Continental Airlines’ Club and Pub, because Air Travel used to be Amazing
Flying for most people is not enjoyable. It is cramped with little room to move around and most of the time you are just counting the seconds until you can get off the place. That was not always the case. During the Golden and Silver ages of air travel, people would treat air travel as an event. Something worthy of getting dressed up for, and it was an experience meant to be savored. After all, you are flying thousands of feet off the ground above the clouds in one of humanity’s greatest achievement.
While this time has passed. Memories of it live on through the spoken word of people who witnessed it and the advertising that sold everyone on the dream.
In the 1970s, Continental Airlines was attempting to get people to fly and was making a push for their Club and Pub flights. This is a flight where…now get ready for this…they had a club AND a pub space on the plane. A place, that is not the bathroom, where you could stretch your legs, grab a drink and most importantly play video games!
That is right, they had cocktail versions of PONG for your enjoyment while you socialized in comfort with your fellow passengers.
I doubt we will ever return to this storied age of air travel again, but I am happy that these artifacts exist to remind us that we do have the right to complain. Because when it comes down to it, sometimes things move backwards and the past could have nicer things than the present.