How The 747 Killed Pan Am

[@robertstauffer2865]

Hey Kelsey. In 1991 I was a fueler for Allied Aviation at JFK. On the day they shut down I was actively fueling a Pan Am 727 when the supervisor came screaming over to me in his pickup truck, making the "cut it off" motion by frantically waving his hand under his chin. I immediately dropped the Deadman switch, thinking the fuel must be spilling, or the plane was on fire or something! Turns out that the Delta board had just decided not to make the large payment they had promised to keep Pan Am (which they were in the process of acquiring) flying. At the moment of that decision, Pan Am was rendered completely insolvent and unable to pay its bills. Thus the decision by Allied to stop fueling. The passengers on that flight had to deplane and the flight never took off. A long time ago, but I remember THAT day clearly. R.I.P. Pan Am.

[@AndrewRod-c5v]

Pam am failed because they kept the 747 to long instead of investing in planes ! Plus the lockable disaster!

[@tonyingari7220]

Sad 😮

[@codymoe4986]

@@AndrewRod-c5v *Lockerbie

[@codymoe4986]

@@AndrewRod-c5v The "lockable" disaster was when you left your keys in your car.

[@evilferris]

My dad was one of those executives at Pan Am. He was fluent in Mandarin from his time in Air Force intelligence so when Nixon opened up China to trade with the west, Pan Am was the first airline to have service to Beijing with my dad acting as general manager. As his kid, I got treated like a prince wherever we traveled - some of my fondest memories. Thanks for stirring those up in me today, Kelsey. Blue skies!

[@arfriedman4577]

Great story. Thanks for sharing.

[@TheDavidlloydjones]

Nixon did not "open up China to trade with the west." China never stopped trading with the west. Nixon ended the United States' self-imposed isolation from China. Nobody else had ever joined the US in its silly attempt at ignoring the Chinese revolution out of existence.

[@med0747]

I always look forward to Kelsey Sundays.

[@wingflex5367]

Same. The weekends in between just aren't the same lol

[@med0747]

@@wingflex5367 Agreed 👍

[@d3kingg387]

What’s with the football games on Kelsey Sundays ?

[@rubydown3329]

Kelsundey, if you will

[@Danny___Riot]

Same. I hope he’s doing ok. I know right before he got his fourth stripe he was a little down in the dumps for a little bit and his uploads were less frequent. I hope he’s doing better.

[@stormraven4183]

Most folks don't know that Pan Am Corporation survived the loss of its airline division, and continued to operate its rail and petroleum holdings until June 2022, when it was finally bought out by CSX. Actually, most folks don't even know the *had* rail and petroleum divisions.

[@HVACSoldier]

From Wikipedia… “It was formerly known as Guilford Transportation Industries and was also known as Guilford Rail System. Guilford bought the name, colors, and logo of Pan American World Airways in 1998.”

[@BitwiseMobile]

@@HVACSoldier so guess it never *had* rail and petroleum divisions ;). A company bought the name and is doing business as, so Pan Am as we knew it in the 60s, 70, and 80s, never had anything to do with petroleum. Nice fact check!

[@HVACSoldier]

@@BitwiseMobile Exactly. Pan Am sold their hotels, their building, their routes, and their planes. In the end, they sold their rights to the logo. I made a meme out of it. How an airline that was supposed to do flights into space by 2001, ended up devolving into rail, instead.

[@RMSTitanicWSL]

Not the same company. Logo and naming rights bought by Guilford Transportation in 1998.

[@dboss7239]

I had the privilege of flying on Pam Am Flight number 1 around the world in 1977. Our group chartered for 234 of us who were going to India. JFK to Heathrow, then to Frankfurt, then Tehran and finally Delhi. 33 hours on the plane each way with the stopovers..... Magnificent machine and the Clipper service was excellent. Myself and 2 friends had recently gotten our private pilot's licenses and mentioned it to the flight crew, and the Captain let each of us come up to the flight deck during a stopover and gave us a tour so to speak. Fantastic experience!

[@miller-joel]

Best part: No tsa.

[@oldRighty1]

@@miller-joel Yeah well... Lockerbie.

[@miller-joel]

@@oldRighty1 Yeah, well...the tsa would not have prevented that. They didn't catch the "shoe b0mber." They fail something like 90% of their own internal audits. They only "catch" your water bottle. Also, the PanAm 103 b0mb was in the cargo hold. A little more rational prevention, and less irrational fear. Security theater is not security.

[@hosseinhosseini4194]

Yes as a kid then I was fascinated by aviation and Pan Am in particular. Still remember watching PA 1 and PA 2 round the world flights at Tehran Mehrabad airport. 43 years in aviation I still cherrish Pan Am's contributions to Aviation. My last flight on Pan Am was just a few months before the collapse on JFK-LHR-JFK route on 747.

[@miller-joel]

@@oldRighty1 I already explained how that's irrelevant, but yt shadow banned it, as usual.

[@captcorajus]

I feel it when I watch future looking movies like 2001 A Space Odyssey and you see the space plane is Pan Am. There's a tinge of sadness for a bright possible future that never was. Great video, thanks.

[@miller-joel]

Luckily, Lufthansa doesn't care and will continue to fly the 747 for several years.

[@sirmonkey1985]

how i feel any time i see an old movie with TWA. loved flying TWA.

[@reppi8742]

@@sirmonkey1985when flying was such an enjoyable experience! People dressed up, were polite, the food was good, it was roomy and comfortable. Even first class is not what flying once was for everyone.

[@TexasCat99]

​@@reppi8742but many have upper first class or executive that are far beyond... Like Emirates. Very private seating or even cabins. Those tickets are about 25k per person.

[@D.Lily02]

​@@miller-joel I'm determined to get on one of Lufthansa's Queens before they retire their fleet! I'm over 50 😉 and haven't been able to fly on her yet, so I'm very thankful there's someone out there keeping these beauties flying for the public!! ✈️❤

[@BethanyAitch]

I love this - this is genuine aviation content and I much prefer educational stuff like this over the problematic passenger-type videos. This was a great watch while cuddling with a sleeping newborn :)

[@Mik-ly9sp]

When I was just 15 I read a book on the design and early production of the 747. This book inspired me so much that I went into aircraft maintenance. I still have my Paul Bunyan insignia on my toolbox all these years later. The story of how the 747 was made is truly a remarkable one. Thank You for the videos. And long live the Queen :)

[@rachellofthouse549]

Loving the video format, and the chance for an aviation history lesson! Keep it up Kels ☺️👍🏻

[@oliversmith9200]

He does great stuff, yeah. :)

[@NadezhdaAndreeva-nt5ox]

It's obvious how much work you put in!

[@stevebalt5234]

Probably a great way to pass the time during his long haul flights to Europe or Asia

[@trevoralkire1543]

I like the history of aviation. Keep it coming Kelsey

[@presenters24-de]

Thank you for this video and all the fond memories it brings me. As a boy growing up in the 50s in West Germany, to fly with Pan Am started as a childhood dream. My first little scale airline model was - PanAm. My first short haul flight was Pan Am (they were the online airline licensed to fly from Wets German American sector to West Berlin). And my first long distance flight (Frankfurt - New York) was with a Pan Am 747.

[@spartanedw]

Oh look at that!! Actual seating space in coach.. People were comfortable traveling back then haha

[@ChadHadsell]

True, and also it was far, far more expensive back then, too. So, you get what you pay for.

[@xo2quilt]

Yes, it was more comfortable, but we paid big for that privilege!!

[@sandygrogg1203]

Hi Kelsey, I am 81 years old, and I do remember that we flew from Cincinnati to Japan on Pan Am… I was only about 10 or 11, but I do remember having a nice little flight bag with the pan M. logo on the side.

[@freeculture]

In 1980 i was given a metal Pan-Am pin, but sadly lost it long ago. Used to be with my toys...

[@pcaviator687]

Nice video. I grew up in the 70's and 80's with my father being a Western Airlines pilot. What a great time to fly back then. Their TV commercials were very popular at the time and they even had a few Hollywood celebrities in their commercials. We were able to fly on stand by passes and I remember having to wear a suit coat and tie as a child due to their policy that we were representing the airline as passengers. Western Airlines ended up merging with Delta in the mid-80's and my father told me about the same issues that you talk about here with the culture changes, etc. He was not a fan of some of Delta's procedures as he felt that Western had better procedures overall. Anyway, I miss those days and I miss Western Airlines.

[@georgeandritsakis1482]

Me too, Western was a huge part of my growing up, flying in and out of Salt Lake City

[@svgalene465]

I remember those ads: “Western Airlines - The *only* way to fly!”

[@lindabarrett5631]

My father was a captain on PAN AM after National Airlines was bought out. He said PAN AM spent money hand over fist, unnecessarily, which he felt was a huge contributing factor to it going out of business.

[@j700jam4]

Now the airlines scrimp and save unecessarily

[@TheFULLMETALCHEF]

Agreed. My father was in management for National and Pan Am’s purchase of National took both airlines down. First thing they did was steal National’s retirement funds and got rid of profitable routes. Corporate greed at its finest.

[@lindabarrett5631]

@@TheFULLMETALCHEF That's true.

[@francoistombe]

No Elon Musk to get rid of the unproductive management types.

[@TexasCat99]

​@@francoistombeElon musk is a horrible business person. But he has his cult followers. He spent $3 billion in all these years and at most has caught a single booster. He promised to be on the Moon by now. Starship isn't even close for a crewed mission to the Moon. It has not launched with cargo weight. It's supposed to take 20 launches for a single manned mission to the Moon. It's a bad design... And we paid for it. He is not the genius you think he is. But his team and his brand is able to get suckers to invest in his company... Which he gives himself more bonuses than the profit the company brings in. How does that work?

[@hellofromrob]

Wow…the PanAm story is fascinating, especially the way you told it. Well done! Thanks, Kelsey!

[@texsizeParrot]

I remember those days. TWA, United Airlines. We got discounts on Air West cuz my father worked at Hughes aircraft company.

[@angelraburn4401]

Always excited for a Captain Kelsey Sunday. This was fascinating to hear. I LOVED the “to my girl the 747” 😂Thank you for the lesson. My father worked in computers and very much the same in technology- it grew so fast. From the first “computer” that could simply add, subtract, multiply, and divide to a hand held calculator- from land line to cell phones. From the first Apple and Microsoft computers that could barely change colors and type out letters to what we all have today. A small time frame if you stop and think about it. I always enjoy seeing you. Stay safe Kelsey. 😊

[@annjacobs7764]

This just made what I needed today!

[@kurt9395]

Very good. I remember the events you describe and you are spot-on. Can you do another one on another iconic airline, PanAm's rival, TWA?

[@garyb6219]

Yes, please.

[@Nunofurdambiznez]

I'd like to see a video on TWA as well, please.

[@ScottBrady-no3qt]

Thank you for your videos. I learn something new every time. I flew in an old 747 to Korea, the seat belt buckle had Pan Am on it. We were packed in tight. We called it the "Cattle Jet."

[@gracelandone]

Great footage and context about mergers. From the classic Oklahoma: “Oh the 7-4’s and the 7-7’s can be friends. 7-4 hull losses 64, triple 7 hulls loss only eight, one of these planes is safer for your freight.” If you aren’t a Musical Theatre fan, don’t bother with my tortured lyric. This is great stuff, Kelsey. Not every video has to have a hair-on-fire element. Knowing how we got here informs where we are going. On your long range radar: People Express. I alone have escaped to tell the passenger’s tale.

[@beachbumsailordude]

My first 2 trips were on Pan Am from NYC to Sydney Australia in 1979 and 1981. The first was before the Quanta's Kuala ad campaign that really changed tourism for Australia. Back then they flew from NYC to Los Angeles. Then from LA to Hawaii. Plane switch from a 747 to a 747SP. Then from Hawaii to Auckland, New Zealand. Then to Sydney. Once you left Hawaii the plane was so empty that you could put all the arm rests up in a row on the center seats and lie down and sleep. You had your choice of rows for this. You got real meal service. Since I was 17 and alone I was treated like a minor and at every stop someone was there to make sure I was ok and that I got on the next leg ok. All the crew was great and I got to see the cockpits of some of the planes and meet the captains. Very cool first experiences for a kid. I miss that airline a lot. I look forward to your videos. You produce great content. Thanks!

[@shorttimer874]

My Pan Am experience was in March of 1974. I had finished my Army two year tour in Bamberg and along with about half a dozen other guys got bumped off our military charter flight back to the US. The next day we were taken to the civilian side of the airport and put on Pan Am Flight One. The fun part was Mohammad Ali was lounging in a first class seat when we boarded, and when everyone got off the plane in London for a while he came over and shot the breeze with us for a while. I have a Pan Am Flight One boarding pass with his autograph from that. The not so great part for me was even though coach seats had more room then when I looked around the plane cabin it felt like I was in a herd of cattle. And since my pay had been stopped to make sure I had some money at discharge, I did not have money for the earphones, and let me tell you Woody Allan's movie Sleeper makes absolutely not sense without sound.

[@airlineplt]

Glad to see you’ve upgraded. Look good in four stripes

[@Nunofurdambiznez]

TBH, he looks good, no matter what!

[@stephenrogers4537]

Good Sunday morning to you, Captain Kelsey from Chicago. I hope this day finds you well and happy, BROTHER ! KEEP THE BLUE SIDE UP ✈️🫡

[@julosx]

Well, as long as the blue side is the sky and not the sea 😙

[@problu9586]

Faintly remember getting my wings on Pan Am as a lil' kid. Still have those wings. Nice memories of the ole days.

[@j700jam4]

Pan am used to fly into Prestwick, Scotland where I live. They used to take our school classes out to see around the 707 and gave us the wings. I had quite a few of them.

[@gonetoearth2588]

What a glorious format Kelsey...more history please!!

[@Nunofurdambiznez]

agree 100%

[@Les__Mack]

Thank you for all you do. I love your videos and appreciate the hard work you put in. 🙂

[@jamesonpace726]

Very well done & you're right, the "crash" often comes seemingly in moments....

[@TheOneTrueDare]

Loved this! Brought back memories of flying Pan Am from USA to Europe and back several times in the 1960's. The food was fabulous, the service impeccable, and for some reason I'll never forget the hot hand towels that accompanied meal service. It was glorious!

[@thomasfholland]

Yeah I agree with you. I love those memories flying with Pan Am back then. I even stayed with them right up until they closed shop. Would’ve been nice if we got to do it all again!

[@MikeOhhMinerals]

What an iconic airline. This was a great episode.

[@ericscott2738]

I had a chance to fly on a Pan Am 747 from Miami to LA and back in the 80s as a kid. Still remember that experience to this day. Flying today on some airlines is like riding the subway in NY, uncomfortable, smelly, and you never know what you're going to see.

[@joeterra.t]

Finally, an actual decent video about aviation instead of the constant TikTok "reaction videos".

[@mikelavelle5019]

Eastern please... I got my dream job at 19 fueling the A300, 747 and the L1011s.... My brother called me at midnight and ask did I know we were out of business... "Oh, We have been out of business for years".

[@bodyloverz30]

Frank Lorenzo screwed both Eastern & Continental (Texas Air Corp).

[@andrewkessinger5966]

Braniff International would be a fun one to do as well!

[@MrSupercar55]

Yeah. Their story probably won’t be as fascinating as Pan Am, but it’ll probably still be worth telling.

[@roderickcampbell2105]

I would love to see Braniff covered although I am very far away from Texas. I really liked Braniff for some reason. Perhaps because many of the folk who worked for Braniff seemed to like the company. They also had great uniforms!

[@Coolsomeone234]

It's cause they split their resources thin which allowed all their competitors to bite them off, route by route.

[@johnharris6655]

I remember for a few season, every Southpark episode would end with "Braniff, believe it" at the end of the credits for some reason.

[@roderickcampbell2105]

@@johnharris6655 Brilliant. Southpark and Braniff.I did not see that, but I will look it up. Thanks.

[@costaricanaturephotography3027]

Flew on a Pan Am 747 from California to Japan then on to Hong Kong in 1974. Something a six year old will never, ever forget...

[@bullet-catcherhohoho250]

I flew Pam Am as a teenager to Texas via New York in 1984, As i called it a double decker and there was only around 20 people on it including the crew and i was told i could sit anywhere i wanted big chairs and you could smoke your lungs out.

[@jeskeepinitreal]

Another Pan Am baby here thank you for the great video! My dad was a pilot for Pan Am in the late 1960s and he flew the 747. It might have been a dream for some, but he later said it was like being a bus driver. Not exciting enough I guess so we moved from San Diego to Alaska and he flew for the fish and game there which I guess was his happy place. RIP Kim Bussell🛩✈

[@1970zona]

We lived this in the ‘80s… My lower middle class family saved for years to take a trip to Europe. Dad bought discounted tickets on Pan Am well in advance. On our flight back from Zurich to JFK we had a bird strike on takeoff and lost an engine… they dumped fuel for 30 minutes, and returned to Zurich. We got to JFK about 6 hours late and missed our connections. We were one of two Pan Am 747s that was very delayed arriving - and they had about 700 people stranded in JFK. They told us that only “full fare” customers got hotel assistance - and they would get us home standby. So - they basically had 700 people sleeping in their terminal for days. There were six of us, mom, dad, and four kids. It took almost three days to get us back to Phoenix from JFK. Pretty sure that was when dad, who did travel for work, moved his business to United.

[@HVACSoldier]

That’s one of the things that probably hurt Pan Am. That and them being mostly an “international only” airline.

[@Mach7RadioIntercepts]

We had some former Pan Am pilots at ATA, and they passed a lot of cool flying knowledge to us. Before that, my commuter job was with the Delta Connection, and I fondly remember flying into JFK at the crack of dawn, to that Pan Am terminal. They cooked up the best food downstairs in their employee cafeteria.

[@skylineXpert]

Bad decisions Is what brought down panam. But I heard about the crazy stories regarding differences once between pilots & FA's at panam. The pilots sometime did 3-course meals & cocktails at their european layovers & the FA's had to still fit their current uniform.

[@Eternal_Tech]

Compared to the general nature of flight attendants today, I would take the flight attendants of Pan Am without reservation.

[@Garythefireman66]

I was home sick from work when 103 came down, and watched the TV coverage. Terrible day for aviation and the world.

[@notaffiliatedwith7363]

The ventilation system on 747’s of the time could not keep up with all the smokers, so nonsmokers and children got lungfuls of tar and nicotine on each flight, even if they were in the nonsmoking section. I don’t miss that aspect of airline travel.

[@gerrycorbino66]

The father of my dentist was a PanAm captain and he has some very interesting stories/memories of growing up when PanAm was a successful airline. Thanks for a very informative and entertaining video.

[@CaptainZoe-wr6on]

Bring back cockpit confessionals😭😭

[@aviamonix]

45 seconds in, Loving this new format

[@Nunofurdambiznez]

agree 100%

[@cgirl111]

In NYC Pan Am hooked with schools to give classes tours of their brand new 707. I remember going on a tour with my class in the late 50s.

[@cmcjvcltcbmc]

I prefer this type of video to the "mom kicked off the plane video" every time. Thanks.

[@Nunofurdambiznez]

Same here!

[@lloydcollins6337]

1:51 worth noting there is a difference between a float plane and a flying boat. Float planes are regular aircraft with floats strapped to their fixed undercarriages (sometimes they have wheels too) and often extra float supports on the wingtips. Flying boats, by comparison, have boat hulls with wings attached to the top of the hull. These land their hulls directly in the water. Float planes can't usually handle much swell or chop at all on the water (they usually land on lakes or in harbours) and whilst flying boats can manage a bit of a swell they still need relatively calm conditions to land in - imagine if you were trying to land a 747 and the runway kept rising towards you and sinking away from you every few seconds of it's own volition.

[@sakakiyayoi]

Grew up w PanAm and then United with my father working for them, it brought some of my childhood memories. Thx.

[@Trapster99]

Flying Pan-Am in the early 1980's was an experience to behold. Best of the Best

[@therealajnelson]

I got to fly Pan Am a couple of times as a kid going between Houston and Raleigh (split parents) and thoroughly enjoyed the flights. The flight crew were all top notch and since I usually boarded first the pilots let me hang out on the jump seat while they configured the plane while the other passangers found their seats. Made me kind of sad when they went under. Pan Am and Piedmont were my favorite carriers to fly with

[@lesliebblack]

Great presentation Kelsey- I really enjoyed this

[@sheilam4964]

Great vid. Thx for filming this.

[@YahushasDisciple]

1972 first class PanAm Seattle to Saudi Arabia. It was a beautiful experience. Yes, we dressed up. On all flights in the 70’s, we dressed up. I do miss those days.

[@enigmawyoming5201]

Love it! Thanks for posting today.

[@reshpeck]

Petter, Hoover, and Kelsey all uploading top level content within hours of each other. Good morning!

[@johndent8813]

At the time of Lockabie, I was a manager at the Waldorf Hotel where the Pan-Am crews were put up for their overnight stays in London. It was a very somber time when we heard of the attack on the 747 flight.....

[@garyb6219]

The actor David White, who played Larry Tate on the old TV show Bewitched, his son was on that plane.

[@larrydavid6852]

I grew up about an hour north of Lockerbie and had friends from that village. The damage inflicted upon the people on the ground was horrific.

[@jenn976]

Thank you for this. My uncle was a purser for PanAm from about the 1940s. But some time in the early 1960s, he switched to TWA. Something about his preferred routes. For TWA, he was forever doing the NYC -Paris runs or Montreal -Paris, mainly. Totally international, never knew why.

[@Nunofurdambiznez]

I like these types of videos quite a more than your usual ones - please do more of these!

[@patrickfreeman8257]

I'm old enough to remember Pan Am...and TWA, Western Airlines, AirCal, etc. I never flew on any of those but I do remember it cost about $700 to go from LA to New York

[@earthwormjim357]

This format of videos is awesome 😃

[@francoistombe]

Early long distance routes used flying boats because a piece of water could provide an airport landing strip without having to construct a runway. Most major destinations were at harbours. The circumstance that it provided infinite alternative emergency landing options was only a useful by product.

[@suegardner]

One billion still seems like a lot of money. Thanks for another great video, even though I havent finished watching it yet. 😊

[@bobbibaker5877]

This is a great video, Kelsey! You need to hook up with LA Flights - Kevin is full of knowledge too! So awesome! Thanks for the nod to Pan Am.

[@christelelsea6054]

I love flying Pan Am and getting my "wings" from the captain on each flight. My last flight with them was September 1986.

[@xneapolisx]

Pan Am, the airline of my youth. I remember flying in a 747 w the upper floor only having a bar, and a lounge. No upper level seating. I even dated a girl who was a flight attendant for Pan Am in the 90s, right when the company started having problems. Sad. I also recall the Pan Am (now Met Life) building on Park Ave in Manhattan. I loved that space-age terminal 3 at JFK; it looked so futuristic to me as a kid!

[@kevinmorris4517]

Edutainment at its finest.

[@funnlivinit]

My friend's Dad growing up in the '60s & '70s was a Pan Am pilot. She has some wild stories about him! He was a heavy smoker, heavy drinker, prankster and partier. Yes, even when on call. Amazingly, he was never fired. Instead, he retired from Pan Am during the bankruptcy. Kelsey, you would have loved all the snacks back then!

[@marlinweekley51]

Flew floats for years - putting a floatplane down on the ocean would be one of the most dangerous things I can think of - even 3’ rollers could flip you. Maybe if you had the calmest seas imaginable. As Sully proved you don’t need a floatplane to success and on water - at least if your close to shore. But getting out of the plane uninjuried is the first hurdle. Getting out of an upside down floatplane sinking fast with passengers is probably impossible with out some fatalities. Enjoyed the video and info re pan am 👍

[@michaelkostashuk2407]

PanAm also pioneered the computerized booking, reservation, and ticketing system that we all take for granted these internet days. PAA was probably one of the top three most innovative airlines in history.

[@robbroere1384]

Kelsey, you missed the PanAm role in Europe after WW2. The allies decided that Lufthansa was not allowed to operate into Berlin and PanAm took up the role, flying in my youth (60/70’s) as I can remember with a lots of B727 flights from Berlin to Hamburg, Frankfurt and Munchen and also to other European destinations including Amsterdam where I used to see them daily. Still also remember the first ever B747, PanAm naturally, into Amsterdam that brought the Airport and surrounding roads to a standstill and got me even more exited on aviation. Fast forward to 2012 on 1 August and I had the honor now working for Emirates to be part of the official delegation to fly the first ever commercial A380 into Amsterdam. this again was a historic moment that brought the airport to a standstill. PanAm although I never flew them left a lasting impression on me.

[@markhamstra1083]

Well, having an ocean under a seaplane or float plane gives you a possibility of a survivable crash, but the sea state will often preclude anything that could be called a successful landing.

[@chrisfry1768]

Pan Am's 1st Flight was 97 years ago yesterday, 1927-10-19

[@brucedelaney9606]

Excellent presentation Kelsey. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

[@Winfried-54]

I flew in may 1990 with PanAm from Frankfurt (Germany) to JFK on a 747. Great Crew. I miss PanAm. Greetings from good old Germany 🇩🇪

[@hq109]

Great video, keep up the good works 👍👍👍

[@ae1tpa92gwtom2]

Im fortunate enough to have experienced the Pan Am Terminal at JFK and have flown on Pan Am, life sure was different bk in those days.

[@THELIFEOFPRICE]

Awesome story time!

[@luis_e_jgd_mta3508]

Definitely loved the video. Please make video like this for TWA Airlines.

[@kimrnhof107]

Never flew Pan Am, my father was an airline captain in SAS. I grew up in the 1950-and 60 - SAS was quite like Pan AM - luxury all the way through - The Summer before I started at University, I worked as a dishwasher at SAS catering, I stod at a conveyer belt - and sorted cups an bowl into metal net baskets, that where sent into the dishwashing machine. You could tell the level at luxury of the airline, which containers you were working on. Pan AM's were always good - they always had 2 small chocolate sweets on their trays, not everyone ate them, my position on the belt was the first - I got all the ones that were left !! 20 years later I flew to New York on a charter airline (I don't remember the name) But it was a 747 and the seatbelts had Pan Am stamped into them ! The company had gone !

[@bunkie2100]

You may have known my Father, Viggo Hansen who ran SAS Catering in North America and who was the “SAS Master Chef” who showed up in various SAS ads in the ‘50s and ‘60s. That’s assuming you worked in the flight kitchen at JFK (originally in hangar 2 then hangar 18 and, later at Marriott in building 370) I worked for Marriott catering during the summers of ‘71-75.

[@EM-od6gu]

I was 10 and flew my favorite plane the 747 Pan Am Heathrow to Miami May 1985….And it happened to be the retirement flight for the captain. After landing he let me in the cockpit and then he left…I was all alone lol…he said don’t touch any levers before he left and it took about about 5 minutes for the attendant to find me since I was under age and was supposed to be accompanied lol THAT WAS AWESOME unaccompanied for 5 min in the cockpit lol….did someone get in trouble ?

[@brod5352]

I started to work for Continental Airlines in June of 1984. That was just after Texas Air had purchased Continental and filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy. They hired me into the reservations department and I worked there for 10 years as a domestic and Intl. reservations agent and trainer. This was also during the great merger of many airlines. Texas Air went crazy purchasing NY Air, People Xpress so they could gain access to Newark Terminal C. I remember the company paying me to spend 10 weeks in Newark to help with the customer service disaster that happens when you cancel as many flights as CO did during those early days. They had these cards with about 20 CO meatballs on them and scratched off one of them and whatever city popped up you got a free roundtrip flight to that city. I used to fly non-rev out to Guam and then down to Palau ( Belau) to go scuba diving all the time. I can't imagine what it's like to try and fly non-rev these days. ;o)

[@KS-ie8mo]

Super interesting video. I am old enough to remember PanAm, but too young to understand what was going on with the business. Thank you Kelsey for another great video. I always look forward to the next one. I love your channel!

[@lesley-annemclelland857]

I remember living in Hong Kong in the early 1970's and two things spring out to me about Pan Am during that period. Firstly they were the first airline to fly the gorgeous 747 into Hong Kong. There was a problem with flying into hong Kong however, the airport at the time, Kai Tak, had one of the shortest commercial runways in the world which meat that a 747 could not take off fully laden they were, if memory serves me right, restricted to being half full for take off. The second thing I remem,ber about Pan Am was their round the world flights. In Hong Kong one of the English newspapers would print every day all the shipping arrivals and departures and they would do the same for aircraft arrivals and departures. It was from this that I found out that Pan Am actually flew two round the world flights, one leaving JFK and heading East and the other, naturally, leaving JFK and heading West. Pan Am was the only airline that ever did that. There was nothing more exhilerating than standing at the Hong Kong Flying Club and watching all the flight arrivals flying the "Checker board" arrival. That was so cool! When the Pan Am 747's started flying in the cool level just went up a few levels.🤩

[@Peter_Vidgeon]

I remember standing on the observation deck above Terminal one on 12th. January 1970 to watch the very first Pan Am 747 arrive, albeit a bit late. Nevertheless, it was an awesome sight. Little did I know that in 1973 I started flying in one as cabin crew, later to become a Cabin Service Director on it, until I retired. Certainly a memorable aircraft.

[@verenaeissinger2013]

I stayed a few months ago at the TWA Hotel at JFK. I wish they would've saved the Pan Am World Port and did something similar as the TWA flight center. I made sure to make a trip over to the Cradle of Aviation Museum just to be able to see their Pan Am exhibit while in New York. 😀

[@anselrod5699]

You got it right, as a passanger fflying in the 60s and 70s was get dressed up and know you are special to be flying. Now it's like taking a city bus.

[@mdruryscs]

That was an amazing history lesson and so interesting. You're so right about PanAm and Boeing 747 being so iconic. Thanks for sharing Kelsey!

[@karenm2669]

One of these days I’m going to see my younger self on someone’s historical video 🫤 I don’t know how I feel about that 😅. In any case, my family flew Pan Am & BOAC many times. I was a barefoot tomboy tree-climbing ex-pat kid in the Caribbean but always had to wear a starched dress, white ankle socks, & ribbons in my hair whenever we flew.

[@BitwiseMobile]

I think the transition from people travelling in more formal dress to more casual dress happened in the mid to late 70s. Growing up I remember there being commercials all the time about family travel on the airlines. They were pushing it really big - why drive across country when you can fly in style? If that wasn't a direct tagline, there was probably something close to that at the time. Obviously when travelling with kids formal dress is more of a challenge, and if you want to attract those types of folks you had to expect some more casual dress. My first flight ever was from Los Angeles to San Diego on a Pan Am jet in 1981. You could still smoke back then and they served you food even on the short trips. We got peanuts and a drink on the short trips, but at least you got something. I made that trip about 2 dozen times more over the years with various airlines, but nothing beats the first experience, am I right? The last time I flew was just post 911 and the experience was so bad that I vowed to never fly again unless I absolutely had to - I'm talking life or death levels of need. From what I understand the passenger experience has only gotten worse, and with the Covid 19 tyranny if you look at a FA wrong you could get blacklisted. Yeah, that's one privilege I choose not to use.

[@BitwiseMobile]

I told my wife about all my glorious air travel in the 80s and early 90s. She now wants to fly (she's never flown), but I told her unless we get 1st class it's going to be a cattle call. If I felt like I was just cargo being hauled in 2002 then I can only imagine what it will be like now. I travelled business mostly (when they created that class) which is sort of a cross between 1st class and economy. More leg room, less seats per row sort of thing. I don't even know if they still have that class anymore.

[@MrKayakmr]

Excellent history lesson, thank you!😃🙏

[@terrygivens132]

Thanks Kelsey. Super interesting as I always wondered what happened to PanAm

[@QBAN2010]

This was a depressing topic, but a wonderful video! Great job…!!!!!!!

[@debrabaker1009]

Great video, I flew Pan Am from San Francisco to Honolulu and back in 1965 when I was 18 what a treat that was. I was alone on that airplane meeting my girlfriend in Hawaii. What fun to think about it?

[@GavinComer]

Very Interesting, thanks so much for the vid.

[@rf159a]

Kelsey you forgot Pan Am made it into space!! 😂 The Orion Space Clipper from "2001 A Space Odyssey"!

[@billcooke4413]

Kelsey thank you! love the channel.