

Not related to 9/11, but I remember that we used to take a 1.5 L bottle of Ribena when we went on self-catering holidays, and that always went in the hand luggage so there was no risk of it getting on the clothes. And I remember people smoking in the airport, although not on planes.

I flew back to the UK from Mexico via the US the day after the shoebomber incident which instigated the liquids ban. Never seen a flight so empty. It almost seemed to have a bigger impact than 9/11 but maybe that was my age (23 vs 18) and being more aware. Also visited the cockpit many times as a child/teen as my parents worked for airlines and we flew frequently. The pilots/cabin crew would always give me chocolates and spend ages showing me the controls etc. Can't imagine my son having an experience like that now.

I sat in the cockpit quite a few times as a child, even being allowed to stay in for landing a couple of times! One time mid flight there was an issue and a few lights started flashing etc. I had to sit there quietly while they sorted out what the issue was. Later the pilot (friend of DF hence the reason I was allowed to stay for landing) told DF that it had been potentially a really serious issue and I was so good staying calm. I hadn’t got a clue what was going on luckily! Was very different times.

Get further than than check in if you weren't flying. You could buy stuff from the shops without a boarding pass. You could literally give family and friends a hug goodbye at the gates. In fact you didn't need family or friends - you could just go through regardless. On board you could go in the cockpit and meet the captain. Smoke, but that's not really a 911 thing. And nobody ever ordered you to take your shoes off.

I live near a very big international airport and we used take our children out for the day to the airport. As did my mum and dad before us. You could sit in departures, drink tea and eat cake in the cafe next to the big windows and watch the planes. Which we did a lot. It was also a good place to go after closing time and buy a beer when DH wasn't my DH yet and we weren't ready to go back home to our respective homes

Before Tesco 24 hour shopping was a thing, as a working mum with 3 kids at primary school WHSmith at the airport was literally the ONLY shop open where you could buy prit stick after dark. I admit to taking my kids in pjs to get tinsel for an urgent Christmas homework project

Oh and get a one year paper passport for you and your kids from the Post Office the day before you were due to go on holiday.

I flew back from the South of France just after 9-11, changing planes at Gatwick. Nice airport was very relaxed, we were expecting lots of security but nothing terribly out of the ordinary - you could take hand luggage on as normal, although we’d packed everything. Gatwick to Edinburgh was a completely different experience. Massive queues, everything had to be checked in, armed police everywhere. It felt like a different world.

@Clymene

I actually don't remember them scanning bags. Definitely security though - still took bloody ages to get through US immigration

Ex-UK “they” were certainly scanning bags (well certainly crew bags) and putting people through the arches well before 9/11…don’t forget aircraft high jackings using weapons smuggled on boats had gone back to the 60s (Likes of the PLO etc) and well before.

What had not been considered was the possibility of “suicide highjackers”…..

“Smuggled on board”

My boys got to see the cockpit and meet the pilot after our flight home from spain in 2016 so they still do it now

In the 70's my mum used take everything but the kitchen sink on holiday. On year she took a big pair of scissors in her handbag. They were confiscated at the scanners and then given back to her once we were on board the plane.

@Walkoflife

My boys got to see the cockpit and meet the pilot after our flight home from spain in 2016 so they still do it now

Some airlines still allowed visits to the flight deck after engines shutdown post 9/11.

Prior 9/11 it was pretty much a given, in many airlines, certainly on long haul flights, that you would entertain visits in flight if circumstances permitted.

Most airlines/national aviation authorities banned the practice wef 9/11.

And another time in the 70's my dad was approached by a man asking him if he would take a bag on board and give it to the captain. My dad wasn't too comfortable with that so he asked someone at customs. They looked in the bag and said yes that's fine, thanks for asking and let him take the bag

@Wandafishcake

I was 14 in 2001, I remember that security processes at airports got much tighter and more time consuming following 9/11, but I can’t properly remember what it was like before? Was the security much quicker and less intense? Could you take more things into the cabin with you?

I was flying a lot for business before (and after) 9/11. Believe it or not, hand luggage was not screened for knives. I have very clear recollection of buying penknives and carrying them on flights in my handbag, as my boyfriend collected them (not in a gang or anything - I’m talking handcarved in olive wood and such like - more artisan/folk art than weapon, but still with a blade!).

There was also a Victorinox (Swiss knife) shop, airside in every airport. Their business model completely collapsed on 9/11.

You could take a shedload of hand luggage with you - there was a lot more leeway than today’s. You could easily take four bags with you - one carry on suitcase, a large handbag, a laptop bag and some shopping.

Many airports still allowed smoking back then. In Charles de Gaulle, people smoked everywhere, not just in smoking areas.

If you flew in first/business, you’d be given proper cutlery including steak knives.

I realise I sound like a knife-obsessed weirdo, I’m really not!

Also, shortly after 9/11 the US and Canada issued a travel advisory against travelling to London and Europe. In order to retain business customers, BA ran promotions whereby if you bought one long haul business flight, they would give you 2 economy tickets, anywhere in the world. I racked up lots of free flights in 2001/2002... it’s fascinating how these promotions didn’t come back with COVID.

Flying in the 80s as unaccompanied child (early teen) I remember the smoking section at the back of the plane , which seems extraordinary now

@Yellownotblue

You’re right, the concept of asymmetric warfare and what could be done with a box cutter had not really been realized before that day.

In response to the question posed in the OP - from the workers side of things it was much more relaxed once you left the ground and things like flight deck visits by passengers were very much part of the routine.