When was your first airplane experience?

Next week, my congregation of 7 youth and 4 adults (including myself) heads to New Orleans with about 15,000 other young people to participate in our triennial youth gathering. There are also many volunteers already there or are heading that way as well.

Some of our participants have never flown before, so we were reviewing procedures and safety rules this week. It seems that airline travel and TSA restrictions are ever-changing and are not consistent across airports, so it's really hard to know what to expect.

I probably only fly twice, maybe three, times a year, so I am not a frequent flier. In my past two flights, I've experiences differences in whether I should take liquids out of my bag, take electronics out of my bag, and whether they have had to be in separate containers to go through the scanner, or one. Both still have the mandatory shoes off rule, though.

Talking over flying procedures made me think of my first flight. Growing up, we lived near a regional airport. My grandfather would take me out to watch the planes, talk about his flying experiences, and tell me that one day, I'll get to fly and see the world too. Even though most of his flying was done during WWII, he still "saw the world" through the stories he told about the communities he was in.

At any rate, it took a while, but my first flight was while I was in high school.

I was heading out to Kansas City for a Girl Scout delegation. This was probably around 1999, as I think I was in 11th grade.

We have seen 80's & 90's movies (heck, even in Friends), where they were able to walk/ run up to the gate, but that's no longer the case since post- 911.

I do remember that while there were still size restrictions for both luggage and personal bags, there wasn't liquid restrictions, and I was allowed to take a can of soda from home onboard. I know full body scanners didn't come out until later, and I don't remember much about the airport security procedures compared to now. Standard metal detectors and luggage x-rays were probably in place, but I don't remember it that much.

I do remember how easy and fast it was to get to the airport and gate. Now, as we plan for our trip next week, not only do we have to allow enough car travel time, we have to allow enough security time, especially since we have group members who have never flown and will be confused! Plus, the airport we are flying into (Louis Armstrong) is ALWAYS packed. Whew!

Do you remember your first travel airplane experience?