This is a very interesting book about the world of PAN AM airlines ... though I was alive during this time periods, my family was not a traveling family through the 1960s and 70s.
It is very interesting to read about the privileged world of air travel and how the airlines built their reputations and business models. Flight attendants were an integral part of the this experience. Also very interesting story about how the airlines and Vietnam War intersected. The flights of soldiers, and orphans back and forth across the globe was all new to me.
Come Fly the World: The Jet-Age Story of the Women of Pan Am. by Julia Cooke was not really what I had expected. This is a more serious in-depth look at the flight attendant and her role as a serious, educated woman, not just the attractive, flirting female that was portrayed in the airlines advertising at the time.
It was a new time in aviation history, we were flying around the country and across the ocean for the first time and the airlines were rivals for the business. They served fancy meals on transatlantic flights, they wanted to use the flight attendants as an attraction to their companies. But flight attendants have always been the people who need to know the safety of the plane, how to handle an emergency and medical experts. All that in addition to being friendly, serving food and drinks, and at the time looking a certain way. Passengers were often surprised to find out these women were college educated and just working these jobs to be able to travel and see the world.
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