Airline Food During the Golden Age of Air Travel

I was a stewardess for Western Airlines from 1963-69. Yep. I'm old, 80 to be honest. Western was a quite conservative airline that catered to businessmen and celebs. I flew on the 4 engine DC6b, the Lockheed Electra and the jet powered 720b. I adored the DC6! The food ranged from really awful dry sandwiches with a bit of ham and cheese to some to die for loin cuts of beef and pork or fresh Alaskan salmon. Most food was prepared at flight kitchens and Denver won my heart for great food, beating San Francisco. For my entire career plastic cutlery was NEVER used. Instead there was real cutlery (coin silver?) like hotels used to use. They were much smaller than standard. The dishes were melamine like. We used real cloth everything, including head rest covers. The blankets were real wool. Please, never forget that flight attendants are not there to "serve" you, they are and always have been mandated by the govt. to keep you safe. On one of my first flights we had an in cabin fire and guess who's your trained fire department? (Trained by the excellent LA fire department.)

My grandmother worked as a stewardess at Delta in the 50s-60s! She originally was trying for a job with American Airlines but they rejected her cause she ‘wasn’t pretty enough’ for them so she went and applied at Delta instead. They actually paid for her honeymoon trip with my grandfather before they fired her for being married lol

How weird it must’ve been to see the quality drop so dramatically for anyone who really got to experience flying from the 60’s onward

Max, you are a prime example of how independent creators are running laps around mainstream and cable programs. Great stuff as always.

The way you described your childhood experience of air travel made me realize we are probably exactly the same age 😂

Hi Max! I'm 74 and both my parents were airline employees in the late 1940s and thst is how they met. Dad was in marketing and my mother, well, she was offered a stewardess job but since she was afraid of flying became a ticket agent for United. Fast forward to 1961 when they were both travel agents, and were given two free tickets on one of the new jets flying from SF to LA. But mom was still afraid of flying, so I got to go. Don't remember the food, but it was an exciting trip!

"Dont est a whole bay leaf". I feel like the universe continues to jab at me for a mistake I've made during my 5th grade history trip. We were aboard a replica 17th century sailing vessel and the kids were split between types of crew members to recreate some of the jobs found aboard. They even had a smaller mast, sails, and rigging for boatswains. The cooks in the galley made this incredible beaf stew just FILLED with bag leafs and me, not knowing what they were, being as polite as i could... ate 6 of them. My family, even as a grown man, continues to rebrand my soul with that incident and here we are again. Thanks Max for a wonderful, thorough, and interesting episode!

My great aunt wanted to be a flight attendant. She was born in 1929, so by the end of WW2, she was in love with airplanes. In the very beginnings of commercial air travel, the first stewardesses were often RNs — there wasn’t an airport every 100 miles, so you could have to fly for hours if you were in a bad location or going over the ocean and someone started having a MI. So she went to nursing school, (during which time the “RNs preferred” thing changed). She remained in nursing, because she didn’t meet the height cutoff — she was 6’ tall, and they didn’t want anyone over 5’8”-5’10” — but flew every chance she got. Miss you, auntie.

Hi Max! I had to pause the video to share my 2 cents. I'm an "old maid" in my 36th year of flying. Back in the late 80's, Northwest [orient] Airlines had 'Royal Imperial' first class, Chicago-Tokyo -- a route I worked regularly. We had a 7 cart dish- up service for First Class. 7 separate carts of meal courses, served at your seat. 1. Hot & cold appetizer.... ...also, caviar or sushi, depending on the route direction. 2. Tossed to order salad 3. Entree choice of beef bourguignon, roasted squab, teppanaki, or lasagna 4. Four choices of hot sides 5. Elaborate desserts, of pastries and ice cream sundaes ....and a palate cleanser of sorbet offered between courses. All served up on beautiful china and cut crystal glassware. My favorite work position was Galley. I plated all the entrees and set up the carts. It took about 2-1/2 hours to serve 18 first-class passengers. ...it was the first time I ever tasted caviar. Now, few airlines offer real FirstClass. It's mostly Asian/Middle Eastern airlines, who are government subsidized. U.S. carriers can't compete financially. It's now an expanded version of business class. And I STILL LIKE MY JOB! Still having fun, seeing the world and interacting with people from all over. P.S. Do I eat the food? Not really. We rotate the menus about 3 times a year. I can't eat the same thing over & over. So I bring my own food from home -- or Popeyes chicken..lol.

In the early 50s flying was considered so posh, my mother felt she had to wear a hat and GLOVES to board a plane. Unfortunately, I do not remember the food, but I do remember being taken to the cockpit and the trip when they sent our cat to the wrong airport. We found out later the pilot and copilot felt so sorry for him, they took him to the executive dining room and fed him steak and cream. It's a wonder he wanted to come home. Those were the days.

I am 71 and my first flight was Kennedy to Gatwick in 1969. Marvelous Plenty of room in the seats, three meals, just three people on each side of the aisle and EVERYONE WAS DRESSED. Coat and tie, dresses or suits for the girls. Spent three months studying in Europe....I shall never forget it...at 17 years old

In 1979 I was in the Army. I was transferred to Germany and flew from Fort Dix to Frankfurt, Germany. The flight was on a military contract airliner. The food consisted of a box of cold lasagna an overripe apple and warm container of milk (just like elementary school). The Army was nice enough to provide a screaming baby in every third seat.

I am so surprised that very few stewardesses responded in the comments. I am 78 now, started flying in 1968 as a flight attendant. It was a wonderful life. I never knew when I went to work when I would return home. Every day was different and we met the most wonderful people. I still remember conversations with GIs going to Nam, women meeting new families. Two of us would serve 75 people hot lunch and beverages in 65 minutes from the time we took off and it all had to be stowed before landing. I also wore white gloves for boarding and deplaning. The world is different now. Thanks Carl and Frank

I'm a little older than a lot of the commenters here, so I have great 1960s airline story. When I was 11 (1967) I flew from the Midwest to the East coast to spend a month with my cousins. Because I was flying as an unaccompanied minor, I was boarded before everyone else and placed under the charge of a flight attendant. I was flying coach, but because there was room in first class, and it was easier for her to keep an eye on me, I was put in the front row of first class. I expected to be served the economy lunch (cold sandwich), but evidently if you get upgraded to first class for ANY reason, you get the first class meal. The lunch on that flight was steak. I think the adults also got wine, I got milk. (The flight home was packed, so I was in economy, eating a sandwich.)

My grandmother started travelling in the mid 50s and kept travelling all around the world until the early 2000s when she got sick and had to stop. I'm not old enough to have witnessed her earlier travels but I do remember her complaining about Iberia and another company because she only got a sandwich & something passing as dessert in her trip from Madrid to Buenos Aires. She was almost offended that she didn't get a proper meal. I didn't get it, it seemed reasonable to me. She did that flight again, now a different company, and again she was so upset with the food she didn't bother eating it. I got to try dry sandwich and sad fruit salad, both wrapped in plastic. It wasn't good but again, it didn't feel all that different from what I knew (ferry trips from England to France, and ferry trips from Montevideo to Buenos Aires). Now watching your video... I understand WHY she was so upset. THANK YOU! A long time mystery solved.

I worked for 34 years for airlines and within that time 17 of those years as a Flight Attendant. Back in the late 80's and 90's was the pinnacle of food quality. I remember once I was traveling to Caracas, Venezuela on Viasa Airlines that no longer exists, in First Class they actually served me a soufflé as an appetizer. My family are great cooks and even I was really impressed by this.

My Grandfather was a Delta mechanic from the 50s to the early 90s, and it was absolutely the golden age for the employees as well. A guy with a highschool education was making the modern equivalent of $46 dollars an hour with full benefits and a pension that still provides for my Grandma to this day. He also got free standby tickets for life. Dad would regularly come home from highschool in the 70s to a note on the fridge reading "Gone to Vegas, lasanga in the fridge, love Mom and Dad."

Born too late to enjoy good airline food Born too early for 20 minute transcontinental flights Born just in time for some disgustingly salty but still flavorless pasta and whatever weird side dishes the airline can dig up

As an Air Force brat I flew a lot in the late 50’s and 60’s. Then I became a stewardess of UAL in the late 60’s ( think the flat hat! ) I learned a lot about food. Loved working first class, table cloths and great food!

Love this video. My Mom was a United flight attendant back in the 1960s. She started on the DC-6 and worked the "Executive-For Men Only" flights on the Caravelle. She met my Dad, a United pilot, and had to retire when they got married. The rest is history and I am honored to carry on their legacy as a United Captain, today.