Flying in the 60s: I was there. Memories prompted by "Pan Am".

[trof]

I was a pilot for TWA, as many of you know.
I hired on in the fall of '68.
My first airplane (with TWA) was the Convair 880, a 4 engine jet similar to the venerable Boeing 707.
I later flew the 707, 727, Lockheed 1011, and finally the 747.

The food was generally good to great back then, even in coach.
They fed you all the time.
Free booze in first class and about a buck in coach, as I remember.
Maybe beer was half a buck.
And if there was any kind of a delay the captain would usually announce free drinks in coach.
They could do that back then.
Of course ALL the meals and snacks were free.

EVERY meal tray had a complimentary pack of 4 cigarettes.
Usually Winstons.
And a book of airline logo matches.
There were no non-smoking sections and it seemed almost every adult smoked.

Of course pillows and blankets were free and there were plenty, and of high quality.
TWA had Pendleton woolen blankets, down pillows, if you can believe it.

The FAA required that the cockpit door be locked only for take-off and landing.
The rest of the time the door was usually open and passengers were invited to visit the flight deck during flight.
I really got a kick out of that, all the 'oohs and ahs' and "Wow! How do you guys keep up with all these instruments?"
;-)

If someone was especially interested in aviation (or if it was an attractive woman :-)) we'd put them in the co-pilot's seat for a few minutes and let them 'fly'.
(The autopilot was usually on, but they'd have their hands on the yoke and think they were really flying the plane. "Hey, this isn't really that hard, is it?")

'Airport security' was normally limited to calling the local cops if there was some kind of disturbance (rare). No checkpoints, mangetometers, x-rays, etc.
God! How did we survive?
OK, I understand it's a very different world now.
:-(

We generally had good relationships with the cabin crews, ALL single females (by company policy) then.
And the flight deck was all male.
It ranged from just good natured friendship and back and forth jibes to sometimes a bit more,um, intense?
There was a fair amount of...ahem...'fraternization' and more than a few divorces as a result.
Many times, especially on international flights, the whole crew would gather in one hotel room (usually the captain's) for a 'debriefing'.
Beforehand, during the inbound flight, one of the stewardesses would come to the cockpit and ask what each of us drank.
They'd show up at the layover 'party' with barf bags full of miniatures from the galley.
FREE BOOZE! WOOHOO!
:bounce:
Afterwards we'd usually all go out to dinner at some quaint restaurant in Paris, or Rome, or London etc.

In most layover cities we'd establish an 'office', a local bar where we'd gather prior to dinner if no one had declared a debriefing room/post flight party. Many times, especially in European cities, we'd have 3 or 4 crews in town so we could all get together in one spot. We did like to hang out with our 'own'.

I remember the spot we picked in Paris even stayed open in August when many bistros and businesses closed for their summer vacation. That's also the place where I learned to cook pommes frites. After I'd complimented the proprietor on them, he took me back into the tiny kitchen and showed me the secret. Two fryers. One, at a bit lower temp, cooked them through. The other, at higher temp, crisped them off. Ambrosia.

Oh, the loo/restroom/pissoire was down a dark set of narrow spiral stairs, two brass footprints on either side of a hole in the floor with a grab-bar in front of you if you had to squat.
Not for the faint of heart, especially if you were in your cups.

OK, enough for now.
Like all geezers, I miss the old days.
:hi:
p.s. Maybe tomorrow I'll tell you why I think it all changed.

[OriginalGeek]

1. I just need to say

I know I've only been here a short time and seen many great posts in that time but this has to be one of my favorite posts yet.

Now I am more interested in seeing the show but it is gonna have to live up to this.


I did get to smoke on a plane once before the rules changed (and I also quit smoking but that was much later) but I never got a free pack of smokes lol.

The blankets, the food, the Paris...it's just a great read all the way through. Thank you sir.

[trof]

2. Well, thank YOU! And welcome to DU.

I like people who like my stories.
:-)

[ohiosmith]

3. I loved flying during that era. Thanks for the memories.

:hi:

[av8rdave]

4. The first time I ever set foot on an airplane was in 1969

I was wide-eyed 11 year old kid, going from Buffalo to New York on an American Airlines 727.

28 years later, I got my first airline Captain's seat...on a 727. I miss that plane.

The international world still has some of the camaraderie, but I'm sure nothing like it was back in the day.

I enjoy flying newer equipment, but I loved having the 3 man crew. We still get that on crossing flights, since we carry a relief copilot. It's still not quite the same. We have a relief guy to get us to Japan, but once there, we don't see him again for 10 days until it's time to return to the states. We stay together on the European trips.

Thanks for the post, and the great stories!

[blueamy66]

33. I bet my Dad worked that flight.

:-)

[av8rdave]

36. Entirely possible. It is a small world!

:hi:

[MiddleFingerMom]

5. I thought I remembered a small (useless and pointless) non-smoking section in coach.

.
.
.
Don't remember the cigarettes (though we got those same 4-packs in C-rations --
I think they discontinued them in 1972, but they kept showing up until about
1977).
.
Around 1960, we moved from Connecticut to Michigan. MiddleFingerMomDad drove
the station wagon (and attempted to transport his fairly large collection of
tropical fish -- they all ended up dying).
.
MiddleFingerMomMom, a 40-year-old mother traveling with 4 young children (we
ranged from 2 to 14 years old). The stewardesses took pity on MFMM and took
me off her hands -- taking me back and seating me in one of their jump seats
(in the galley section?).
.
They lavished me with attention and affection in between their duties for the
whole flight (I know, I know... it's a curse I've had to deal with my whole life --
but I've obviously survived it. With a grin-and-a-half.)
.
To thank them, when MiddleFingerMomMom was herding us all up the aisle towards
the door, my airsickness caught up to me and I barfed all over the carpeting.
.
Even then... I made quite an impression wherever I went.
.
.
.

[Taverner]

6. Hey my mother was a flight attendant for TWA back in those days!!!

Wow...small world, eh?

[trof]

21. How 'bout that?

:-)

[2Design]

7. Loved flying then when customers were important and service too

[Tikki]

8. Come Fly With Me...

I flew Pan Am from Seattle to Honolulu...December '66 flew back January '67...

Smooth and quiet....



Tikki

[pink-o]

9. The smoking thing....you hit on the dealbreaker!

Listen, I worked for the airlines starting in 1989, and it was still a glam biz (deregulation was still "trickling down" I guess) and no matter how crappy flying has gotten, I trade it all to NEVER sit in a toxic aerial wasteland ever again! Even in the "smoking/non smoking" restaurant sections you could always go outside to avoid it; obviously the same solution wasn't open to you 7 miles above ground!

My present airline used to serve the most amazing food; now Starbucks has better bistro boxes. We charge for checked luggage, we charge for alcohol and food onboard, and charge a fee if you buy your ticket at the airport. (God forbid, we do not charge for exit row seats: if that ever happens, I swear I will mount a Tall American protest over civil rights violations.) But we are smoke-free. Fair trade-off as far as I'm concerned.

[frogmarch]

10. Wonderful post!

What great memories you have of your flying days!

I think you should hire on as a consultant for the TV show Pan Am. It could use a big healthy dose of you. :thumbsup:

[Yavin4]

11. Damn, When I Die, I Want To Come Back As You

What a great life you had?

Must really suck for you to fly today. I recently took the bus to Atlantic City, and bus travel has now surpassed flying as a more enjoyable experience.

[trof]

22. Yes, flying sux today.

For passengers AND crew.
I'd rather drive.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

26. +1

or take a cruise ship.

[TheCentepedeShoes]

12. I remember the TWA Convair 880

Had a nightly non-stop flight from Amarillo to LA in the 60's IIRC when I was in HS here and college at Tx Tech
I didn't fly TWA myself until the mid 70's (707 from Tampa to St Louis, 727 back to Tampa), liked the red propeller shaped swizzle sticks in the drink...er drinks
My best HS friend flew back from Europe on Pam Am the summer of '65
Seems the trip over on an Icelandic turbo prop was a little unnerving (going on the cheap) - although she said the stop over in Reykjavik was interesting
My flights have been uneventful except for San Juan to Miami in '79
Eastern L1011 and we seemed to be having trouble with front landing gear {remember the NY to Miami Eastern L1011 crash in the glades a couple or so years earlier that resulted in the ghost stories?}

[trof]

23. Ah yes, "The Ghost of Flight 401".

Many parts of that Eastern 1011 were salvaged and parts from one of the galleys wound up on one of our 1011s. There were rumors of seeing the Eastern flight engineer's ghost there.
:shrug:

[A HERETIC I AM]

13. I flew TWA from JFK to Rome in 1966....1st class....

I was 7 years old.

My father was CIA and we were moving to Athens, Greece. In those days all travel for him was paid first class. It was cool.

If I recall correctly, the Pilot came back and visited with all the passengers, and as a little kid, I was duly impressed. They gave out those little plastic gold colored wings to kids back then.

When we came back to the states in September of '67, we came back on the SS United States. Again, 1st class.

Hats off to you, Mr left seat in the sharp end.

[trof]

24. Yes, one at least one of us would make a cabin tour on long enough flights.

Chat up the passengers and do a little PR.
:-)

[Silver Swan]

14. All I remember about airlines in the 1960's

was guys trying to pick me up in Chicago bars by alleging they were pilots.

[begin_within]

15. Did you have free playing cards with the airline's logo?

[trof]

25. Sure did. And free 'amenity' kits in first class.

A soft leather zipper case with sleep mask, slipper socks, notepad and pen, small calculator.

[elleng]

16. Interesting. Thanks

Flew w family Idlewild - Shannon - London OCTOBER 4, 1957!!! (Swissair)

[Brigid]

17. Love your reminisces.

Too bad we can't recommend threads here in the Lounge. Ah yes . . . The good old days . . . The world is going straight down the crapper and hey you kids get off my lawn!

[kiva]

18. When flying was fun!

I remember flying in the 70s, and it still had some of the same allure. People were more relaxed - probably because they hadn't shown up at the airport two hours before their flight to be groped - and the airlines did treat their customers like...well, like customers.

As a (then) smoker, I remember all of us would have our cigarettes out, matches and lighters at the ready, while we waited for the captain to give permission to light up.

[enlightenment]

19. Great story!

Thank you for sharing. The world was a simpler place (in the air, at least).

We used to fly Braniff from Japan to the US and back - twice a year for seven years - in the late 1960s/early 70s. I was a kid, but I still remember those flights. 707's, usually pretty full, stops at Wake Island and Honolulu for refueling. Seem to recall that the food was good (and plentiful), the blankets and pillows cosy, and the crews (both flight and cabin) were friendly - pretty extraordinary when you consider the number of rambunctious kids on an eleven-hour flight.

We always dressed up; my mother made sure we looked 'Sunday go to meeting' nice; I still remember the brand-new outfit I got for our last flight out in 1973. I was a young teen by then; it was the first time I was allowed to wear nylon stockings on the flight. I recall being certain one of the pilots was going to fall madly in love with me, in my white miniskirt and bright red heels, and I made a point of visiting the flight deck . . . I'm sure the pilots were amused, but they were very nice and didn't embarrass me.

One of my favorite occupations was playing solitaire with the miniature decks of cards they handed out (or creating entire cloud cities in my mind, staring out the window at the usually almost solid bank of clouds below).

The only thing I didn't like about those flights was the customs line at the US end.

[blueamy66]

37. We had to dress up, as we flew "non rev"....

life was so different back then....wish it was like it used to be.....

[ThatsMyBarack]

20. I'd R if I could.....

A K will have to do. :kick:

That's why I saw PanAm for the first time last night. Even though I wasn't around in the 60s, I still remember commercial airliners before they turned into cattle cars in the sky.

All this extra security, inflated fees for "extras", and passengers getting treated like shit these days makes no sense to me.

[Brickbat]

27. Mr. Brickbat is a locomotive engineer, and some of the stories he hears from the oldtimers about the

good old days remind me of this. Thanks for sharing your memories; this is awesome.

[Joe Fields]

28. Wow, trof, what a wonderfully painted word picture. Wish I had been there.

[InvisibleTouch]

29. I remember flying in the 70's.

Pretty much the same as you describe, from a (young) passenger's point of view. I definitely remember the constant reek of cigarette smoke, and the smoking/no-smoking lights dinging on and off. Ugh. But we kids got little toys and booklets on some flights, so that gave us something to do. This was in the days before in-flight movies.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

30. My family took a trip to Europe in 1967

In those days, you bought a ticket to your most expensive city, and then you got unlimited flights between other European cities.

In those days, nobody flew internationally out of Minneapolis, so we drove to New York, took Pan Am to London. After a week in England, we flew to Oslo on BEA, Trondheim on Braathens, Copenhagen on SAS, Hannover on Lufthansa, drove around in Germany for two weeks, flew Lufthansa again to Paris, then Air France to Amsterdam, then Amsterdam to New York on KLM. All on one ticket.

The seats in coach were like domestic first class seats today, either 4 or 5 across. The leg room was ample, and I would have noticed if it hadn't been, because I was already 5'10". The food was edible and plentiful. Even on the short flight from Copenhagen to Hannover we got a generously packed ham sandwich.

The incident least likely to happen in today's aviation occurred in London's Heathrow Airport. We were in the boarding area, ready to board the flight to Oslo, when the gate agent announced that the flight would be delayed for two hours. Everyone groaned. But the gate agent asked us to follow her, and we went into what must have been some sort of lounge (it had a bar), where they served us tea and a bufffet lunch containing an assortment of full-sized, two-fisted sandwiches.

Imagine, feeding us a meal because of a two-hour delay!

That would never happen now, and I can still recall when my brother, who was attending grad school at Case Western Reserve in Cleveland in the early 1980s, flew from Minneapolis to Cleveland via Chicago after Christmas. As often happens in Chicago, a blizzard struck shortly after his plane landed at O'Hare, and he ended up spending the night at the airport. We had not heard about the new policy of not compensating passengers for weather-related delays, this was before nation-wide ATMs were common in the U.S., and my brother had no credit cards and not enough money to buy food. All he had were two of my grandmother's bacon-and-onion rolls.

I recall that we were all surprised when we heard of his misfortune, because my experience as one who had flown from the East Coast to Minneapolis for much of the 1970s, had always received a meal voucher at minimum when caught in a weather-related delay.

One year, when my plans to fly out of Ithaca, New York were thwarted by fog from Boston to Philadelphia, the ticket agent at the Ithaca airport even cashed in my airline ticket, which allowed me to buy a bus ticket for a marathon 36-hour journey back to Minneapolis.

Those were the days when airlines cared about passengers instead of about the bottom line.

[Blue_Tires]

31. cool...long live the tri-jets

what was your favorite to fly?

[blueamy66]

32. Thanks for the memories.

As most know, my Dad worked for AA for over 40 years. I got to grow up in the industry.

Miss it all.....the little bottles of booze, running down to see my Dad at work, eating the shrimp cocktail....flying 1st class to Hawaii and London....

[Major Nikon]

34. We finished our climb check, time for a Chesterfield

This is one of my all time favorite videos from the golden age of flying.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6VfkKjlhXs

[annabanana]

35. 1959, at age Nine.. I flew alone to visit my Aunt in Maryland. I was

treated like a celebrity. I got to visit the cockpit and they gave me a "Junior Stewardess" kit, complete with wings and a hat! What a trip.