Gen Zers are amazed to discover how different air travel was before September 11 after seeing a scene from the 1998 film The Parent Trap

The glaring cultural divide between Gen Z and millennials just widened after young TikTok users expressed shock at how lax air travel was before September 11 — while calling on their elders to explain what air travel used to be like.

A response to a scene from Lindsay Lohan's 1998 film The Parent Trap, posted to TikTok by user Aleks, epitomizes Gen Z's bewilderment at past air travel norms.

In the clip, Annie, played by Lohan, steps off the plane after flying home from summer camp and immediately sees her father, played by Dennis Quaid, waiting for her on the tarmac.

While watching the scene, Aleks peers at her TV in confusion as the text overlay reads: 'POV: You've never flown before 9/11 and when you rewatch the parent trap you realize he literally meets her outside the plane .'

In a scene from 1998's The Parent Trap, Lindsay Lohan's Annie steps off a plane and is immediately greeted with the sight of her father (Dennis Quaid) waiting for her on the tarmac.

The airport's dynamics proved baffling to Gen Zers, who grew up in a post-9/11 world — where non-passengers can't meet their loved ones right at the gate

“Millennials, was this the norm???” TikToker pleaded with Aleks in the caption of her post

“Millennials, was this the norm???” she pleaded earnestly in the caption.

And Aleks wasn't the only one left baffled by the short scene – with dozens of her fellow Gen Zers taking to the comments section to express their own confusion.

'Born in 2006; I always thought this was just a dramatic movie thing? I didn't know you could actually do this before September 11th,” one person wrote.

“OMG I thought they only did this in movies,” another chimed in, while a third commented, “I thought it was just because they were rich.”

Several older travelers also had fond memories of what airports and planes looked like before the September 11-inspired changes.

“Before 9/11, there wasn't even TSA… my mom took me straight to my gate and waited with me until my flight,” one person recalled.

“Pre-9/11 airports were pretty much just big bus stops,” wrote another. “Virtually no security, no complications, just a place to relax while you wait for your flight.”

“I can confirm that before 9/11, my extended family would be waiting outside. Smaller airlines in particular did this,” said a third.

Although meeting on the tarmac varied by airport, it was indeed much easier for non-ticketed people to meet friends or family and get off the plane right at the gate – or escort them to the gate to see them off.

As a result, many films and TV shows shot before the September 11 attacks show a completely different view of air travel than we are used to today.

After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, airports around the world began implementing much stricter protocols across the board, completely changing the way every aspect of air travel works – from check-in rules to boarding procedures.

The TSA was created in the months immediately following 9/11

'Before September 11, security was virtually invisible, and that's really what it was designed for,' says aviation safety expert Jeff Price told NPR.

“It was designed to be something in the background that wasn't really that noticeable and certainly didn't interfere with aircraft or airport operations.”

“You could walk up to the gate at the last minute. You didn't have to have a boarding pass,” he added.

“All you had to do was go through security – no questions asked, no ID needed.”

This means that security simply consisted of a single metal detector.

There was no need to take off shoes, belts and the like. Containers of liquids could be any size, and laptops – while perhaps rarer additions to carry-on luggage at the time – did not have to be removed from bags before passing through security.

And fatefully, passengers were allowed to carry box cutters, razor blades and knives up to four inches long into the cabins of airplanes.

“Even if the hijackers had been caught with their knives before boarding the plane, the screeners would have handed it right back to them,” Price explained to NPR.

It was believed that the September 11 hijackers used box cutters or razors in taking over the cockpits of the three planes they hijacked.

In November 2001, George W. Bush signed the Aviation and Transportation Security Act, creating the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).

And it's not just passengers who have been affected by the dramatic changes in air travel safety and security.

In 2021 – twenty years after al-Qaeda terrorists flew two planes into the Twin Towers in New York – former United Airlines flight attendant Sara Nelson told the New York Times, “September 11 affects our jobs every day,” citing she noted that a number of strict new training procedures were introduced as a result of the attacks.