Posted on 08/21/2014 7:19:24 PM PDT by DogByte6RER
Late 1960s: Economy Class Seating on a Pan-Am 747
The 1960's were barely done when Pan Am again set a standard the rest of the world was forced to follow. Pan American's Boeing B-747 Jumbo Jets brought down the cost of long distance air travel once again.
Source: Pan Am Historical Foundation
(Excerpt) Read more at retronaut.com ...
Piedmont never flew the L-1011.
Coming soon, standing seats. No, really.
I am always shocked to see what is on planes today...and it can be shocking...sometimes people are barely dressed, unkempt, smelly, etc. It is a different crowd and a different experience.
It was once a classy, enjoyable luxury....no more.
Sure...zeppelins had style.
Provided you didn’t mind several hundred thousand cubic feet of explosive hydrogen over your head.
Well, note in the back of the picture — an ashtray!!!!
The original image is Pan-Am propaganda created in a studio somewhere; it’s not a real aircraft.
Someone told me in the late 70s that in the near future, air travel would be as attractive as going by bus. Sadly, they turned out to be correct.
No headrests or seatbelts either - just like the cars, LOL.
Clearly a staged publicity photo. There would not be that large space in front of the first row and they would have SEAT BELTS!
Ah, I remember good old PSA, where the stewardesses WERE the attraction. So much so, that they used that in their advertising. Something about aisle seats?
I would love to see that now, it would give the feminazis coronaries, and much the same to the old harridans that make up the stewardess corps these days.
Stupid movies showing people conversing inside a flying C-130 always tee me off. No freaking way could you hold a normal conversation.
“we really move our tail for you!” Continental Airlines.
At least you could stretch your legs when riding on jump seats. Depending on the flight crew you could lay down and sleep on the floor.
To start with, the first photo was a mock-up, not an actual interior. And a lot of the headroom was at the expense of center overhead bins. And the overhead bins on the sides were much smaller.
The airlines made the money to afford this in two ways. First, with so many passengers on board, the per passenger cost was about halved, as long as jet fuel prices stayed low. The other thing was that 747s could carry a LOT of cargo, which was also big money.
The two things that stopped it dead in its tracks were the OPEC oil embargo, and Jimmy Carter’s double digit inflation. Both of which, truthfully, could be blamed on Carter, because OPEC, and everybody else, saw him as weak and spineless. Which he was.
Carter really derailed America from its course to the future. By the end of his time in office, the country was in spiritual depression. Fortunately, Ronald Reagan did much to bring us back, for which he is beloved.
Carter is just remembered as a pathetic man, a failure as a president and a person.
This configuration is nice. It really sucked when the center aisle seats were set up. Worst place to be then was in the left side wheel well seats. No legroom and pax and crew going aft to the facilities stepping all over your toes.
That would be preferable to the last time I flew commercial a couple weeks ago. So uncomfortable and cramped, took a day or two for my back to feel right again.
I think first test flight 69 and first Commercial flight in 1970. small difference
Must have been Delta. That’s a ways back...
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