Pre-911, you absolutely could. On my first job, a consultant had a family emergency and couldn’t fly out to a client. I met him at the airport bar, grabbed the tickets, and was on the plane 20 minutes later. This probably 1998 or 99.

My uncle serviced turbines for power plants. Power plants are often in the back of nowhere. He travelled with a few thousand dollars and a revolver into the 1970s.