Vintage photos of flying show things you'd never get away with on a plane today

Talia LakritzJan 14, 2024, 21:47 IST

A flight attendant lights a passenger's cigar on a plane.Bettmann/Contributor/Getty Images

Smoking on planes wasn't fully banned in the US until 2000.
Passengers used to be able to use sharp knives during meals.

Things like smoking, touring the cockpit, and using a steak knife used to be commonplace on planes in the 1950s. Today, rules for passengers and cabin crews are more strict.

These vintage photos show passengers in the midst of activities that would definitely get them banned from flights today.

Today's pilots must follow rules about alcohol consumption, but that wasn't the case in the early days of flying.

Lady Mary Heath holding a flask of whisky before flying in Croydon, UK.Gamma Keystone-France/Getty Images

Before laptops were invented, some workers brought their typewriters along on flights.

A secretary on a KLM flight in 1955.Richard Koll/picture alliance via Getty Images

Smoking used to be commonplace on flights.

Passengers smoke on a plane in the 1950s.Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

Flight attendants would even help passengers light their cigars.

A flight attendant lights a passenger's cigar on a plane.Bettmann/Contributor/Getty Images

Back in the day, people ate airplane meals with metal cutlery.

Passengers dine on a plane in the 1950s.Touring Club Italiano/Marka/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Some passengers even brought large carving knives onto flights, which wouldn't be permitted today.

A man holds a Thanksgiving turkey on his lap on a flight in 1949.Bettmann/Contributor/Getty Images

The cockpit was once a place where pilots and flight attendants offered tours and photo-ops.

A United Airlines flight attendant shows a passenger the interior of the cockpit circa 1950.Bettmann/Contributor/Getty Images

Now, posing for photos with members of the flight crew in the cockpit is a rare occurrence.

Passengers on a trip on Concorde. 2nd April 1986.H Walker/Mirrorpix/Getty Images

This apartment building is being 3D printed in Europe — and rent won't be more than $530 a month for a 872-square-foot unit

Cookies on the Business Insider India website