Pan Am clipper, Vol. 21, No. 7, March 30, 1970

              in-flight service director: a new breed
By Bryce Miller

NEW YORK—Jay Koren sm oothed back an unruly lock of h air, flicked a speck from a fresh ly pressed jack et and headed fo r the door of his M an­ h a tta n ap artm ent. “L et’s go to London,” he said. Joseph Kapel, hitching a ride to the airp o rt, folded a garm en t bag over his arm , snapped the door closed and followed down to the garage where J a y ’s convertible was parked. It was nearly 3 p.m., still fo u r hours before d ep artu re of Pan Am’s F lig h t 2, b u t already g ettin g late for these two 747 flight service team m em bers.
first in industry

Koren wheeled the car through the M idtown Tunnel and out onto the ex­ pressw ay tow ard Kennedy A irport. “By the way, Joe, we may have to change the c a rt service procedure in the back, b u t I w ant to try it one more tim e the way we’ve been doing it. You’ll be back th ere so you can see . . .”

the super pursers
F lig h t crew m em bers do not n o r­ m ally s ta rt work so early. B ut Koren and Kapel, p a rt of a new breed be­ ing picked fo r the new job, were a l­ ready deep in discussion, planning, preparing. W ithin the next few weeks, as more 747s are put into service on addition­ al routes, an elite corps of about 50 d irectors will be draw n from among senior experienced union personnel and trained. L arry B urtchaell, director-flight service, said the job dem ands a “re­ m arkable” person. “Everyone involved in prep arin g the guidelines fo r th is post, and th a t includes H arold Graham , vice-presi­ dent-service; Lloyd Wilson, director, flight service personnel developm ent;

Koren is a pioneer, a path-finder. He is the first in the airlin e in d u stry to hold the title “In -F lig h t Service D irector,” a position given b irth by the 747 and the need fo r a m anager to oversee and coordinate the in­ creased cabin crew and highly com­ plex 747 flight service procedures. He was m aking his 17th trip on the big plane. F o r Kapel, it was his first, in a p u rse r slot, fo r a w orking check­ out on the 747 before taking over as a d irecto r on a flight of his own.

union rep resen tativ es; m yself and a num ber of other people; have agreed on a p re tty stiff set of stan d ard s. “They include a tria l period in the job. This is to everyone’s benefit. Some have tried it and decided it w asn’t w h at they w anted,” he ex­ plained. “I t’s a tough job. It dem ands leadership capability and an accept­ ance of responsibility th a t will keep both the passengers and the crew happy. “The need fo r a post of th is n atu re was seen by nearly everyone as they looked to the service requirem ents of the 747,” B urtchaell continued. “The size of the crew and the com plexities of the a irc ra ft req u ire th a t th ere be a m anager to see to it th a t everything is done to fulfill the responsibilities of liaison w ith the ground, of provi­ sioning, control of monies, deploy­ m ent and assignm ent of personnel, all the duties of a m anager, and to be Pan Am’s in-flight rep resen tativ e to passengers. “The service directo r is so rt of a super purser. “ He is over the flight service crew and he does not have specifically as­ signed m anagem ent d u t i e s . One rule is not to get involved in the

service—except to step in d uring an em ergency or serious problem —be­ cause he then would not have tim e to oversee w h at oth er people are doing.”
constant review

Service techniques are constantly being improved. They come under continuous review in sessions be­ tween B urtchaell and Koren and other officials, p a rt of the learning curve associated w ith the new plane. Koren, who comes from Connecti­ cut, has been w ith Pan Am 18 years. He was the first stew ard based a t Seattle, became a check purser, a stew ardess re c ru ite r and fo r two years held the post of supervisor of flight service scheduling fo r New York, Chicago and W ashington. In A ugust, 1968, he gave up his desk job to re tu rn to flying. “I ’m ju s t a terrib le airlin e nut, I guess,” he said. “And the 747 is an excitem ent all its own. I like the challenge of being a p a rt of it.” Koren has been a key p a rt— rig h t from the sta rt. He was chief p u rse r on the first 747 flight from S eattle to New York
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