The Golden Age of Air Travel

About The Golden Age of Air Travel

Give your memory a workout with The Golden Age of Air Travel: 15 multiple-choice questions with a mix of 7 easy, 7 medium, 1 hard questions, free to play right in your browser. Remember when flying was glamorous? Test your recall of the jet-set era of Pan Am, TWA, in-flight gourmet meals, and the dawn of the jumbo jet. Expect to spend about 7 minutes; every question comes with an explanation, so you learn something even when you miss.

A few sample questions

1. 1. Pan American World Airways was famously known by what shorter nickname that passengers used every day?

   Answer: Pan Am

   Pan American World Airways was universally called 'Pan Am' — a name that became synonymous with glamorous international air travel from the 1950s through the 1980s.

2. 2. Which Boeing jet airliner, introduced in 1958, is widely credited with launching the commercial jet age?

   Answer: Boeing 707

   The Boeing 707 entered commercial service in October 1958 with Pan Am, cutting transatlantic flight times roughly in half compared to propeller-driven aircraft and ushering in the jet age.

3. 3. The Boeing 747, nicknamed the 'Jumbo Jet,' made its first commercial flight in 1970. Which airline operated that historic maiden voyage?

   Answer: Pan Am

   Pan Am flew the very first commercial 747 service on January 22, 1970, from New York to London. The plane could carry more than 400 passengers, more than double any previous airliner.

4. 4. In the jet-set era, female cabin crew members were commonly called by what title?

   Answer: Stewardess

   The term 'stewardess' was the standard title for female flight attendants from the 1930s through the 1970s, when 'flight attendant' gradually became the preferred, gender-neutral term.

5. 5. Which legendary Italian fashion designer created the famously colorful, space-age uniforms worn by Braniff International stewardesses starting in 1965?

   Answer: Emilio Pucci

   Emilio Pucci, the Italian fashion house famous for its bold, colorful prints, designed Braniff International's stewardess uniforms beginning in 1965 as part of the airline's 'End of the Plain Plane' rebrand, making its crew among the most stylishly dressed in the world.

Things you'll learn along the way

• ✓TWA was originally founded as Transcontinental & Western Air in 1930. It was renamed Trans World Airlines in 1950 to reflect its expanding international routes.
• ✓Pan Am called its exclusive airport lounges the Clipper Club, a nod to the airline's famous flying boats of the 1930s and 40s called Clippers. Membership was originally invitation-only, and the lounges offered comfortable seating and drink service away from the boarding gates.
• ✓Even coach-class passengers in the 1960s and 1970s were served meals on real china with metal cutlery and linen napkins — a far cry from today's plastic trays, reflecting how airlines competed fiercely on service quality.