The Jet Age is Here! Flying on a Pan Am Clipper

[@casper01713]

Those were the days of flying. Lots of space, good food, pampering, and quality of service. Today, everything went down the tube.

[@AlexMafija]

You could fly first or Business class which is about as much as you would have paid for economy back then. They are not to Bad actually.

[@WhiteActivist]

Actually, First Class flights today are cheaper than the flights back then. So, you CAN have that kind of service any time you want it !!!

[@PV96]

I remember when I flew the first time with my mother. We flew from Seattle to Chicago on United then, Chicago to Atlanta on Delta. The year was 1972. I was just going into seventh grade. The United flight was on a 747. It was so cool. We got to go upstairs to the lounge and I got to go into where the Captain was. We bought new clothes just for the flight. My mother actually wore her pearl necklace. Sadly, no such glamour today.

[@santiagogarces5596]

yeah, but try to pay it

[@nycitalianess7825]

Ditto! And Pan Am ACTUALLY & THOROUGHLY "INSPECTED" each Jet before takeoff, with LEGALLY TRAINED & CERTIFIED English-Speaking Professionals who were NOT on opioids, nor hired for cheap at The Border!!! *1958 stood for 100% High Quality, Competence, Entrustment, & Integrity. *2021 stands for 100% Greed, Ineptness, Carelessness, & ZERO Humanity. Time Machine, PLEASE!!!!!!!!!

[@truckerman8301]

A magic airline that sadly passed into aviation history.

[@joemclaughlin995]

Class!From an age when international air travel was something to behold.We still miss you Pan Am.

[@goldy_on_pc930]

Its all glamourous until you realize how much higher the chance for your plane to crash was

[@tashalynn29]

Amen

[@katyu16]

I remember a flight aboard a Pan Am 747 from London to JFK in 1981. I was 17, alone and having the time of my life returning to L.A. from Berlin. Smooth flying all the way, blue skies, beautiful all the way listening to The Carpenters on my headphones while eating Filet Mignon (the Stewardess took a liking to me and gave me a first class dinner.) thinking I would love to do this all the time...and I did. I've travelled all over the world, never owned a house, never lost one either...NO REGRETS.

[@wholeNwon]

Congratulations and best wishes.

[@ericbauerfeld3599]

A lot of people dream of such a lifestyle, but feel they are unable to finance it. Did you save up/inherit the funds? Or did you just find work in various different places when you bounced around?

[@discplayersports]

Flew to Germany 7 times, First class during college to visit my brother stationed there. My father was a Pan Am employee. Best company ever. Shame deregulation destroyed the airlines.

[@katyu16]

@@ericbauerfeld3599 No. My God, I was Seventeen at the time when I was on that flight. Mother paid for the ticket to get rid of me for the summer. It was the best investment of her life.

[@dotsyjmaher]

@@katyu16 🤣 It was great..I am glad you have such a BEAUTIFUL memory ..it was a special time and place....

[@lrg3834]

I have flown on both the 707 and DC-8, and one thing I can tell you for absolute certainty about the ambient cabin experience is this: it is far from quiet! Vibration-free, sure. Quiet? Not a chance.

[@markmh835]

I loved the DC8!

[@mlubli]

They are comparing it to the previous generation of propeller engines

[@dr.wilfriedhitzler1885]

Compared to Propeller-Plains with combustions engines it was smooth and quiet.

[@415radios8]

I wish I would of have flown on the 707 and DC-8. Your lucky.

[@timburr4453]

Wish Pan-Am was still around. Such an iconic symbol of America and the Jet Age

[@firstname2807]

8:21 "celebrating the queens birthday" Its the same queen in 2019...

[@ardeladimwit]

8:28 you can see QEII mounted for review of her troops

[@scoobycarr5558]

The legendary Jet Clipper from Pan Am - back in the day the fabulous airborne version of the Twentieth Century Limited.

[@markadams7597]

Great vid. Thanks for posting: I miss flying Pan Am. "The year 1954.." as a 1957 Dodge Custom (1:02) drives by. Pan Am humor; excellent!

[@Jachimma]

Thank you for this video!! X

[@andrewsmith4242]

Pan Am the best airline ever. It is such a shame we no longer have it.

[@tashalynn29]

❤ preach

[@jjgreek1]

Crazy that the queen shown is still the same queen today

[@Ben-xe8ps]

Just to point out that this is a Pan Am publicity video and therefore shows everything at it's very best. Almost everything shown aboard the aircraft in this video is the FIRST CLASS (F class) cabin. There is an economy Y cabin at the back shown briefly at 6.52 with 3 X 3 seating and no lobster or free champagne! You will see no table cloth and just a tray meal. The strange powder rooms with no doors are fake. The lounge scene of well dressed young couples squeezed round those tables enjoying champagne and canapes are not realistic in that First class cabins were not normally filled with well dressed young couples but by suited middle age or elderly businessmen who were not normally inclined to squeeze round tables in the small forward lounge. The seat pitch in the First class cabin was around 38-42 inches on Boeing 707's - not sufficient for the trolley to be pulled in front of the passengers as shown at 6.39.

[@dotsyjmaher]

Coach was VERY nice, too, then...I USUALLY FLEW FIRST...EXCEPT ON THE SHORT 727'S I GOT CLAUSTROPHOBIC IN FIRST IN THE SHORT 727'S

[@k.h.4698]

Coach class back then was on a par of quality as modern day business class. Even in coach, you would get those roasted steaks, fried chicken, and baked potato and dessert with ice cream. Today, if you get anything at all, it’s a burrito in a bag, or small portion of pasta, and a cookie.

[@AfroSamurai1089]

As someone that lives in the depths of the Southern Hemisphere, I will forever be amazed that American flughts are 6-7 hours to Europe.

[@jackjordan9889]

Flying used to be enjoyable before being treated like cattle with no leg room. The food service was unbelievable and they had actual stewardesses who treated you with common courtesy. As a child I flew on one of the early Pan Am 707's in 1964 from Tokyo to the USA. It was unbelievable. Truly the golden age of flying commercial.

[@lucah1824]

I often compare TWA to the White Star Line, however if TWA was the White Star Line of airlines, then Pan Am was the Cunard of airlines. All four were elegant, luxurious, and actually cared about customer service.

[@tashalynn29]

That 💯

[@vtramell3196]

I still remember the days when flying was a pleasure. All the airline personnel were pleasant and efficient. There was enough leg room so that when the person in front reclined their seat, their head was not in your lap. Even in coach meals were served with silverware and consisted of meat, potatoes, vegetables and a dessert. People actually dressed nicely for their trip. Today, all the airline personnel seem annoyed at everything. The airlines are cramming more rows of seats into an aircraft by reducing leg room. IMO seats are so cramped that they are now unsafe in the event of an emergency. Meals are no longer complementary. They consist of stale sandwiches which the airlines overcharge for. They are probably stale because few buy them so the airlines keeps them for subsequent flights. To be fair, it is not only the airlines. Passengers have become more inconsiderate, demanding and rude.

[@DmdMixZ]

Well I'm flying a lot (mostly Lufthansa, SAS and Eurowings) and I can't say anything bad about the airline personnel here. From the counter to the crew on board they're always friendly and professional. However with the amount of stupid and rude passengers I see, I could totally understand if one of them lost their shit. Also if you don't book the cheapest ticket you still get decent meals (without the silverware of course). I think we just got so used to paying less and less for our tickets that we don't even want to pay premium economy or something like that anymore, although the prices didn't change at all. You can get the same service you used to get 20 - 30 years ago for roughly the same price you would have it for 20 - 30 years ago. People just somehow want to book the cheapest flight and still demand the same service. I always fly premium eco or biz (if I can get a decent deal or have enough miles to upgrade) and I really don't have anything bad to say... just don't expect the same service on a 18€ ryanair flight.

[@k.h.4698]

I think the passengers have more reason to complain, rather than the airlines. Considering the fact that the airlines are always finding ways to “take things away” from the comfort tears of the past, I’m not blaming the passengers for reacting as they do.

[@trimule]

"airline personnel seem annoyed at everything" Really? Gee, I wonder why. A major flight attendants union is giving martial arts/self defense training courses so they can defend themselves from the type of scum that are flying these days. One female lunatic sucker punched a flight attendant in the face and knocked two of her teeth out. As to food and services, you get what you pay for. After deregulation, the business model became "price competition". Lots more people at much lower prices. Todays air travel is the result.

[@sfenodonte]

The world has changed, once flying means eating well and being comfortable, today you spend little pay for everything you use you are uncomfortable and you are slammed at every landing to be quicker. .... A lot of savings. and the flight is 1-2 hours .. but if I want to spend more even twice as much ...... and I want an old treatment like legroom, good food and drink 😋 and a comfortable flight because I can't have it? in some sections only economic companies ????? ' because....

[@darioburatovich2240]

....mmmmh....stale sandwiches.....doh !!

[@veronicawest3749]

Ah the good ole days when customer service reigned supreme comfortable seats, pleasant flight crew good food and no masks...

[@ezamgps1]

Smoking allowed😊

[@LMays-cu2hp]

Very nice.

[@adalbertomodesusa]

They convinced me. From now on, I only fly 1954 PanAm !

[@arnaudmoos8098]

Great advert in every aspect !

[@glenoidfossa1781]

I first flew PanAm on my way to college in '65 from HNL to LAX at the age of 18. We had engine trouble a 3rd of the way and had to return. I remember it was Rainbow economy for $110,00 and included champagne and dinner. Fresh fruit to follow. The sound system was Sony and had the best variety of music and the movie was Sabrina on 9" BW monitors on the coat and hat rack (no bins). Too much carryon these days. Those were indeed the years of flying.

[@hewitc]

They should charge extra for carry on and make checked baggage free, The flight delays are caused by the slowness of people trying to fit their bags up above. It always makes the lines slow.

[@onebosnit]

Now we fly...as close to one another, and as cramped...as SARDINES IN A CAN!

[@maxsdad538]

The Pan Am Clipper was a flying boat, not a 707. Clipper service was simply the call sign for the transoceanic flights.

[@reveurerrant3323]

Quality people, not the riff-raff of today

[@JCAH1]

Even if they were (probably) hand picked actors in this video, folks dressed and acted far better back then. Less cluelessness, less selfishness, less obesity, more courtesy, more common sense, more well-behaved children, and people actually flushing the toilets after using them. No fist fights, no butt cracks on display, no tatoo'd and pierced faces, no swearing.

[@tashalynn29]

​@JCAH1 you forgot: No screens, no entitlement, and no tuning everyone , including safety announcements out with those stupid earbuds hanging out of everyone's ears looking like tampons minus the string

[@grandmadragon]

I flew on one as a toddler. My mother described the plane as very luxurious. We had a private compartment with a sofa and armchairs, chrystal, silve r, and china. Our window fell in, my mother screamed and the steward and my father ran in and put the window back in. I was standing by the window and ran to my mother right away so was safe!!!! God was good to us. We were coming back to the States from Congo after WWI I.

[@WNDWSTIDN]

Nice cabin & nice service. Unlike today that flying on cramped seat (if using LCC). Playing cards, puzzle, or talking each other. Unlike today which uses IFE (if not fly with LCC).

[@trilobyte3851]

Yeah..just flew United from Houston to Panama City, Panama - a 4 hour flight - no food and you had to pay to watch satellite tv - no free movies...

[@tobijones1193]

Fabulous

[@lisalu910]

05:10 - 05:33 Best part of the whole clip. How did they get that shot, I wonder?

[@jamiecoyne1494]

So jealous of the coffee they had. Unlike the liquid mud we are served today.

[@kbunky69]

When women wore gloves and men wore suit and tie on the plane.

[@markmh835]

I still dress in a suit and tie to fly. And it is no surprise that I get exceptional service, and am the one chosen to get "bumped up" to First Class for free. Why others haven't figured this out by now beats me.

[@Aussiemarco]

There’s some routes today where guys and girls barely wear anything. They’re the flights to avoid.

[@bonghungk7544]

Back the good old days. You could bring almost anything on you when you board. No terrorist fear

[@hewitc]

Back then people checked all of their belongings. You don't see people boarding carrying their life's possessions with them.

[@bonghungk7544]

@@hewitc it was a figure of a speech that I made earlier. Obviously they are not going to bring with them their piano 🎹 😆

[@Majorhavoktv]

Wow just wow!!!

[@ursulasmith6402]

A lot better back than.

[@dotsyjmaher]

That is why we were not allowed to tell we were employees..free coach $10 first...anywhere in the world... The food was FAAAAAAAABULOUS

[@Mr91495osh]

Working for Pan American Airlines was hot stuff.

[@k.h.4698]

I took a PanAm flight to China in 1985, and that was near the end of the airline’s existence, unfortunately. PanAm attendants had the best uniforms, really professional and high class. They made passengers feel welcome and special. I guess deregulation (elimination of the Civil Aeronautics Board) and then Reagan firing all the air traffic controllers right after he took office really took its toll and permanently damaged air travel forever forward. Look at nowadays… no more meals per se (they optionally “throw” you a burrito in a bag, if anything), charge you plenty for the privilege of bringing some luggage with you, and can’t even handle money any more. You even have to scan your own boarding pass yourself at the gate. I don’t think the flight attendants want to do anything at all except tell you to clear the aisles and remain seated. They must have the same union that gas stations have that created pump-your-own gas and eliminated checking your water and oil for free. America WAS great before Wall Street moguls took all that away from us, and banks used to pay decent interest on your savings.

[@k.h.4698]

@Redlined997 C2S Well, in 1989, I was getting 11.75% on a certificate of deposit. And in 2006, I was getting 5.0%, and now it’s barely 0.06%

[@thewatcher5271]

Great Historical Video But When I Think Of The Pan Am Clipper, I Think Of The Boeing 314 & It's Unscheduled Round The World Flight.

[@joelkton1]

Flying today is the same as taking Greyhound.

[@hewitc]

People want cheap fares. Can't have luxury for cheap. If you're rich you can fly Emirates and get all the luxuries.

[@dotsyjmaher]

Worse...you can get off the bus

[@charlietu]

i hate it when cheap people whine about how they dislike air travel and blame the airlines. literally anyone can travel to anywhere in the world for $500 (one way) ... you get what you pay for. want a quality flight experience? get a business class seat.

[@jakeianmartinez9902]

charlie katsu #preach

[@gabcove]

I was definitely born in the wrong era

[@wholeNwon]

I lived through it and wouldn't return unless I could choose what to revive.

[@JohnSmith-jy4qj]

Chances are if you lived back then you wouldn’t have been flying around in luxury and staying at the Ritz...

[@ericwright2936]

I wonder this took was filmed on the GROUND!

[@jimm6386]

The flying public at that time were the top 10%ers of their era. Rarely could an average person afford an airline ticket. The jet airliner was then the newest toy of the bourgeoisie. The schmaltz about the noise level and the comfort and the smoothness of course were things thought up on Madison Avenue to augment the 'flying experience'. Jets today do have noise, just as they did then. They do respond to air pressure changes no matter how high they fly. Of course not like a DC3 did but the "experience' was enhanced by the polite and courteous service from the staff. The meals were cooked to order - your choice of prime rib and or roast turkey with stuffing and mashed. Tough choice! So if they made a profit back then with that kind of service, what would it take to retrieve that service on a newly christened "1000" flight today? What would the ticket cost? Would you find anti-maskers on board disrupting the "experience" or would the on-board FAA agent handle the background noise?

[@ditto1958]

I feel like these days, even on flight 1000, the “paper flight,” I would have no leg room and the food would suck

[@AyeCarumba221]

Yeah, those days are gone for sure.

[@lesamisdelacuisineprovenca9534]

6:37... Caviar and lobster... The most luxury menu... Some wine with it.... Sparkling wine called Champagne... Dom Perignon 1947

[@Ben-xe8ps]

What is so special about Caviar and Lobster being served in First Class on a longhaul flight except that it was a US carrier and not Singapore Airlines or Emirates providing it? The champagne was unlikely to have been Dom Perignon 1947.

[@hewitc]

Sounds like the service they had on the Concorde.

[@JoeHarkinsHimself]

Allowing for inflation, today's first class, flatbed international travel, with great personal service like that in this video, plus flat bed in a semi-private compartment, etc, is cheaper than today's economy class. In fact, the 8+ hours flight I took last week from Venice to Newark, in terms of 1958 dollars versus 2023, the flight was cheaper. To quote from an credible online source, $1 in 1958 is worth $10.45 in 2023. This is because the annual inflation rate between 1958 and 2023 was 3.68%. The total inflation between 1958 and 2023 was 935.38%. An economy class, non-stop, round trip (EWR-VCE-EWR) today can be bought for $950. A First Class ticket about $9,000.

[@samuelsheppard3539]

that same atlantic air ocean has become very overcrowded

[@charlietu]

i hate it when cheap people whine about how they dislike air travel and blame the airlines. literally anyone can travel to anywhere in the world for $500 (one way) ... you get what you pay for. want a quality flight experience? get a business class seat.

[@arnaudmoos8098]

Five minute ovens = Microwaves ☺

[@hewitc]

Not microwaves. They weren't invented yet, at least not for cooking. Even today they don't use them. I think they might interfere with the radio signals

[@dotsyjmaher]

@@hewitc True

[@NSApple]

Rumble must be the way forward

[@ATLcentury334]

Not a snarling, swearing trumpette to be found.

[@ewaf88]

Lovely post from the year I was born. I wonder what the passenger's conversation was. 'Ooh wonderful way to travel - and did you know my husband only had to sell our house to pay for the tickets'

[@ardeladimwit]

wasn't all that expensive. You exaggerate. 707 was the working mule of military and commercial flights.

[@ewaf88]

@@ardeladimwit Well if you look it up a one way flight across the pond could cost as much as an inflation adjusted $3000. Here in the UK flying did really be one affordable for the masses until the introduction of Jumbo jets so we're talking about the 1970s . Even the ultra cheap Freddie Laker SkyTrain cost and adjusted £995 in the 70s

[@ardeladimwit]

sorry, don't buy it. my sister flew on 707 in 62/63 and my father delivered newspapers with family of 6 kids. stop the bullshiting.

[@ewaf88]

@@ardeladimwit And you can stop being so aggressive. Here in the UK it was far too expensive to fly until the 70s.

[@Ben-xe8ps]

@@ewaf88 For you maybe, not for others. Please then explain the cheap package holidays to Spain and other Mediterranean destinations of the 1960's. using the low cost holiday charter flights of airlines such as Court Line. Laker, Britannia, Channel Airways, Dan Air, Caledonian, British Eagle etc with in-flight service delights such as the infamous 'seat back' catering?

[@mikekirwan461]

Nice food, well dressed passengers...Except for the smokers, nice.

[@Ben-xe8ps]

I really miss smoking on aircraft.

[@hewitc]

The smokers used to ruin public places. Movies were filled with smoke so it was hard to see the picture. The hard core smokers have mostly died off.

[@saulfernandez8876]

the good ole times....passengers treated with the very best

[@packingten]

ALL LUXURY has disappeared!, Airplanes and everything else!. Travel was luxurious trains,planes,boats.Take anyone and see!, We took a train there were people in the vista liner who hadn't bathed in a cpl weeks or more not from here!.People go out in PJ's anymore they just don't care what they look like so sad what we have become!.

[@markmh835]

Yes, I would just love to see women board planes wearing white gloves nowadays, as I'm sure you or your wife do.

[@TravellingNomad81]

1:18 I have never seen that handwriting gadget! What is that called?

[@hewitc]

And they were still using telegraph with Morse code.

[@ceebee23]

Everything is relative..... they were quieter than prop aircraft and far less vibration ... flew higher and therefore less impacted by weather ... and a LOT faster ... but still a long haul in a seat is a long haul... but huge step forward.

[@mitchyoung93]

Jose Ferrer narrating?

[@Elektrikvik_74]

Call coral call Carol call Carol

[@BalticFilms144]

I wish I could've experienced the short lived jet age of the 1960s and the introduction of commercial air travel in the 1930s. Flying today is dreadful.

[@lisalu910]

Flying is many times safer - not to mention more affordable - today, than it was back then. Also, you see those folks playing cards and chess and reading magazines? That was ALL the entertainment you had for your 6-1/2 hour flight. No movie, no IFE, no devices. Not everything that has changed is for the worse.

[@marcinna8553]

Would be nice to go back and travel like this, but it was quite expensive in its time. Basically there was no "economy" class by today's standards. Or maybe we can say today we have "sub-economy", cramped but quite cheap. Frankly I'd rather spend my money at the destination than on amenities en route. You can still fly in style today by buying a business or first class ticket.

[@Sch2155]

It is class, called first and you will still pay for it or not fly.

[@dave1001]

There was only one class of flying then - the rich class

[@Ben-xe8ps]

Wrong. The aircraft shown, a Pan-Am Boeing 707, was configured in two classes, First and Coach. Everything shown in this video is the First Class cabin. At the back there are people sitting 3 X 3 in much less spacious seats who are not being served lobster and champagne.

[@hewitc]

They had coach but it was too expensive for people who weren't "upper middle class"

[@helviopacifico6560]

...PAN AMERICA.. A era da Aviaçao a Jato.. 🍸💜🍰...Brasil..

[@Idelia412]

Boy have things changed now. Cramped seating, lousy food or nothing at all, and unruly passengers,

[@angieharris8015]

Ahhhh...but then they start letting the bus-people fly and downhill it alllll went.

[@carpdude73]

How could it take 6 1/2 hours in 1958 when today you can't get there in that little time? The time to take the NY to London is 7.5 hours if you are lucky!

[@Hithere-ek4qt]

Delays in takeoff and landing? Too many flights, too many people.

[@haboab0216]

Because people back then were lot skinnier therefor less weight on board but now people lot heavier extra weight causes plane speed lot slower

[@haboab0216]

@Buddy Austin lol wow wrote this comment two years ago thanks for bring it up, but it's true lol

[@FranciscoCamino]

Nowadays is safer but packed in coach :-(

[@JohnSmith-jy4qj]

It only got better buddy, think about it back then you would have paid thousands upon thousands when for 1/4 or 1/2 the price you can get first class which is very comfortable and very safe in 2019

[@Volkaer]

Yeah but to be fair I don't think 99% of the people in the comments section would be able to afford what it used to cost to fly (myself included)

[@barrydimmock5771]

The theory of relativity