Sunday, October 11, 2009

The Glamorous Days of Flight

Back in the early days of passenger flights, taking a flight was a glamorous event. Dressing up for your journey was expected - suits, hats, pearls....and you were served champagne and ate with silverware, not plastic cutlery. Customers on board planes were treated extremely well, as they were often privileged enough to afford the price of flying.

The first female stewardess was hired by United Airlines in 1930 and from then on, airlines preferred ladies serving their customers. There were specific hiring practices and most airlines followed these strict rules. A stewardess had to be a female, a registered nurse, under 26 years old and single! Chatelaine magazine dubbed the ladies, "little housekeepers in the clouds". They were impeccably dressed and when the mini skirt became popular in the sixties, flight attendants became sexy.

Today, the novelty has worn off for most of us. Although I still love to travel and fly, I admit that I prefer first class (insert snob here), and the whole airport experience has become unpleasant. The business of flying is so huge and corporate, the little niceties have disappeared. Let's reflect.





 






That's glamorous.

4 comments:

Alicia @ boylerpf said...

I remember the day when it was a huge deal to fly. You wanted the absolute nicest clothes to wear and shopped just for the flight. I also remember wanting to be a stewardess and even applied in my youth to be a Northwest flight attendant. It was a rigorous application. One had to be a minimum of 5'8", not weigh more than 125 pounds and of course, had to wear makeup and clothes well. It was quite the coup to be accepted and the monetary rewards were great. What a cool post!!

Keith said...

Hey there. Great post. Hope you've enjoyed the weekend. Cheers!

Witchcrafted Life said...

Wonderful post, it reminds me yet again why I adore - and long for - life several decade ago. I greatly admire that (in general) people (back then) took a higher level of pride (or at the very least dressed substantially more elegantly then they usually do today) in how they dressed for events such as an airplane trip or even just a night out at the movie theater.


Wishing you a splendid week ahead, sweet dear!
♥ Jessica

RobinEsque said...

Who can forget reading "Silver Wings for Vicki" ... a classic young girls' book that captured the excitement of the new era of passenger flying -- think Nancy Drew of the sky!