Before the age of the internet, how did people make airline reservations?

Question

I'm just curious. Did they use a travel service or call or something?

Answer 1

Geez, so many odd answers here, but your question is interesting. Before the Internet, each airline had its own CRO (central reservations office) where hundreds of "res agents" staffed rows and rows of desks, each with a computer terminal tied directly into the CRS (central reservations system), which was a main-frame computer. All the large airlines had their own, and would sell computer space to the smaller carriers as well.



To communicate with customers and travel agents alike, the CRO had an ACDS (automatic call distribution system) that received incoming calls (often to an 800 number) and directed them to the next available agent, who would talk to the customer and create the reservation, quote fares, flight times, etc.



Now in the days before main frame computers (i.e. before about 1959), the telephone call the customer made was handled by an agent that manually had books and books of flight information, and to create a reservation, a card was created that went on a card-carrying conveyance system to the central registry there to be entered. Often times, confirmation calls had to be made between the customer and the airline.



I could go on and on, because...

Answer 2

Oh, it's so much fun to think back to the good ol' days! No cellphones, home computers, cable TV. And none of the monthly bills we have to pay for those things these days. Three or four fuzzy TV channels and that was it.

Those card-carrying conveyor systems must have been absolutely fascinating to watch when they were operating correctly. I've heard of them but never seen them.

Basically what everyone said is the way it worked and you can still do it that way. I remember my mother using the telephone with only one line and a rotary dial (no pushbuttons!) to place the call the Continental Airlines to make reservations for our California trip in 1968. For those of you born into the Internet Age, if you can figure out how that rotary-dial phone was operated, I'll give you ten points!

I still have that old phone, by the way. Must be fifty years old. Still works whenever I plug it in.

Answer 3

It's hard for me to believe that someone would actually ask such a question. Are you serious? The timeline for internet services is pretty short. The facilities used prior to the internet, are mostly still in place.



We went to the airport, or a downtown airline ticket office, and bought tickets. Often we would use the phone. That's a telephone with wires attached, and a dial for selecting the desired number.

Answer 4

Jimmy has it down pretty good.



Telephone call centres.



In 1965 I was on a contract to overhaul that card carrying conveyor belt in the Air Canada Call Centre in Montreal. It was downtown, nowhere near the airport, somewhere near Decarie and Sherbrooke. It was a complicated high speed device in a big office, and it took a week, working midnight to 05h00 for three guys to fix the system. If the system jambed up, hundreds of reservations would be chewed up and lost in the paper jamb before someone could hit the emergency stop..



Later, about 1983, I was working on ramp equipment at Dorval. One of the things we maintained was the baggage handling system in the terminal. It was a high speed automated conveyor that was similar to the paper handler, except it was bigger, and when things jambed up, the passengers would get to destination, but they would never see their liggage again. Everything in the chute would be ripped to shreds.



@ Tracie:



You must remember Black & White TV, then, with 12 channels, and only maybe four channels had a station that you could only pick up if you put balls of steel wool on the tips of the rabbit ears.

Answer 5

1. By phone.

2. By falling in line at the nearest ticketing center and getting a flight.

3. At the airport on the day of flight.

4. 3rd party travel agents.



-X-

Answer 6

In the earliest days of aviation you;



- walked up to the plane and paid the pilot or cabin crew cash

- later you would pay cash at the airline counter.

- and then walk-in travel agencies came into service and you still paid cash

- with the advent of credit cards you phoned into the airline or travel service

Answer 7

book it directly with the airline, or use a travel agent.



travel agents were handy if you didn't know which airline you wanted to use, or exactly how you were going to get to your destination.



the last trip i booked with a travel agent was in 2002. i've booked online ever since. i have two trips coming up in the next few weeks. i booked one directly with the airline (a local regional airline), since i knew exactly where and when i needed to travel. the other was through an online site so i could choose among the airlines and routings to get there. since it's to san francisco, even "there" is subject to negotiation (san francisco, oakland, san jose).

Answer 8

They used travel agents or called/went to the airlines directly.

Answer 9

The person wanting to book a flight would call the airline and book the flight

Answer 10

Travel agents

Answer 11

Make those tough decisions before life forces you to. As I found out in October when I had to clear a lot of debt all at once.

Answer 12

with something called a telephone or people called travel agents

Answer 13

Tin Cans connected with string! In fact that was the way telephones worked way back "before the internet"! :-) (I really feel old now. But then I grew up long before the internet, back when TVs used antennas to get signals. Just after smoke signals ended.)

Answer 14

Used the phone. It was easy, much easier than today when you have to wade through page after page of ads and comparisons just to try and find the flight you want!

Answer 15

They used to sent pigeon notes.

Answer 16

Telephone or the went in person.

Answer 17

Telephone and travel agencies. You can still do it that way.

Answer 18

They went manually to the airport for reservation :P

Answer 19

They physically went to the airport and bought tickets for a flight for whichever day they wanted to fly