Clipper, Vol. 23, No. 8, April 10, 1972

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Sixteen young men became Pan Am flight service attendants on March 30, reversing the ladies-only policy the airline industry has been following since World War II.
The new male flight attendants and 18 female colleagues comprised the first co-ed graduating class at Pan Am’s Flight Service Training and Development Center at Miami International Airport.
Two more mixed classes of men and women are also in training at the school, as men enter a field that a generation of air travelers—has come to associate with young women.
In the mixed classes, male and female trainees have gone through all the courses together, from food preparation and service to safety drills, from grooming and hair styling to the intricacies of international customs and immigration formalities.
Pan Am’s first contingent of new stewards includes men from all over the United States and three foreign countries. It includes a former language teacher, a Fulbright scholar, a graduate of a Venetian catering school, a ship’s quartermaster, a researcher for a bank, a policeman, a laboratory consultant. All speak a language in addition to English, one of Pan Am’s requirements for all its flight service attendants.
In the beginning, all of Pan Am’s flight service attendants were males. The trimly dressed steward was a symbol of the unique brand of in-flight food and beverage service that Pan Am introduced on its flights in the late 1920s. One veteran of the early years recalled recently that a life-size photo cutout of one of Pan Am’s early stewards was a fixture in sales offices and travel agencies. This early advertisement became known affectionately as “Rodney.” No one thought to create a female counterpart in 1944, when stewardesses were introduced on Pan Am flights in Latin America and Alaska.
At first, women worked the shorter, less demanding flights. Soon, however, they were filling in on equal footing with stewards. Stewardesses began flying the Atlantic in 1945, and the Pacific in 1946. Gradually, the women replaced the men, until in recent years, the attractive stewardess became so synonymous with in-flight service that Pan Am maintained—as a defense in a suit brought by an aspiring male flight attendant—that air travelers overwhelmingly preferred to be served by women.
While women gradually took over the bulk of the in-flight service duties, men became pursers and in-flight service directors. Today, 269 men work in both capacities throughout the system.
new male uniforms, page 3
Back in the 1920s ivhen Pan Am began its in-flight service, men negotiated the narrow aisles of the airline’s Fokker aircraft to deliver beverages and boxed lunches. Women didn’t get into the act until 19Uh. Meanwhile, most passengers came to associate in-flight service with trim, personable young women. Once again, as in Miami above, the men are back in the aisles.
freshen your
Original thinking on vital subjects: Do it!
That’s what Pan Am’s biggest money-makers were told to prepare for—and they responded to the call during a unique convocation in New York late in March.
Pan Am’s director of telephone and ticket office sales, Hal Kendig, had set the challenge. Reservations and ticket office managers from 38 sales offices in every region throughout the system replied during a three-day meeting at the Hotel Roosevelt.
banks open up a
First National City Bank, as agent, and 37 other banks have agreed to provide a new $270 million one-year revolving credit to Pan Am.
The new line of credit will replace Pan Am’s existing credit agreement which expires on March 31,1973. Pan Am has drawn down $200 million of the $285 million currently available through the existing credit agreement.
Borrowings under the new credit agreement will carry an interest rate of Vz per
thoughts!
Delegates from Hong Kong to Berlin and from Lagos to Los Angeles shared insider’s knowledge of major projects they have been involved in within their regions and, more, importantly, they immersed themselves in “open-ended” discussions designed to zero in on common problems for the purpose of finding mutual or departmental solutions. Cross-fertilization was the mode, and it began even before the . group assembled in New York.
“Send us the agenda items you would like to dis-
new line of credit
cent above the prime rate. This is Va per cent above the interest rate in the previous agreement.
The new agreement specifies that Pan Am’s tangible net worth must not fall below $350 million. The company’s current tangible net worth is $385 million.
Among the covenants in the agreement is one specifying that if Pan Am sells on a lease-back basis its new passenger terminal at JFK, the banks’ credit commitment would be reduced by one half of the proceeds from the sale.
clipper
Vol. 23, No. 8, April 10, 1972
cuss,” Kendig urged the men who are responsible for more than 75 percent of Pan Am’s system sales and whose departments spend 70 percent of system marketing’s total budget. In came the topics:
•	“What follow-up should be made on bookings you release for ticketing at the airport? Who should follow up and how? What coordination is necessary between DSO (reservations and ticket office) and airport ticket counter?”
•	“What motivates an employee? How can you, the manager, affect these courses of human motivation?”
•	“What can you do to help improve the overall seat utilization of group/tour bookings and enable reservations control to confirm more groups?”
•	“Is there a quantity and quality conflict? If so, how can we overcome it?”
•	“Define productivity. What factors affect productivity? How can you, the manager, affect the factors?”
More than 20 major topics were discussed by delegates with participation from representatives of head office departments. What was the sum of all this “original thinking on vital subjects?”
Says Kendig:
“Reservations and ticket office managers have a vital role in running a cost and sales effective operation for Pan Am. During the meeting they shared many excellent ideas between themselves and with headquarters personnel. We believe they now have a better understanding of their responsibilities, and we in headquarters learned a great deal about the needs of the field offices.”