Though a vacation nowadays may be defined by screaming passengers, lost luggage and your aircraft falling apart in mid-air, hitting the friendly skies wasn’t always such a headache.

Back in aviation’s golden age, airline food was actually delicious — or looked like it — you could smoke wherever and whenever you gosh darn pleased and passengers actually smiled.

From high-end meals to a whole lot of legroom, here are 17 photos from old-school plane rides.