The women who changed the world while flying it | FLY WITH ME | American Experience | PBS 

Was once one of them. Now I'm a geezer who still misses that time, that experience even though I was pulled in for weight check at 114 lbs, was reprimanded big time for shouting out "Dino!" to Dean Martin and Arnold Palmer at the airport in Monterey - at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Was reported by airport staff to my airline. My supervisor was there waiting when I arrived back at my home base. Also got in trouble for no nail polish, slip showing, and non-regulation hair length.

I was a stewardess in the 1960's for Western Airlines so this was a blast from the past for me! Yes, we had to quit when we got married or at age 32, whichever came first. We had weight check, girdle check, make up check and nail polish check. I also had a pilots license but could not hold a job as a pilot even though I was trained by the same pilots as flew our flights. I could not have a credit card (so our local bank president backed me so I could have my own checking account.) As a stewardess I got in on flying on the DC6b, the Lockheed Electra (L188) and the Boeing 720 and all 3 very different aircraft had a big charm about them. I will say the pilots were excellent and very professional and only a few were sexist jerks! One of my favorite memories was flying on the DC6 at about 24,000 ft., dodging around the huge Midwest thunderstorms and letting my imagination wander through the layers of clouds that did indeed make me think strongly of heaven. My best friend got fired for secretly being married and having a son. She was part of the big lawsuits and continued to fly until about 2001. She's still with us today.

I wish to thank you for sharing this Historical video with me . Amen

Even today it's a broken profession. Cabin attendants aren't paid until the last door closes. They may be at the airport for hours due to delays after original departure but they're not "on the clock" until door close. On duty for 13 hours. Paid for 5.

I never realized how the change happened. It seemed like one day I was aware I could never make the cut ("fat" at size 14) and then somehow in the 70s there was grumbling and magically all those draconian rules disappeared. Amazing how self-centered and unaware we can be growing up!

Recognize! ❤ Now they fly those damn planes! Thank you ladies! ✈️✈️✈️✈️✈️🛫

It's interesting how things that seem to be completely independent events can turn out to be connected. Just one example of this would be the introduction of Boeing's "Dash 80" aircraft that would enter service as the Boeing 707 in 1958. This was the aircraft that made transcontinental air travel affordable enough to create all those "stewardess" jobs. I remember when we called them that.

I cried.

Adding - when I was flying all of us to be a Pan Am stewardess because of their saucy, beautiful powder blue uniforms and that amazing head gear.

I remember, back in my days, that stewardess were like super models, turning heads as they walked in the airports with their beauty and poise and great uniforms and make-up. Those were the days, but of course, as the documentary shows, it was terrible for them on many issues (retirement age, the marital issue, for example) but beneficial on others. Something similar happened to the early Playboy bunnies.

When I was a young girl, I thought they were the it girls. I wanted to be one of them.

Remember when bus lines had stewardesses?

Pan Am went into bankruptcy at some point can't remember the year however it came up when I watched the Gwenth Paltrow 2003 movie The View from The Top.

All true.

Isn't it telling that todays flight crew are nothing like them at all....