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Frank Lorenzo, a former airline executive, far right, went to Spain with his grandson Jack Lynch, third from left, to meet extended family in June 2024. Lorenzo and Jack explored the region of Galicia, including the coastal town of Sanxenxo.
Photo Collage: AARP; (Source: Frank Lorenzo (2); Getty Images)
Frank Lorenzo is former CEO of Continental Airlines and author of Flying for Peanuts: Tough Deals, Steep Bargains, and Revolution in the Skies (Sept. 10). The book recounts Lorenzo’s 25-year career in the airline industry and his pioneering approach to travel that helped to shape the industry.
During the summer of 1955, when I was 15, I learned that I would take my first-ever commercial flight, along with my parents, to visit my brother, Val, who was stationed in Germany with the Army. I convinced my parents to allow me to make the travel plans, which required several after-school treks to New York City’s LaGuardia Airport to discuss details of the trip with ticket agents there. I could have used the phone, but it was more exciting to go to the airport.
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I can’t imagine a teenager today creating a travel plan by heading to a nearby airport to talk to ticket agents, let alone buy tickets from them. On the day we departed LaGuardia, there was no boarding bridge to the airplane. My parents and I walked across the tarmac and directly boarded the plane via steps. So much has changed since then — everything from airport security to the apps for checking in and choosing our seats.
Planning a multigenerational trip?
Lorenzo suggests these tips when traveling with grandchildren who aren’t accompanied by their parents:
- Address concerns early
- Identify and address any challenges, such as coordinating arrival times if traveling separately
- Create a detailed itinerary
- Keep parents informed through any revisions
I’ve experienced those changes as a traveler. However, for most of my professional life, I had a front-row seat to major shifts in air travel as an agent of that change while president and chief executive of Texas International Airlines and ultimately as CEO of Continental Airlines. I helped to introduce low-cost airfares made possible by deregulation in the 1970s, started the first frequent-flier program and banned cigar and pipe smoking on aircraft. I retired as CEO in 1990 before other major changes to the way we travel got off the ground, so to speak, such as purchasing tickets online and using apps to track flights.
For me, one aspect of travel remains fundamentally important: the excitement of getting on a plane. It was there on Aug. 7, 1955, when my parents and I boarded one of TWA’s Lockheed L-049 Constellation propeller airplanes to visit my brother. That excitement was also there in June 2024, when my 16-year-old grandson Jack Lynch and 84-year-old me took a trip to revisit my family’s roots in Spain.
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