I could mention, too, that the airplanes of decades past were louder — few things were more deafening than a 707 at takeoff thrust — and more gas-guzzling and polluting. And if, in 2017, you’re put off by a lack of legroom or having to pay for a sandwich, how would you feel about sitting for eight hours in a cabin filled with tobacco smoke? As recently as the 1990s, smoking was still permitted on airplanes.

As for legroom, there’s that conventional wisdom again, contending that airlines are forever cramming more rows into their aircraft. Except it’s not necessarily true. The spacing between rows, called “pitch” in the business, is, on average, less than it was 20 or 30 years ago — and yes, passengers themselves have become larger on average — but only slightly. Remember Laker Airways, whose “Skytrain” service ran between the United States and London in the 1970s and early ’80s? Sir Freddie Laker, the airline’s flamboyant founder, configured his DC-10s with a bone-crunching 345 seats — about a hundred more than the typical DC-10 at the time.

And what’s that in front of you? It’s a personal video screen with hundreds of on-demand movies and TV shows. No, not every carrier has these, but on longer flights it’s a standard amenity, along with USB and power ports. Onboard Wi-Fi is widespread. Remember when the “in-flight movie” was projected onto a blurry bulkhead screen, and you listened through one of those stethoscope-style headsets with jagged plastic cups that scratched into your ear?

Up front, in first or business class, forget it. You can have your Pullman berths and caviar on the flying boats of the 1940s, trundling along noisily, 17 hours from New York to Paris. You can have your tuxedoed stewards and your piano lounges in the old 747 upper deck. I’ll take the state-of-the-art sleeper seat and 25-inch screen; the electric privacy barrier and five-course dinner presentation. It’s no contest; premium class has never been as swanky or as comfortable as it is today.

Then there’s safety.

Globally — catastrophes like those involving Malaysia Airlines Flights 17 and 370 included — the last 10 years have been the safest in the history of commercial aviation. Here in North America the stats are even more astonishing: There has not been a major crash involving an American legacy carrier in more than 15 years. By comparison, in 1985, 27 air disasters killed almost 2,500 people worldwide. During the 1960s, the United States saw an average of four major crashes every year. United alone had seven major accidents in a five-year span.

The 1960s, ’70s and ’80s also were rife with terrorist bombings and hijackings: Pan Am 103, Air-India, UTA and TWA, among others. Between the late ’60s and early ’70s, American commercial aircraft were hijacked at a rate of nearly once per week. Airport terminal attacks were frequent throughout that era as well.