A Step Back Into the Golden Age of Flight
Joe Cortez December 16, 2016
Former airline aircraft included piano lounges, powder rooms, and private cabins
As airlines are working toward creating more luxurious cabins towards the front of an aircraft, a number of archive images recently discovered from Boeing takes a look at the glamour of flying in the past. Published on the blog Messy Nessy, the images depict flying when lounges and legroom were available to all.
The trip down memory lane begins with the 1930’s era Boeing Clipper, flown by the former Pan-American World Airlines (Pan Am). Archive photos aboard the aircraft show full dining rooms in the air, a ladies’ “lounge” and private dressing rooms for every flyer. The equivalent today could be found aboard the front cabins of the luxury “Middle East Three” carriers.
On-board lounges were not limited to Pan Am in the pre-World War II era; by the 1960s and 1970s, more carriers flying in the skies meant airlines continued to woo luxury flyers with lounges in coach. In a vintage American Airlines commercial, the airline advertised a “coach pub,” complete with live music provided from an electric organ. Continental Airlines offered a similar in-flight lounge, located on the lower deck of their 747 aircraft.
Not to be outdone, American’s seating options for first-class flyers included a private suite option, with seating for four and a table between the flyers. When the cabin curtain was closed, flyers could have a semblance of privacy now only found on luxury products including the Singapore Suites. That is, when they were not indulging in the first-class lounges that look – and felt – like today’s business class lounges.
[Photo: Messy Nessy]
