The airline industry sure has changed a lot over the years, both for better and worse. Travel is more accessible than ever before, and on the high-end, premium travel is more comfortable than ever before. However, flying in general has just become another form of transportation, and isn’t treated in the same way it used to be.
This is why it’s sometimes fun to look back at what the airline industry used to be like. Most old airline stuff seems genuinely cool, but then you also have some pretty cringeworthy stuff (like the below Delta ad), which makes you realize that we’ve come a long way.
In this post:
Pan Am’s old training videos
YouTube user Pan Am Museum Foundation is uploading all kinds of retro airline videos to YouTube, including old airline ads and training videos. Arguably the most interesting are Pan Am’s training videos. In each video, you first see how a customer interaction shouldn’t be handled, and then you see how a customer interaction should be handled.
For example, below is Pan Am’s training video about how to deal with a passenger who requests an upgrade.
Then below is Pan Am’s training video about how to deal with a passenger who misses their connection.
Then below is Pan Am’s training video about how to deal with a passenger smoking in the non-smoking section of the plane.
Other interesting Pan Am employee videos
In addition to the above videos that show how you should and shouldn’t handle various situations, there are a couple of other videos I found especially interesting. For example, below is a video about Pan Am service techniques. Watching this sure reminded me that major US airlines have some room for improvement nowadays. 😉
Then there’s also a video about “Shop Talk,” specifically about how employees should be careful about what they say in front of passengers. It even talks about how employees should behave when they’re traveling as non-revs. More than just about anything else, I think this is something that many airline employees could use a refresher on.
Bottom line
I’m a sucker for old airline ads and training videos. Some I enjoy for the cringe factor, and some I enjoy because they’re genuinely pretty impressive, and a good reminder of how service at airlines should be. I find these Pan Am videos to be particularly interesting, since they present both how things should and shouldn’t be done, which you don’t otherwise often see.
Anyone else enjoy these Pan Am videos as much as I do?
(Tip of the hat to View from the Wing)
Oh that smoking video... how annoying that entitled b... pax! In Jan/1980 we were traveling Madrid-Rio in a 707 in the non-smoking section. A smoking passenger would not stop no matter how many requests were made. So we basically grabbed and took the cigarette away by force...
Interesting for him to say burgundy is heavier than bordeaux. It is definitely the other way around.
Im surprised he didnt show them how to properly open the champagne bottle.
Economy seats were larger than domestic first seats today. “ I have a very important meeting in Brussels. It’s a million dollar deal and my commission is ten thousand dollars. I can’t miss my connection. “
Oh sure, that Delta ad is so cringy. In reality, all the woke crowd has done is cowed the wimpy corporations into fascist submission to some norm defined by easily offended sissies. Social media is full of people happily posting unedited, "cringy" content without remorse that makes those fun ads seem like kids play. More evidence of a lowest common denominator society. So, nothing has been gained at all, except Bens Karen crowd happily patting...
Oh sure, that Delta ad is so cringy. In reality, all the woke crowd has done is cowed the wimpy corporations into fascist submission to some norm defined by easily offended sissies. Social media is full of people happily posting unedited, "cringy" content without remorse that makes those fun ads seem like kids play. More evidence of a lowest common denominator society. So, nothing has been gained at all, except Bens Karen crowd happily patting themselves on the back at their "success" that they won't cringe anymore.
And all I get from the Delta ad is optimizing the fares so this guy can save the most and still visit all his 6 girls.
You seem big mad. You okay. Also as soon as I saw woke in your post, I knew this was going to be useless.
Mid 70s /90s Flew Pan Am every chance I got From JFK to Frankfurt Germany, Copenhagen, Seattle, San Francisco, Denver,all Central America Countrys,Compared to Tiger Air lines, and a C130 you fell in love with Pan Am
We all have the internet and have been watching these videos. Good report captain obvious.
We all have the Internet. Right.
Not all of us were aware of these or watched them. I, for one, just found out about them now and am super happy I did.
Must be super enjoyable living your life assuming you represent the rest of humanity.
How far have we come.
Situations today with be solved by a flight crew citing bogus and non existent FAA, DOT, TSA regulation before involving law enforcement. If it occur midair, there will be a possibility of diversion, especially the misconnect guy and maybe the smoker.
On the other hand, the passengers too would have punched the flight attendant and call names.
And if Mr. Anderson were to fly in 2022, the delay (per airline)...
How far have we come.
Situations today with be solved by a flight crew citing bogus and non existent FAA, DOT, TSA regulation before involving law enforcement. If it occur midair, there will be a possibility of diversion, especially the misconnect guy and maybe the smoker.
On the other hand, the passengers too would have punched the flight attendant and call names.
And if Mr. Anderson were to fly in 2022, the delay (per airline) will always be caused by weather somewhere regardless its mechanical or not and they will not put you on other airlines unless you are WorldPass Executive Diamond Clipper 1K and demand it.
The first part relating to the smoker was fine. I would have removed it from her hand and stubbed it out in her coffee.
I can't wait for the videos on how to handle hijacking situations.
Wrong: The FA in Passenger 57
Correct: Complying with the demands and letting them in the cockpit.
I was on a flight in 2002 where one of the f/as explained to me how to use the hot water maker to scald someone in the face, and gave me a bottle of red wine to use as a club if anyone tried to storm the cockpit.
That was not a fun flight.
First there’s Karen demanding a free upgrade. No one needs to know, apart from all those around her who can hear.
Nowadays she would be claiming discrimination and whip out her cellphone. DYKWIA.
These have been recommend/showing up on my YouTube feed for several weeks. So if you're an AvGeek and just now learning about this it might help to have aviation related videos in your YouTube watch history so it knows to recommend stuff like this when it gets uploaded.
Ha- the World Pass woman reminded me of a late night check in ahead of me off the highway at a Comfort inn a few weeks back when she received no updates. ( Can't you see in your database that I am an elite Choice Privileges member?) Off track but funny how some things haven't changed :D
Upgrades*
I thought I was the only one. Been binging on these since the foundation launched the channel. Super addictive.
My first flight was on a Pan Am 747 JFK-LAX, remember it well. These videos are fantastic. After watching a few of these the YouTube algorithm led me to a few other PA promo films - there's a great one about Pan Am's 50th anniversary "Flight 50" pole-to-pole event in 1977 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Icu_44iVDA8
I may or may not have just had a happy accident in my pants because of this.
THANK YOU FOR THIS POST!!!!!
For some reason it's just showing the http link and not the videos.
User error. Restart phone.